Upper time limit for length of cold smoke?

[indaswamp]

Tried to use the search bar, but found no threads addressing this issue so I thought I'd start a thread on it.

What is the upper limit for length of time cold smoking bacon (below 75* or so) cured with cure #1?

I've heard 10 days....I've heard 14 days....and I've heard 21 days...

daveomak , chef jimmyj what do you recommend?

Wish I still had all those links I had saved on my computer! Took me forever to find that info on the internet......now I can't find it again!

 

[daveomak]

Smoke is generally added in increments... Added for 6-12 hours/day or every 2 days, for up to 30 days.... Depends if you want the slab shelf stable like was done years ago... For sliced and fried/oven baked, My personal preference is 2 8 hour smokes using pellet dust in the AMNPS.... Dust is a very light thin blue smoke... AMNPS pellet smoke I like ~6 hours of smoke... Pellets is a heavier smoke... Haven't used the AMNTS... My smoker is too small for the amount of smoke it produces....
16 hours of pellet dust smoke consumes 320 grams of dust....
6 hours of pellets in the AMNPS consumes 270 grams of pellets...
The dust "seems" to have a cleaner flavor... I'm still figuring out all this stuff....

 

[indaswamp]

Wow...30 days....
I guess as time goes by and the more moisture lost, the more shelf stable the slab becomes. I'm sure choice of wood has an influence on how strong the smoke is too. The first batch I smoked for 27 hours, 9 hours for 3 nights using 50/25/25 maple cherry apple pellet dust. Very light smoke....could probably double or triple that number of hours.

This second batch is 80/20 Hickory/Apple and I'm using Benton's 72 hours as a benchmark... That would be 8 nights of smoke for me.

I've decided to go 4 nights for 36 hours and check it....go from there....
I'm burning just shy of 1/2lb. of pellet dust a night....

 

[indaswamp]

I'm sure humidity plays a key roll too...humid air 'grabs' fine smoke particles and helps the smoke stick to the meat.....

Humidity is high here at night...75~100%.....

 

[indaswamp]

I too am really loving the coarse pellet dust in the oval... I've used it in my open CI pan for warm smoking, but it is awesome for cold smokes in the oval...

 

[Walchit]

Whats pellet dust? I have the 12" oval tube. Havent completed the cold smoker yet though.

 

[indaswamp]

Whats pellet dust? I have the 12" oval tube. Havent completed the cold smoker yet though.

Here's the thread on dave's pellet dust.....do not put them in a blender...
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/cold-smoked-bacon.281110/

 

[chef jimmyj]

For INTACT MEAT I have to wonder if there is an upper limit. Each smoke session Dries the meat more, concentrates and raises the surface Salinity and adds more Antiseptic Smoke components. All are pretty inhospitable living conditions for bacteria. I would choose cool months of the Fall and Winter, depending on region, to do it considering they tend toward lower humidity as well as temp.
Searching, Does Sodium Nitrite Decompose, gives a bunch of info on breakdown at high temp, 608°F, but nothing about decomposition at room temp...JJ

 

[indaswamp]

For INTACT MEAT I have to wonder if there is an upper limit. Each smoke session Dries the meat more, concentrates and raises the surface Salinity and adds more Antiseptic Smoke components. All are pretty inhospitable living conditions for bacteria. I would choose cool months of the Fall and Winter, depending on region, to do it considering they tend toward lower humidity as well as temp.
Searching, Does Sodium Nitrite Decompose, gives a bunch of info on breakdown at high temp, 608°F, but nothing about decomposition at room temp...JJ

I know that cold smoking is best 50~70* with 75~85% humidity....you need that humidity just like dry curing in a curing chamber or you get case hardening, or in this case, the outer layer of meat hardening creating a shell which limits moisture evaporation. I also know that sodium nitrite is consumed @130~135* and attaches itself to the myoglobin through a series of chemical reactions that are not reversible....

I have been told by old timers that the old style smokehouse doubled for storage of meats....the smoked dry meats would be moved downward along the walls where cleaner yet still warm air inside the smokehouse would keep them drying and not put too much smoke on them....the smoke rising to the top 1/2 of the smoke chamber.......contacting new items in the smokehouse....