Canadian Bacon done

[bigredsmoker]

I got my 16lbs of Canadian bacon finished up last night and it tastes great. It did come out a little on the dry side. is that how it is suposed to be? I used Habs recipe and followed it to the letter. The flavor is great. I am wondering if a wet cure would leave it more moist. I am used to the store bought mass produced stuff and it is pretty moist, but does not have near the flavor of the stuff I made.
Also, I had a really hard time keeping my smoker at 200. I don't think the heat element ever shut off during the entire time. It took from about 1:30 to 8:30 when I took the last piece off after reaching 150 IT. When I went to empty the water bowl I  noticed it was bone dry, and I had the black water coming out of the hinge corner of the smoker. I think what happened was that the heat element heated the water to boiling thus causing considerable condensation and then the the black water running out of the smoker.

If anyone has any suggestions for the next time I would love to hear them. Thanks for a great recipe Habs!!

Terry

[Habanero Smoker]

The finish product is not as moist as the commercial product. I've used the wet brine recipe on the recipe site, and did not have good results. I've also tried using "enhanced" pork, and that was a disaster.

As long as the pork is commercially produced in the States, I now take my Canadian bacon only to 145°F; no higher.

Seven hours is a long time, so I would expect the water bowl to be dry, but I'm puzzled by the moisture build up. What position was you vent set at?

The seven hours in the smoker may have also contributed to the meat's dryness.

I will begin curing a 3.25 piece tomorrow, and waiting for some maple flavoring before I cure the other 3.5 lb. piece (I could not find maple flavoring locally). I may try a different way of finishing the cooking process to see if that makes a difference in how moist the finished product is.

[bigredsmoker]

The vent was about 1/4 of an inch open, that may have been the problem with the moisture. I have read other posts from someone else having the same issue. I think it may have to do with multiple things. How far the vent is open, outside temp, how long the heat element has to stay on to maintain temp. This is not the first time I have had the moisture issue. It has happened on some of my other smokes as well. I am smokeing three pork butts tonight for the superbowl so will see if it happens again.

I think once I am smoking in more normal temps (40's and above) my moisture problems may go away. I also think that the bacon would be more moist if it wouldn't have had to cook so long. live and learn, that's waht this smoking thing is all about isn't it?

Thanks for the feedback Habs!

Terry

[pensrock]

   bigred, I also have been having moisture problems and have been discussing it with Bradley. No solutions yet. We have discussed everything that had been discussed here also. Vent position, moisture in the product, amount of product in the tower, openings in the 'V' tray. We just have not been able to get a handle on what is going on. Is it something I'm doing wrong, is it an issue with the BDS? Mine seems to use a lot of water when this happens, I blame the moisture as a problem from the water coming to a boil thus causing steam. I tried to open the louvers to allow more heat to move more freely into the tower vs getting trapped near the water bowl. I has had some improvement but not a lot. I am beginning to think it has something to do with the way the BDS turns the heating unit on/off. I think it is staying on so long trying to get the product/tower to temp that the water starts boiling and causing excess moisture.
   I am in the process of fabricating a seperate box to generate the smoke in so I can remove the water from the tower and just have an empty bowl to catch the drippings. If this works, it will prove my point that the moisture is coming from the water bowl and not the product. It does not prove why it is happening though. I'm to the point now that I wish I would have visited these forums before making the BDS purchase because it looks like I will be making a PID modification as well as the cold smoke box modification. The digital control just does not control the way I expected. I assumed the digital control was a PID control, do not assume, it is just an on/off control with no way to make adjustments to the control! So now I have about $500.00 tied up in the BDS and it does not control as expected, it causes moisture, and I cannot cold smoke as expected. I could have bought the OBS and made the mods for probably much less money. Actually I could have just bought the smoke generator and made my own smoker like many others here have done. Like you stated, live and learn.
   When I make the Canadian bacon I keep the IT down to 140-145, it stays somewhat moist and does not dry out as much when I fry it up to eat.

[Mr Walleye]

Pensrock

Your water issue is definitely puzzling. I too have a DBS and prior to making any mods to it I never had any moisture problems with it.

With regards to the mods of a PID and cold smoke setup. There are some advantages to using a DBS over a OBS. IMHO it's not a total wast of money spent. Some of the advantages are:
- The OBS has a control board under the door which can cause issues if they get wet.
- The OBS front legs are integrated into the plastic control cover which often crack allowing moisture into the circuit board.
- When you connect a PID to the OBS you have to make sure the temp slide is always maxed out. The DBS is a direct connection to the element.
- When using the DBS with a PID you have the ability to have the generator shut itself off after the smoke portion is completed.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with an OBS. At the same time, I feel there are some advantages to using DBS as a starting point.

Just my humble opinion.

Mike

[pensrock]

Mike, good points well taken.
   Having never owned an OBS I was not aware of any of the issues dealing with it. I still wish they made it a little more clear that the DBS is not actually a PID controlled system as I felt I was led to believe. The digital part of the smoke generator does work well and you can program the smoke time and have the puck burner turn off after a timed period.
   Its just a little annoying finding out after spending so much money that to get the best preformance you still need to spend xtra to add the cold smoke box and a PID contol.
   I'm getting ready to fabricate a cold box at work and am looking for a used temperature controller to make my own version of the PID control, I will be adding a digital timer to shut the heat off after a set time. I will have a selector swith to bypass the timer if I want to. I also will have the two alarms in the controller to use if I want. If I find a controller like we use at work, I will have the ability to ramp the temperature up at a set ramp rather than just jumping from say 120 degrees right to 180 degrees. I can set it to go from 120 to 180 at whatever I want, for example 30 degrees per hour. I'm still thinking the actual design over before jumping into this modification.

[Mr Walleye]

Pensrock

I agree with you about the DBS temp swings. It certianly would have been nicer if it had a little tighter swings. You would think that instead of the current controller they use they could have had a built in PID. Your project sounds very interesting. Keep us posted on it as you progress.

Mike

[Bad Flynch]

>I am wondering if a wet cure would leave it more moist. I am used to the store bought mass produced stuff and it is pretty moist, but does not have near the flavor of the stuff I made.<

That is because, for the most part, commercial packers are allowed to pump the meat to 110% of its original weight so that the stuff is supposed to shrink down to its original weight as it is cured and smoked. That is one of the reasons that water runs out of commercial plastic packaging when you open it up. Basically what you are experiencing with yours is a quality product, done the way it should be. You can increase the moisture by wet curing and pumping, but then your product suffers from the same quality defects as the commercial stuff.

[Habanero Smoker]

Great discussion with a lot of subject to mull over.

I've smoke a variety of products, different load sizes, and under various weather conditions. The only time I ever had a moisture problem is when I attempted to smoke 10 pounds of Tyson chicken wings (drumettes). That when I learned the hard way about the moisture in poultry skin, or any animal skin, because picnic shoulders with skin will have the same effect.

The problems that Mike mentioned about the OBS are easily corrected. You only need to raise the front end 1/4" to ensure that any moisture will flow towards the back of the smoker. If the crack above the temperature adjuster is a stress crack, then when you raise the front end make sure you place the load on the cabinet and not the front feet.