First Bacon Run


 

Malvin C

TVWBB Member
First attempt at smoking bacon. I've got two 6.5 lb slabs running at 180*. It's been about 5 hours since I fired up the 18.5 WSM. Put the belly on immediately after adding the coals, so they were added when the smoker was cold. I'm at 123 on the bottom belly and 121 on the top Is it normal for it to take this long? Going to pull at 145*.
 
Though I don't keep good records, it sounds about right. I usually start checking the bacon's internal temp right at about 4 hrs and it's rarely finished so 5+ hrs is on track.
 
you're doing fine Malvin... in fact, i'll bet you're taking them off right about now... (4:55pm your time)
 
Thanks for the input folks. Took about 7.5 hours from start to finish. I think I've learned a lot on my first run. Firstly, I'm going to pull the bellies out of the fridge about a hour prior to the smoke. I pulled them out and put them directly on the smoker. Second, I'm going to get the smoker up and running good before putting the bellies on. They went from the fridge to the smoker that had just had the hot coals added. Took about an hour and half from the smoker to ever come up to 175*. Also need to pay better attention to how I spread the coals in the snake method. Because I had some think and then thin parts, I had some trouble keeping a steady temp.

When I cut into it last night, I thought I overcooked as it looked pink like ham. Wife assures me it's not. But I fried some up and it taste like REALLY good bacon to me. All in all, good run and great results. Now they're in the fridge and will cut/freeze today when we get home from services.
 

 

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