Experience with extended usage of Bradley wood burner element?

[Dano]

Hi everyone,

I've had my pork belly curing for 12 days now and am getting ready to cold smoke it out using Habanero Smoker's (HCT modified for Bradley) triple smoked bacon instructions.  The only difference is I followed the curing mixture from the Bradley Maple Bacon recipe on the Bradley site as I only have access to their curing mixtures(cannot find #1 or Mortons TQ here).

To add to this, I have the Bradley cold smoke adapter and gave it a quick test with 3 maple bisquettes last night.  Temp never broke 80F at the middle and high point in the smoker using a digital reader with probe.  :) 

My concern is one of safety. I usually attend to the smoker in the garage and pipe the smoke outside as I don't have a spot outside for the Bradley so has anyone left just the wood burner on in the cold smoke setup for extended periods of time(days)?  I'm not a fan of leaving an electric element plugged in for long periods of time, especially unattended overnight 'just in case' something happens so looking for experience here.  I see that the longer you rest the bacon at room temperature in the smoker the better it is, so I'd prefer to do this rather than setting it on the wire mesh on the counter over night in the house(70-72F resting).

Thanks in advance!

Dano

[Saber 4]

I have never cold smoked bacon before so I can't answer on those questions, however I have left my SG on overnight while smoking butts and briskets without any issues. There have been members that had fires due to excessive grease build up in their cabinets but those were not using a cold smoke adapter

[Dano]

Thanks Saber4!  I carefully monitored over an hour with a digital probe and found the heat middle/top of the smoker box to be a consistent 80F so I can't see that being anywhere near combustible temps.  However I cannot speak to the SG because of experience(lack thereof mainly).

I guess it all comes down to risk.  Leaving the bacon out at room temp for the day before applying another 3 hours of smoke vs the SG being on all night and day to maintain the same heat in the smoker box.

I'll keep searching the web forums but I'm going for some quality bacon since I have 10 lbs of pork belly.  :)

[beefmann]

i have dome many over night smokes/ cooks in my  bradley with no problems, though others  have reported issues, only thing i can say is have the smoker away from the house if you  have any  concerns, Bradleys have built in safety devices that are  designed not to over heat, and as long as you  keep the bradley  clean,,  grease drippings off of the element and around it . .you  should be  fine

[Dano]

Thanks beefmann.  In this case it's a cold smoke setup so only the generator element will be on.  The smoker box is disconnected and the heat follows the cold smoke pipe up to the box.  That's why I'm not too concerned about a fire BUT I wanted to weigh in on everyone's experiences here which are far more extensive than mine.  :)

[Habanero Smoker]

I have to agree, it is better to air dry in the Bradley at 80°F. 

Though I have never left it on for 3 days, I have had numerous long extended cooks, and left the bisquette burner on for up to 16 hours. To this day I have not had any problems with my generator or burner. When I make Triple Smoke, my setup it a little different. I also use the cold smoke setup, but use a temperature controller to control the heat element to maintain the cabinet temperature, and only turn on the bisquette burner when I am applying smoke.

[Dano]

Thanks Habanero Smoker!  What I might just do is detatch the cold smoke adapter and carry the smoker chamber inside.  That way it's resting indoors at 70F while being inside the smoker(with the hole open where the SG fits to allow air in).  Safest way I guess to achieve the best of both worlds.  :)  Since I have a man door in my garage to the basement it's all of 2 minutes extra work.

I'll let everyone know how it goes.  There's still a chunk of bacon that's not quite firm yet from the cure so I should have results and pictures by this Monday or Tuesday!

[Habanero Smoker]

Do what is most convenient for yourself, but if you are going to let it air dry at 70°F, which will be the same as the house temperature, there is not need to dethatch everything and bring the cabinet indoors. You can just bring the bacon indoors, and you can place it on a wire rack or hang it. The only benefit of keeping it in the cabinet would be if you can hold the temperature at between 80°F - 90°F.

Looking forward to the results.

[Dano]

Ahh good call.  Ok wire rack it is.  Safest and easiest.

After 14 days of sitting in the Bradley Maple Bacon cure recipe(3 tbsp of their own bradley maple cure + some other flavours) I noticed on one of the pieces of bacon it was turning a light brown color.  It was only a bit on the side and meaty face of the bacon so I'm wondering if it was starting to go bad.  The light brown colour did not match any of the other pieces so I thought I might have to trim it off.  Of course, I couldn't smell any rot as the smell of the cure was still present but wanted to weigh in on what everyone has seen so far.  I didn't get a chance to take a pic but it was a light brown vs red colour.  I overhauled the bacon every day in it's ziploc so I'm not sure how it could have happened.

Thoughts?

[Habanero Smoker]

If it is on the surface of the meat, it could be several things, but it sounds like oxidation, which is not harmful. But different ingredients in the cure can cause discoloration. If possible a picture would be helpful. 14 days is a long time, but not overly long. Does Bradley recommend that curing time for bacon?

[Dano]

They do. I got the recipe and procedure off their site for 'maple smoked bacon'. They say 1 week per inch of thickness and go by the thickest part. Mine was just shy of 2 inches so 2 weeks. I'll check it in a bit as its sat for a day to rest.   Looking forward to this.   :)

[Dano]

So I ended up doing a double smoke over maple with letting it sit inside the house over night.  On the second day I brought the temp up to 155F and it now looks like the double smoked euro bacon at the deli.  Sitting in the fridge today and will carve it up tonight and I'll probably fry some as I'm still a bit leery about eating the bacon without seeing it 'cooked' even though the temp was brought up.  I don't see any more discoloration due to the smoke I think.

Will post pics soon.  Thanks again all!  :)

[Habanero Smoker]

Why did you only do a double smoked?

Do what you feel safe with, but it is fully cooked at 140°F (145°F by USDA guidelines). It would be the same as eating sliced cured ham but much better flavor. So when you feel comfortable enough take a bite without further cooking. :)

[Dano]

Lol...why indeed?

I have to say it turned out fantastic.  I did let it rest in the fridge for an extra day afterwards wrapped tightly in plastic wrap though.  The pre-mix Bradley maple cure is excellent!  I haven't seen many posts on it but it turned out fantastic and will be using it again.  I used the recommended 3tbsp per 5lbs less about 1/2 tsp and it's not salty or strong at all.  I brought some into work after rendering the fat a bit in a frying pan on low and people are now asking when the next batch will be. 

Thanks again to all who contributed some much needed information for making my first cold 'double' smoked bacon adventure a complete success.  I'll be doing another batch of 10lbs again very soon and will try the triple smoke.  If I can figure out how to attach pics here I'll add one.  :)

[Habanero Smoker]

I'm glad to hear it turned out good. Now you got me thinking of making some. :)