I've been curing and smoking my own bacon for about a decade. Wet cure in freezer bags. Always found it to be a pain in the butt filling (and spilling) the bags. Then cure for about 10 days flipping ever day. I often get pink spots in the belly where the cure can't get at,because it's laying flat. So I whipped up a prototype stand to hold the bags upright. Great for filling the bags, If it works ok, I'll make a permanent one from food grade plastic. I'm thinking the uprights could be adjustable because if you get the spacing right the liquid is pushed up to cover the top of the belly.
Any thoughts? suggestions appreciated
I recently tried a dry cure for the first time and like the flavor. The space required is more than a wet cure & draining the liquid purge is a PITA. My next time is going to be half a belly dry cure and half a belly wet cure so I can decide which I prefer.
A perhaps easier to build alternative to making the uprights adjustable would be to have some spacers you could slip in with the bag as necessary, kind of a shim.
coolfins Love that idea, I struggle the same. I have thought about making some sort of tub, but I start with a dry cure, and most of the actual liquid then comes from the belly itself. I don't know though, on of man's great mysteries. I do however LOVE the filling aspect with your rig! wHat a pain in the ass that is, and this looks way easier. I will be heading out to the woodshop soon as well. Cheers!
I was thinking shims as Murdy suggested, but was a bit stumped as bellys are never a consistent thickness. Then the light bulb went on, fill more bags with water! Worked like a dream now the bellys are completely covered. I'm temped to let it go the ten days as is.
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