Today is Bacon Smoking Day

This morning I heard that we may have showers tonight and again tomorrow, so I decided it was time to take the beef out of the fridge and rinse it for 20 minutes.  The meat is gray looking because I didn't use nitrites.  I would fill the sink swish the meat around until the water was frothy then drain and fill again.

I put the meat on racks in the fridge to dry.  I used a flour sack towel to get the excess water off.  I read that they are suppose to be dry when smoking.  The smoke is suppose to attach to the layer of dried film. 

I built a fire in the smoker box using an electric charcoal starter.

I closed the drawer a bit after I saw a little flame, so it would air draft the coals.  The chimney was wide open. Note the the grill has a temperature gauge on the lid.

  After the coals started flaming I took the starter out, closed the drawer, and made sure the vents were fully open.  When the temperature reaches 200 you can put the meat on. 

I soaked my Full Circle Hickory Chips in a bucket of water.  You should do this hours before.  You can even do this overnight.  I made a pouch of wet chips with foil, and put a few holes on top.  Then threw a few wet chips on top of the hot coals then add your pouch.  You might have to check that you didn't smother the fire with the pouch.  Keep the grill at 200 degrees.  

Here's what I used: 

On went the meat.  First I had it too close to the right side.  You can see the top of the piece on the right got a lttle browned.  Oops....   

Close the vents if it is to hot.  Lump coal burns hotter.  I had to open the top a couple of times to cool it down.  Open the vents if it starts getting to cold.  Add more coal if it continues to cool down.  I had to turn the grill around, so the natural breeze flowed into the smoker box to get the fire going again.  Then I turned it back around, and closed the vents a bit when it was back up to 200 degrees.  Constantly watch the grill to maintain your temperature between 175 and 200.

Continue smoking for 3 hours.  When the meat reaches internal temperture of 160 its done.  One site said that after smoking for 3 hours you can finish getting the meat to 160 in the oven.  I am guessing at 200 degrees.

I am listing a few sites that I used as a reference, but actually there are many, many, more sites about how to make bacon.  I read and read to try and get it right.:  http://www.deejayssmokepit.net/BeefBacon.htm, http://letsmakesomethingawesome.com/2011/03/home-cured-bacon-without-nitrates/, http://ruhlman.com/2010/03/corned-beef-how-to-cure-your-own/,