Love Bacon-Can't MakeIt.

[darwin101]

I would suggest a few things.  

1.  Make sure you slice across the grain.  Looking at the slab you should be see the direction of the muscle fibers.  

2.  While learning something new, use no more than you are comfortable with ruining.  

3.  Keep it simple until you are good with the basics. 

(Yea, I learned the hard way a few times...  Once I grabbed the largest pork loin I could find to make back bacon.  It was very tough even when sliced very thinly across the grain. Then there was the melted smoked cheese incident of 2014...  and a few others bone headed adventures.)   

 

Good luck!  

 

[westby]

I'm fairly confident that the texture difference you are experiencing is due to the hot smoking.  I personally hot smoke following the amazingribs recipe with a few tweaks and I really like the texture.  It sounds to me like you prefer the texture of cold smoked bacon.  Cold smoke with your tube in the bottom of the Rec Tec with the unit off (or if you are good with electronics and can figure out how to turn off the heat and auger and just run the fan, that would be better).  I think you will have enough air to cold smoke using the Rec Tec as your smoking chamber, but I'm not 100% positive.  As someone else said, you can make a cardboard box work just as well.  Read through the cold smoking bacon posts here.  I think most guys have the best luck with 6-8 hour smokes over 2 to 3 days (with the belly going back in the fridge between smokes).

 

[kendec65]

Going to try the cold smoking route on my rec tec like you stated. The fan is no problem, I'll just pull the fan wires and plus them into the light socket and presto s fan with no pellets or heat.

 

[mowin]

Going to try the cold smoking route on my rec tec like you stated. The fan is no problem, I'll just pull the fan wires and plus them into the light socket and presto s fan with no pellets or heat.

I'd be wary of doing that unless you are sure the fan is 110v and the computer doesn't reduce the the voltage.

I've cold smoked in my GMG with the amnts with no issues.

 

[kendec65]

Thanks for the concern. I wasn't even gonna try it but talked to the guys at Rec-Tec and that was their directions.

 

[kendec65]

Just wanted to update as I have not forgot the help.

Just pulled from the 14 day brine and letting it dry in fridge

for a few days. Next, getting ready to try a dry rub for comparison.

Ken

 

[redheelerdog]

Show us some pics of the belly Ken 

 

[kendec65]

Well after a 14 day brine, letting it set for a few days I used my A Maze N tube tonight in my Rec Tec and proceeded to ruin all the meat. After pulling the meat after four hours the inside of my Rec Tec looked like someone sprayed water inside it and this creosote smelling drops of condensation dripping on it. I used no heat, it's 15 degrees out and not sure if it can be saved some how. I did fry up some and it has a bad taste but at least the texture was spot on for what I was looking for. Thanks for the help. Not sure if I'm gonna try bacon again. Ken

 

[maplenut]

Sorry to hear to it did not turn out good.
I too have a want to eventually try my hand at making bacon.

 

[daveomak]

Wash the surface of the meat with hot water and scrub with paper towels....    Cold smoking must be done at around 60-70 deg. F inside the smoker....  the meat must be that temp or a bit higher to stop condensate from forming.... The smoke must be warmed to 60-70 degrees...

The condensate probably came from the pellets burning....   Water is a product of combustion...

You can save the meat with a thorough scrubbing...

Smoke the meat in a large cardboard box so you don't have all that crud from inside your smoker....  use a light bulb for heat...

 

[wade]

You have a couple of problems I think. The first is that the tube smoker creates way too much smoke to cold smoke in such a small chamber. Even in my 650 Litre cold smoker the tube produces smoke that is too intense. Something like an AMNPS will produce smoke that is less dense over a longer period of time. The second issue is that you almost certainly do not have sufficient air flow through the smoker. I am not sure which of the Rec Tecs models that you have but being a pellet grill they are will not have a lot of natural air draw - relying on the integral fan to manage the air flow. The combination of both of these will result in very high moisture within the chamber and the risk of a creosote-like condensate forming on the meat.

What Dave suggests is certainly worth a try too. By cooling the smoke before it enters the chamber much of the tarry condensate will have condensed out before it comes in contact with the food.The temperatures can be quite difficult to control practically though over long smokes (24 hours +) as the outside air temperature will vary greatly over a 24 hour period - especially at this time of year.

You could try emptying out the pellet hopper(s) and place the smoke generator in there (rather than directly in the chamber), but without an extractor fan on the flue to pull the smoke through you may not get the smoke to flow through the unit. You may also gum up the pellet feed auger. 

I would second Dave's suggestion regarding using a cardboard box. Holes in the bottom and holes in the top to let the heat of the burning pellets natural create a natural air flow through the unit.

 

[wade]

it's 15 degrees out

I just realised that you meant Fahrenheit and not Centigrade. There is little point in trying to smoke anything outside with the temperatures this low and no heat as very little smoke will penetrate - and I am not surprised that you got a heavy condensate. I am surprised that it didn't come our ready-frozen.

Thanks Dave for reminding me about the US/UK differences 

 

[kendec65]

Well I was able to save the bacon, but any thoughts on how to clean the creosote from the smoker?

 

[daveomak]

I have a MES 30....  I crank up the temp to max. after every smoke..  (275º F)...  let it run for several hours...  at first I see a bluish plume leaving the smoker... I figure it's creosote...  finally the exhaust clears and what was once a sort of sticky film is now hard and brittle...   Might take more than a few hours to bake that stuff out of yours...  When it gets hard and brittle, it should come out fairly easily with a wire brush or a weed burner...

 

[wade]

I don't clean my cold smokers after every smoke but when I do I find that the best way is with hot soapy water in a hand sprayer and spray the inside surfaces. Then wipe it off with a cloth and a bucket of plenty of warm soapy water. Don't use anything stronger than normal washing up liquid as the stronger chemicals can leave a residue and an unpleasant smell.

It is easier to take out any wire shelves and to clean them separately.