Don’t Make the Same Mistake I Did


 
Rich Dahl

Rich Dahl

R.I.P. 7/21/2024
I was doing a low temp smoke on a slab of bacon on my mini. I was using a 2-1 snake with hickory.
I started the snake and put on the bacon, started up the Maverick and settled the temperature at 160.

After about 2 ½ hours the bacon hit 129 and stayed there for almost two hours and never moved.
I checked the temps with my two thermopops and they agreed with the Maverick

The problem ended up being I put the grill temp probe right above the front of the snake and it was getting the heat coming straight up from it. When I relocated the probe the actual grill temp was 130. So of course the bacon sat at 129.

Especially with a snake make sure you locate your grate probe away from the snake.
 
Here's your sign :p
Shouldn't be a problem Rich, years ago I cold smoked bacon at 100-125.
Some folks still do and they don't worry about it hitting 140-150 on the slab.
I'm no food scientist, but don't think it has to get that high internal to be safe.
 
Yeah, cold smoking bacon is normal. I wouldn't worry about it. If you're unsure, send it to Chris and have him feed it to his pet mouse.

No, wait...he killed it.
 
Bob Correll said:
Here's your sign :p
Shouldn't be a problem Rich, years ago I cold smoked bacon at 100-125.
Some folks still do and they don't worry about it hitting 140-150 on the slab.
I'm no food scientist, but don't think it has to get that high internal to be safe.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jim, just trying to be cautious until I'm comfortable with the bacon thing. I was able to get the bacon up to 145 after I moved the probe. Should have known better when I'm running a snake and have the vents almost totally closed top and bottom to keep it a 160. One of the problems with a short smoker, not much distance from the fire to the grate.
 
Nothing to worry about Rich. I cold smoke using pellets in a tube. Chamber temp never goes over 100 and I smoke for 8 hours or so.
 
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