Thanks all... actually I eat very little bacon - give most of it away. I did a lot of research on the web, bought a few books and asked around.
One of the challenges, for me, is to avoid nitrates. Most commercial products you buy, Salt 1 or 2, Prague salt etc. contain it and it is nasty stuff. Used in small amounts it does its job but it is deadly. My challenge is to not use it. I use a recipe of 1/3 salt, 1/3 brown sugar and 1/3 maple syrup. I brine the portions in zip-locked bags for a week, turning them over daily. From research, you can freeze the end smoked product for about 6 months, but you must consume the bacon in 2-3 weeks when stored in the fridge... not an issue. The cold smoke system allows you to control smoke and temp over 2-5 days. The building is not air-tight. Some buildings have controlled vents. I left the eves open and enough cracks to let the smoke through. **** Remember this is all new to me and a huge learning curve.*** The fire box is 8-10 feet away from the house. Mostly 6 inch ss pipe. I use apple wood and pruned branches from my trees but I do have access to pear trees, cherry and plum on my land - so over time I may try them all. Stay away from the coniferous woods. I got the internal temp of the bacon slabs up to 100+ degrees and smoked for about 6-8 hours. Some research info says 80 degrees, some say cook it at 150... I usually take a slice off and try it. If it is not smoked enough you can always continue. So long as there is smoke coming out it is working. Because I gave up salt years ago I do find it a bit salty. I took one piece after smoking and let it sit in water overnight and drained and tried a piece. The sweetness and smoke is there but not the salt - this I prefer but my friends don't mind the salty taste, so I guess you can fine-tune as you go. I will try fish next and some cheese as well. Some people are smoking pepper, salt and other spices for added flavour. A ton of info out there... I did do some hot smoking over the years with great results. I bought a hot smoker from local hardware store... it looks like R2D2. Simple but works. Hopefully I have answered most if not all of your questions. Along with the pizza oven build - this is another thing crossed off my bucket list! Cheers... PS: you all need to do this!!!! And yes to do need to tend the fire.
