My bacon didn't "take up" the smoke

[Cheech]

A few weeks ago I made bacon.  Usually I do one or two slabs that weight 5 lbs each...and I've always had great results.

This time I did five slabs of 5 lbs each...it took up 5 of the 6 shelves in my BDS.

After curing, I let the slabs dry overnight in the fridge to establish a pellicle, just like I always do.  I used the same amount of smoke as I always do (3 hours) and the bacon just didn't "take" the smoke very well. 

Do y'all have any thoughts on why the bacon might not have taken the smoke well? 

[beefmann]

with the additional two slabs of bacon, i would have increased the smoke by another hour, in my experience with  multiple pieces of meat and additional weight  you  need to add in more smoke to get the  desired smoke flavor,,,each piece absorbs some of the smoke... hence not having  the full flavor of the  smoke

hope this  helps 

[ragweed]

Cheech, I had the same thing happen last week.  Doubled what I usually do and while it turned out very edible, my bacon that day wasn't the best I've made.  Thanks, Beefmann for the diagnosis.  Lesson learned.

[Habanero Smoker]

If all slabs didn't take on smoke well, then it wasn't caused by a lack of rotation. A little more information would be helpful, such as the cabinet temperature, and how tacky the pellicle felt compared to your other batches.

Did the pellicle feel the same as the pellicle you developed on your other batches? If you allow the surface to dry too much, less smoke will penetrate and/or adhere to the surface. If it is too moist, much more smoke will penetrate and/or adhere to the surface; which can cause an over smoked/bitter like taste.

Did you smoke them at the same temperature, you have done in the past? Smoke will deposit on the surface at a higher rate, as the cabinet temperature is higher, and vise versa when the cabinet temperature is cooler.

[Cheech]

Thanks to all for the replies. 

HS - As best I can recall the pellicle felt good on all of them.  As far as cabinet temp I can't recall how this time compared to the last.  I guess I'll have to start taking some notes so I have a baseline going forward. 

[tskeeter]

Thanks to all for the replies. 

HS - As best I can recall the pellicle felt good on all of them.  As far as cabinet temp I can't recall how this time compared to the last.  I guess I'll have to start taking some notes so I have a baseline going forward.

Cheech, one of the things I do before I smoke something for the first time is prepare what I call a Smoke Plan.  On a blank sheet of paper I write down important information about the smoking process that I plan to use.   Presuming drying time and temperature.  Smoking and cooking temperatures.  What wood I'm using.  How long I'm going to apply the smoke.  How long I'm planning to cook what I've smoked.  Finished internal temperature.  For some things I'll even record what time of the day I'm planning to start smoking something and when I think it will be done.  This last bit of information helps me plan out other things I'm doing that day.  It's quite helpful when I'm frying a couple of turkeys, smoking a couple of turkey breast, making gravy, making stuffing, and making potatoes or other side dishes all at the same time.

When my Smoke Plan is complete, I slide it into one of those plastic pouches that fits into a three ring binder.  The pouch keeps my Smoke Plan clean and legible and being able to add it to a binder when I'm done with the smoke keeps my collection of Smoke Plans in one place, where I can find them when I'm going "what did I do last time?".  If I made on the fly changes, or decide something else might work better next time, I'll add some notes to my Smoke Plan, cause I sure as shooting ain't gonna remember those ideas a month or two from now.

[Grouperman941]

Thanks to all for the replies. 

HS - As best I can recall the pellicle felt good on all of them.  As far as cabinet temp I can't recall how this time compared to the last.  I guess I'll have to start taking some notes so I have a baseline going forward.

With a bigger load, there's a good chance that the bacon spent more time at a lower temp than usual due to recovery times.

[Jim O]

 Cheech - Regarding taking notes - I use a log book in which I note date,outside temp,what is being smokes, amt/type of smoke,oven temp used,length of time cooked and smoke. I refer to this if I'm unsure of what I did last time.