Tell me I'm okay....

[Dom R]

I have a 4lb belly smoking at 180F in the WSM and the probe is reading in at 100 after only 45 minutes. Is that normal? I'm going to be done in less than 2hrs at this rate and most folks smoke for 4 or even 5 hours. Should be worried that I will hit 145 in less than 2hrs total?

 

[Dave from Denver]

I'm sure it will be tasty even if it only smokes for 2 hours, no sweat.

 

[Dom R]

Well I'm decreasing the temp down to 160 now so hopefully it will slow down.

Thanks Dave....I hope your right.

 

[Marc]

Even a couple hours of smoke will give you great flavor. That said: next time I'd try to keep the smoker a bit lower and be sure that that the pork goes on cold out of the fridge.
Sure it's going to be great. Let us know.

 

[Dom R]

Well in the end it took 4hrs for the belly to finish after it hit a wall and stayed at 115 for more than an hour. I don't think I will attempt to do this again on a work night as I never had a chance to slice it up or fry some to taste after I cleaned up.

Now my parents vacuum sealer is not working so there goes that plan. I have plenty of ziplock bags but not sure how lomg the bacon will keep. Any ideas?

 

[Len Dennis]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dom R:
Now my parents vacuum sealer is not working so there goes that plan. I have plenty of ziplock bags but not sure how lomg the bacon will keep. Any ideas? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

As I suggested elsewhere Dom, put the bacon in your ziplock, stick a plastic straw in part way, zip it up part way, suck the air out holding the "seal" and pull the straw out/zip it the rest of the way at the same time.

Accomplishes the same thing as the sealer.

 

[Dom R]

Thanks Len. I'll give that a try.