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Hmmm... Must Be Time for More Bacon

Going to Jersey to visit the in-laws. Bringing a couple slabs to keep 'em happy. Got the Egg going at 200. Heatermeter keeping it steady. I'll toss in a couple chunks of hickory and in two hours or so we'll have meat happiness. 

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Madison, CT
LBGE June 2013. 

Comments

  • All on and ready to go. 

    image

    image
    Madison, CT
    LBGE June 2013. 

  • NDG
    NDG Posts: 2,431
    very nice!  how many lbs per slab?
    Columbus, OH

    “There are only two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as if everything is” 
  • Looking good. Did you brine? 
    LBGE, Weber OTG w/ Rotisserie, Weber Genesis S-330, Chargriller Duo, AR-15, AK-47
  • Thanks!

    @NGD I believe they were around 5lbs a piece. They seem a little on the small side. The last batch I had a little trouble fitting it all in there, This time, not so much. 

    @JC I used a dry cure from Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn posted in Cookstr.com. I've used a couple and this is my favorite so far. 

    Madison, CT
    LBGE June 2013. 

  • Thanks!

    @NGD I believe they were around 5lbs a piece. They seem a little on the small side. The last batch I had a little trouble fitting it all in there, This time, not so much. 

    @JC I used a dry cure from Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn posted in Cookstr.com. I've used a couple and this is my favorite so far. 

    Thanks, that sounds similar to the recipe I've used. Do you have a slicer or you going freestyle?
    LBGE, Weber OTG w/ Rotisserie, Weber Genesis S-330, Chargriller Duo, AR-15, AK-47
  • All freestyle. No slicer yet.
    Madison, CT
    LBGE June 2013. 

  • I have my first belly in the fridge going on day 5. It will be ready to smoke saturday morning. man all these pics are making me drool!  :)
    Woodstock, GA
  • I'm in Madison, almost in Durham.

    Bacon done. This is slab #2, the top one. Bottom one was done almost an hour ago. 

    image
    Madison, CT
    LBGE June 2013. 

  • I had never heard of a HeaterMeter until this post. How do you like it? I have been looking at buying a CyberQ because of its WiFi features but I also love the Raspberry Pi and wouldn't mind rolling my own. Would it work with Android appliations like this one (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bdm.pitpal). I would mostly want some sort of application to alert me if something was going horribly wrong on the grill haha.
  • I really love this thing. It was a blast to make and has worked flawlessly for the 5 or so cooks I've used it for so far. You can set it to email with some Linux scripting and I've seen folks say they can get it to alert them other ways like tweeting. There is at least one android app I know of that has been talked about on the forums called PitDroid. I'm not sure what it does as far as an alarm. I would say look into it a little more. If you're comfortable with a soldering iron, an empty circuit board and a small pile of electronic parts you're most of the way there. I have minimal experience with these kinds of projects and it worked perfectly first boot.
    Madison, CT
    LBGE June 2013. 

  • Yea I have no experience at all but it looks interesting. Do you mind if I ask how much the project came out to all said and done?

    I also wonder about the quality of the probes. One think keeping me from buying a Maverick is the probe quality. I wouldn't want them to go out all the time. But maybe the CyberQ's are not much better.
  • The probes I use are for the Maverick 73 (the 732 probes won't work without modification). They basically get me in the ballpark and I follow up with my Thermapen for greater accuracy. Thermoworks makes a better quality probe that will work too, the TX-1001X-OP. I'll switch to those as these probes start to fail. All in all the project came out to around $230. I had all the soldering equipment and an extra SD card. 

    Circuit Board - $15.00

    Electronics / Fan - $61.00

    Case - $30.00

    rPi - $43.00

    Wifi card - $10.00

    Power Supply - $6.00

    Probes - $55.97

    Small sheet of stainless for fan enclosure/mount - $9.00

    Madison, CT
    LBGE June 2013. 

  • Great thread - bacon and electronics! Thx
    Alan in LA (Lower Alabama that is)
    "If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before!" 
  • The probes I use are for the Maverick 73 (the 732 probes won't work without modification). They basically get me in the ballpark and I follow up with my Thermapen for greater accuracy. Thermoworks makes a better quality probe that will work too, the TX-1001X-OP. I'll switch to those as these probes start to fail. All in all the project came out to around $230. I had all the soldering equipment and an extra SD card. 

    Circuit Board - $15.00

    Electronics / Fan - $61.00

    Case - $30.00

    rPi - $43.00

    Wifi card - $10.00

    Power Supply - $6.00

    Probes - $55.97

    Small sheet of stainless for fan enclosure/mount - $9.00

    How much work was this to assemble?  Were you able to link to the phone via the app with no issues?  This thing is way cool!  I had seen it earlier in other posts and forums but hadn't really looked into the link with the Android.
    Alan in LA (Lower Alabama that is)
    "If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before!" 
  • There is a free app for iOS that I just downloaded called Pit Meter. The author says he's still working out the kinks but it worked flawlessly for me yesterday. I don't have any experience with the Android app. I just know it's out there from postings on the hetermeter forum. 

    As far as work to assemble, I didn't think it was too bad. It took a couple weeks to get almost everything. There were some components that were backordered and I eventually had to get them from different places. My time is usually monopolized by family, school and/or house projects. It took me over a month. I'd say if you have everything lined up and waiting to be assembled on your bench and you made no mistakes you could get it done in an uninterrupted weekend. Probably all soldering could be done in day one, formatting and loading the sd card and making the fan housing in day two. I have a little experience soldering but from way back in the 80s. I was a little rusty to start. 
    Madison, CT
    LBGE June 2013. 

