Disclaimer here, I have a WSM 18, not a BGE. I wouldn't mind a BGE, but I am madly in love with the WSM. I don't own a DigiQ, I wondered if it would be a worthwhile addition, but the WSM for me holds temps for a good 8 hours and even past that. It's around 8 hours I start to get wiggly and decide I should feed the smoker. Usually it is all for nothing, but it caters to me being neurotic about it.
That said, I think the Maverick will be my likely choice. We shall see. Making bacon resulted in me making A LOT because I wanted to share. The WSM has two racks, so two 18" racks and I can usually fit 4 bellies on there. The second probe though is useful because the lower rack is much closer to the heat and would smoke faster.
Curing. I use Cure #2, which as I understand is intended to be used as a dry cure. There's Cure #1 which I think is meant to go into a brine (wet cure). I don't brine because I don't really have the space to keep all that meat in a large amount of water. Buckets would work best. I have thought about using my fermentation chamber though, then again, dry curing works so well I don't care to change.
I use a curing calculator because nitrite is poison if you use too much. The calculator I use is here:
http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
You will have to convert the weight of your belly into grams after you trim it all up. I use kosher salt, cure, and brown sugar for the basic bacon. I cure for about 7-10 days in the fridge. I rub the cure mix all over the belly, put into a large zip lock bag and squeeze as much air out as possible. I push on the meat to get a feel for hardness (or softness at this point) and then just kind of touch the meat every day while I flip it over in the bag. This helps keep the cure even. For a 1" thick belly, 7 days is pretty good. I think I went 9 because the day I could smoke was better suited. Longer won't hurt at all. 7 is the minimum I think.
I do trim some fat off. I try to make a nice cut giving consideration how the slices of bacon will look and the fat to meat ratio once cut.
After I cure, I wash off real well and cut a small slice and fry it up. This is a salt test. If it's perfect I simply let it sit in water in the fridge for about 4 hours, then take out and put on racks in the fridge and let air dry overnight. You do this so the meat absorbs the smoke better. If it is too salty, it sits in water for 4 more hours. If it's really salty I would just leave in water overnight and not bother with the constant back and forth. Soaking will allow some of that salt to leach from the meat because the salt wants to regulate and putting it into clean water will cause it to balance itself out.
Do another salt test if you want, but let it dry for at least 12 hours before smoking. I like to smoke over pecan. I find mesquite is good but it's a bit harsher. Hickory is the same, but offers a real nice flavor. Applewood is obviously wonderful. Pecan is just smooth and has a nice taste. I smoke at 225F until internal temp is 150F. I remove, it gets wrapped in parchment paper and then foil, it sits overnight in the fridge to cool because cold bacon is easier to slice. Before I do that, I take a slice or three...for science.
I slice and package up in my foodsaver bags and start passing it out like halloween candy.
