Nasty & Bitter 1st Bacon - HELP!!!

[tjohnson]

I followed Jeanie's recipe and cold smoked my bacon for 11 hours. What I ended up with was a nasty, bitter flavored bacon, that I don't think I can salvage.

Looks like I am an "Expert" on making creosote, and my pics reflect my problem.

I made a smoke generator out of duct work and a 500 watt electric charcoal starter. I was very proud of my little creation, and it seemed to work very well today.

My MES has never produced creosote before, and I can only guess my smoke generator is to blame. I've read many posts, but can't put my finger on what went wrong.

I even got some great pics of "Blue Smoke" this morning.

Wood - Started with Apple & Hickory Chips then added small Hickory Chunks
Exhaust Damper - Full Open to start and about 1/2 open for duration
Refuel - Every 3 hours with mostly chunks and little chips
Outside Temp - 22* at Start
Smoker Temp - 59*-64*
Intake Vent - None...Relied on leaking at fittings.

Wood Hickory Chunks came from Home Depot in a sealed bag.

I noticed lots of condensation about 5 hours into the smoke, and had some "Liquid Smoke" in my drip pan on the backside of my MES. Called someone more experienced than me, and was told that it's normal during the winter.

I'm wonder if my Smoke Generator was starving for air.




Nice Blue Smoke at 6:00am



Inside of my Smoke Generator after test smoke



Inside of my Smoke Generator after 11 hours of smoking

The smell inside smoke generator is just as nasty as my bacon tastes!!!

Your Help I Greatly Appreciated!!


Thanks!


Todd

 

[pignit]

If your showing condensation in the smoker you have too much humidity. Your exhaust vent should stay full open all the time unless you are in a very dry situation and need the humidity. Even with a cold smoke you need to have air movement. By closing the vent you are essentially setting up a smoke chamber that is holding smoke instead of passing smoke through it. Sorry to hear it turned out bad for you. Nothing worse than that much time in a project to end up with a disappointment. My opinion.... just too much smoke without adequate ventilation.

 

[cowgirl]

I agree with Dave... You need to keep that exhaust open all the way.
I take it you didn't get my e-mail about checking the smoke at 6 hours?
The bacon will not mellow.. you might try soaking it in cool water since it's not cooked. Also if that doesn't help, try using it as flavoring in beans and other dishes.
Keeping your temperature down for that period of time is great! Not sure what your smoke generator set up is ....but it sounds like it was pouring the smoke in way too heavy.

 

[tjohnson]

Jeanie
I read your email and think I just screwed up!

Dave,
Thanks for the help!

How is creosote actually made?

Is it from incomplete combustion?

Do I need more air in my smoke generator?

Raise them temp in my MES to over 100* to minimize condensation?

I have a 500 watt element under a cast iron chip box, and it really smokes. I think started making creosote after I added some small hickory chunks.

Is there a good thread that explains creosote and how it's made?


THANKS!


Todd

 

[tasunkawitko]

the BBQFAQ goes into creosote and how it is formed pretty well in-depth:

http://www.eaglequest.com/~bbq/

if you click the link below, you can download a SAFE version of the BBQFAQ in word document. it's in a zip file, and all you need to do is extract it onto your desktop, where you can read it at leisure.

http://www.eaglequest.com/~bbq/faq2-w97.zip

in particular to your situation, there is a section that gives qute a few tips for avoiding creosote. most of what is written applies to hot-smoking, but the principles can be used when cold-smoking as well, for the most part.

also, there is a section called "science and barbecue," which is pretty interesting and goes in-depth on the creation of creosote and how it affects the meat.

word of advice - skip the first 12 pages.

 

[tjohnson]

Thanks TasunkaWitko!

Quick look at it an it's 233 pages.

May have found a couple issues that lead to my "Nasty Bacon"!

1. Not Enough Combustion Air in My Smoke Generator
2. Condensation - Open Exhaust Vent 100%
3. Check Bacon at 6 Hours as suggested.


THANKS!


Todd

 

[DanMcG]

One thing that bothers me is it looks like you made the generator out of galvanized metal. Although it's a long shot, it might be it got hot enough to cause the zinc to vaporize into zinc oxide fumes which doesn't taste to good, sort of a sweet metallic taste.
Sorry to hear about you bacon, we've all been there. Better luck next time.

 

[pantherfan83]

You may need an intake vent to encourage more circulation out the fully open exhaust vent.

 

[gnubee]

Those holes in your smoke generator may need to be lots bigger...

The smoke daddy smoke generators use an aquarium pump to force air thru the chips/chunks/pellets etc. Keeping it nice and blue.

One of the things that caused me some creosote when I first started out was using too much wood, problem solved simply by backing off on the amount I was using.

 

[pineywoods]

I think more air into the combustion chamber will get you a better more complete combustion and the exhaust should be open

 

[tasunkawitko]

i agree with those who say that airflow is one of the main keys, here, especially in a cold-smoking environment.

 

[tjohnson]

While scrubbing the creosote out of my MES today, I went through all the possibilities of what went wrong yesterday..........

I remember "HEAPING" the chip pan cuz I was heading out for a couple hours, and this was probably my BIGGEST mistake!

Cowgirl(Jeanie) gave me the idea to soak my bacon to remove some of the Nasty Bitter flavor. I soaked it for almost 2 hours, changing th water about every 1/2 hour. I also gave it a warm salt water bath for about 1/2 hour and soaked it back in cold water.

Believe it or not, (1) slab was salvageable, tasted pretty good. The other is no longer bitter, but too smokey for fryin up for breakfast. Jeanie suggested I cut it up for beans or would make good bean and ham soup.



Thanks for the input!


Todd

 

[dunk702]

You guys are life savers... Well bacon savers LOL. Thanks to this board i didn't have to throw my bitter bacon out. My problem was trying to keep my temps down I closed the top vent on my water smoker.

I just made my first batch ever and had the same problem. Bitter and numbing bacon. I tried to get as much off by soaking and rinsing in warm water. I even tried the salt water. Whatever happened it worked. I still minimized the amount of surface meat but it tastes good.

I rinsed them for about 10 minutes. Soaked them for about 10 minutes and drained and rinsed again. Performed that step about 3 times. Last I soaked in salt water brine for about 45 minutes. Then rinsed them all off. I got a little worried because it got a little strange looking with the water logging for lack of a better term. It worked out just fine though.

After that, I dried them off and put them in the fridge on racks to dry. It was probably about 4 hours.

I did cut the surface area off the ends since they were thinner and I guessed they were probably saturated with the nasty oils. I used my meat slicer and threw out the ends which saved a lot of waste. I trimmed most off of the odds and ends and packed them as cooking bacon.

I sliced off 4 strips and trimmed the long ends to have pure inner meat and left the other two with just the long sides surface in tact as a test.

Fried them up and couldn't taste any difference between the four. Pfhew... I was so mad I almost wasted $70 in meat and all of that time..

 

[tasunkawitko]

glad it worked out for you, dunk!

 

[chowderpants]

more information for me to store in the back of my mind just in case the need arises.

Whats really interesting to me though, is Todd making a smoke generator......  Is this what got the gears turning?

 

[onytay]

more information for me to store in the back of my mind just in case the need arises.

Whats really interesting to me though, is Todd making a smoke generator......  Is this what got the gears turning?

I bet this is one of the reasons the gears started turning for a better product. It is nice to know that Todd wasn't born a master smoke maker, and had to figure it out like the rest of us! On the plus side we all get to enjoy NO CREOSOTE thanks to Todd"s miss fortunes. Thanks Todd for messing up your Bacon and creating a better way to produce smoke!