- Nov 26, 2012
- 44
- 25
Hello, sorta new to smoking, started home business making bacon and baking cakes and cookies. Living in the philippines is difficult to source many items, but with persistence i have found the essentials at least. I built a custom smoker/grill out of hollow blocks and tubular as well as angular steel, with stainless steel racks. The smoker is presently going through and expansion to allow for smoking up to maybe 100 kilos(220 pounds) of bacon at one time. That may sound a little excessive but in the first month of business i was making 15 kilos a batch and it wouldn't last a day after i packaged it. So i have decided to ramp it up a bit and see if i can really keep up with the demand. I will have to also get more refrigerated space it seems. The smoker is about 6 feet tall, by maybe 7 feet wide and 32 inches back to front, I use racks and just turn the bacon slabs on the side. i also precut my slabs into four inch wide slabs for ease of removal of skin after smoking and ease of using in the slicer. i found a source of charbroil applewood chunks and chips, also mesquite and tabasco chips, there is whisky barrel and jack daniels whiskey barrel also available but haven't tried those last two yet. I cure with brown sugar, noniodized rockseasalt and pink salt at 3 percent nitrite. usually a five day cure then a four to six hour pellicle formation depending on the humidity, with six to eight hours of cold smoking less than 95 degrees f using mainly apple wood and a little mesquite and white oak thrown in to round everything out. When i do get more refrigeration i will be expanding to hams and turkey deli meat, may do a little roast beef just to try it out pretty soon. Anyone in the neighborhood hit me up and will be happy to answer any questions you may have that i can.