Ok, I use dark brown, but have used lite, not much difference for my palette. Do the bellies have the skin on or off? A week in the fridge for bellies. If they are real thick (over 2 inches) go 10 days also if the skin is on, go a couple of days longer, as the cure only penetrates on the side w/o the skin. I never try to take skin off the bellies prior to smoking, as they come off real easy after smoking. For me, FEC is plenty of smoke, but if you enhance it with whatever method, it would be fine. I even added some hickory powder to one of my recipies and it really had a nice flavor.
After the meat is cured, rinse the bellies good in cold water. