On the back of the Backwoods Maple Bacon cure the directions call for 1/2 Gallon of water per 20 lbs. of meat. That is 64 oz. or 8 cups of water when using the wet brine technique. For your 5 lbs. of meat you would have used 16 oz. or 2 cups of water for a wet brine.

I used a 50/50 ground venison & pork 20Lbs. Total 4-1/2 cups of water with the entire seasoning & pink salt packages. Let it marinade for 24 hrs. Pack it in lined foil cake pans overnight to form a square mold. After 24hrs remove from cake pans & smoke with apple wood. 130 degrees 2 hrs. 160 degrees 3 hrs. 190 degrees 1 hr. I pulled it at 140 degrees inside temp but be sure to pan fry to reach safe edible standards. It is amazing!
Wish I could post photos but site won’t let me.

I have, but remember, the longer you go usually means its saltier

If you’re making Bacon I would not use a Pork Loin. It has more meat content then a Pork Belly. Bacon needs the higher fat content. We get ours at Costco, it’s cheaper there than at most butcher shops and they have in stock, whereas butcher shops usually have to order it. I hope this helped, good luck.

Injecting is not needed. Bellies are thin enough to be able to be cured without injection. Injecting may also make the bacon more salty. I'm not sure if you inject the bellies if the brining process would be shorter, my instinct says yes, but i would still cure for at least 4 days. Which is the shorter end of the suggest brining time 4-7 days.

It contains maple flavoring (Natural & Artificial).

No this product does not contain MSG.

Yes you can! When making less you will want to use 6 tsp of seasoning and a scant 1/4 tsp of cure per pound of meat. This is for the dry method only.

We do offer a Maple Breakfast seasoning, it is for fresh sausage making. You can add cure to the mix if you are wanting to smoke the sausage and are looking for a Maple flavoring. The SKU # is 9624 /makes 5 lbs. or 9013 / makes 25 lbs. The ratio is a scant 1/4 teaspoon to 1 pound of meat.