chippewa I’m quite sure the brass washer is the original thrust washer for the vintage they didn’t use nylon back then. The brass will get polished up while doing it’s job. I’m sure a nylon one will work fine if it’s the same thickness.

smokin greg I also built a smoker from a commercial refrigerator. I used a large electric stove burner in the bottom. It heats it with ease and it would be easy to add other if necessary.

SupplySergeant me too but we’ll use more bacon then do the rest of the hog.

Jonathon we were in Arkport, a one light town in the southern tier. We farmed pruducre and had a retail farm store with a deli and bakery for 43yrs. We bought our bacon and deli meat from John Martin in Stevens PA. Martin’s have all high quality stuff. Some weeks my wife would slice 500# of bacon a week. We got tired of employees and NY regs so we quit and moved to Fla but we miss the JFM meats so we are learning to do our own now and are enjoying it. We grow a large garden almost year around and produce almost all of our food and meats.
Thanks again for your help

Jonathon people from Upstate and Western New York are great and it is a beautiful place to live. But it is hard to thrive in such a oppressive environment. We have 49 other states and I’m sure that 48 of them have to be better than New York if you want to make a living.

Thank you, that is exactly what we have found Only cold smoke from now on. Butchered a hog Saturday and ready to start making brine this morning. Can’t wait to get it done.

Jonathon people from Upstate and Western New York are great and it is a beautiful place to live. But it is hard to thrive in such a oppressive environment. We have 49 other states and I’m sure that 48 of them have to be better than New York if you want to make a living.

wellerandrew67 that is a great price I would love to get some at that price. I think many people do smoke their bacon on a pellet grill. We also have a pellet grill I don’t think it makes the volume of smoke as my smoker makes but I think you could put your bacon on there for six or seven hours and try it.

I built a smoker from a old not working commercial , sausage maker smoker generator, an electric stove heating element, and a $40 PID controller. Works really great for doing bacon and hams.

Jonathon where in New York did you come from?

SupplySergeant me too but we’ll use more bacon then do the rest of the hog.

SupplySergeant that’s pretty much the process we found we like except I’ve been using Apple wood. It’s a little hard to find fresh bellies here.
Good stuff

Jonathon By the way we do fully cook the bacon!

Jonathon we were in Arkport, a one light town in the southern tier. We farmed pruducre and had a retail farm store with a deli and bakery for 43yrs. We bought our bacon and deli meat from John Martin in Stevens PA. Martin’s have all high quality stuff. Some weeks my wife would slice 500# of bacon a week. We got tired of employees and NY regs so we quit and moved to Fla but we miss the JFM meats so we are learning to do our own now and are enjoying it. We grow a large garden almost year around and produce almost all of our food and meats.
Thanks again for your help

Jonathon I asked because my wife and I used to operate a deli where we bought high-quality bacon unsliced whole bellies in Upstate New York. We have since moved to Florida and cannot find the high quality product we were used to so we started making our own. We have been curing it and hot smoking it at 140 degrees until the bacon reaches 128 degrees. Bacon has been good but seems dense and just not the same as what we are used to. Last time we cured the belly and smoked the belly for 4 to 5 hours at 80 degrees took it out of the smoker put it in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days before we sliced it And froze it. The bellied seemed the same consistency as what we bought commercially from John F Martin & Sons. The bacon head excellent flavor and cooked up real nice.

Since most people seem to recommend smoking the belly and cooking or partly cooking we were wondering if there is anything wrong with our process?

We are very happy that we found Waltons and their high-quality products we are now making all our own sausage, bologna, hot dogs, hams, and bacon. Thank you for your help.

Does anyone cold smoke bacon? Why or why not?