  • There is a free app for iOS that I just downloaded called Pit Meter. The author says he's still working out the kinks but it worked flawlessly for me yesterday. I don't have any experience with the Android app. I just know it's out there from postings on the hetermeter forum. 
    I'm the author of the Pit Meter app. Glad to hear it worked well for you. I would say that right now I have all of the kinks worked out. If you have any questions or feedback pop on over to the HM forum and let me know. Bacon looks awesome BTW. I have to try that. I think this is more of a hot smoking technique? How does the finished product come out different than cold smoked bacon?
  • Nice job on the app! Worked like a champ. It was also the first time I was able to use the alarms as I'm clueless to linux shell scripting. Setting them on the app made it easy. 

    As far as cold vs. hot smoked bacon, I've yet to cold smoke. Hopefully an A-Maze-N smoker will be under the tree for me this year. Other people have posted a small difference in texture with the cold. It seems from what I've read that some people may have a slight preference to one or the other but nobody dislikes the other.

    We're actually talking about this a bit over here:

    Madison, CT
    LBGE June 2013. 

  • jtippers
    jtippers Posts: 512
    Conneggticut_Yankee - I hope yours turned out as good as mine did... I will be doing this again!
    SBGE December 2012 •  XLBGE December 2013 •  Yoder YS640 July
    Location: Jasper, Georgia

  • Sorry I have one final question about the HeaterMeter. I saw the config page on this thread: http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1156059/my-bbq-controller#latest

    It looks like it has all of the features of a CyberQ like open lid detect. The only thing he says is that ramp down is supported via scripting. Has this since been made easier? As far as I know based on that thread I linked to, ramp down is the only "missing" feature from a CyberQ. This feature seems nice to me b/c if a cook looks like it is about to finish when I am at work, I can rely on the ramp down to keep it from drying out for an hour or so.
  • As far as I know it looks like a cut and paste script. I haven't had a need for that feature so I have yet to look into it. Also, the forum over there is just as helpful and friendly as this one here. It seems there is a lot of people wiling to help and I've yet to see an ugly discussion.

    Here's a list of some scripts including the ramp down. 


    Hope this helps
    Madison, CT
    LBGE June 2013. 

  • Do you cut the skin off the bacon. Picked up a couple of bellies today and am going to start the bacon on Saturday. Can't find my copy of Charcouterie

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • jtippers
    jtippers Posts: 512
    I cut it off following the hot smoke. That was the recommendation in Charcuterie.
    SBGE December 2012 •  XLBGE December 2013 •  Yoder YS640 July
    Location: Jasper, Georgia

  • I cut it off after the smoke too. Much easier than doing before, trust me. 
    Madison, CT
    LBGE June 2013. 

  • U_tarded
    U_tarded Posts: 2,041
    Do you cut the skin off the bacon. Picked up a couple of bellies today and am going to start the bacon on Saturday. Can't find my copy of Charcouterie
    after if you want to use it in a pot of beans or something like that.  before if you want to render the fat for lard or to make cracklins.  i've done both, with a cold smoke its slightly easier to do after.  
  • This is going to sound like a stupid question, but before reading the recent bacon posts I had never heard of buying bellys. Is this usually something you have to ask the Butcher for or is it known by other names? Thanks.
    Making the neighbors jealous in Pleasant Hill, Ia one cook at a time...
  • Smoking ten pounds today cold smoking for 10 hours with the a-maze. Using my Bradley cabinet instead of the egg, 
    Just call a meat market and ask if they have any pork bellies. Mine said the always had them
    Jefferson .GA.  
    Been egging since 1985 on a medium egg
  • Nsdexter
    Nsdexter Posts: 195
    I've always used variations of charcouteries recipe, I find adding juniper berries instead of mace adds a really nice flavor. Bellies are easy to find if you ask the guys at the meat counter usually.


    I usually make a xmas version with clemtentin and nutmeg ( tried and tested it tastes amazing) this year I did one for gifts that has ghost chillies and some caramel ontop. Spo far the stuff I've eaten has been interesting, hotter than hell but tasty.
    HFX NS
  • Here was my setup yesterday.
    Things I learned..I need a cold smoke adapter so I can burn my Amaze about two feet from my cabinet and my smoke cools on the way in. The Amaze does throw out heat.Not alot but enough to raise my temps to the low 100 range the last five hours. Ten hours of smoke. The first row in the A-maze was Hickory the other 3 were apple.
    The first half was great as temp hung around 72. The ice helped but melted two fast since the A-maze was under it.. Bacon is now in the frig in a vacuum seal bag for about 4 days to mellow. Then I will slice and freeze.
    Probably cut back on the salt next time. I sliced an end piece off to sample and it was pretty salty. I just hope cutting further away from the end that it will be less 
    Jefferson .GA.  
    Been egging since 1985 on a medium egg
  • Nsdexter said:
    I've always used variations of charcouteries recipe, I find adding juniper berries instead of mace adds a really nice flavor. Bellies are easy to find if you ask the guys at the meat counter usually.


    I usually make a xmas version with clemtentin and nutmeg ( tried and tested it tastes amazing) this year I did one for gifts that has ghost chillies and some caramel ontop. Spo far the stuff I've eaten has been interesting, hotter than hell but tasty.
    i hated the mace. that was the first thing to go. It was very bitter to me. Good call on that.


    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX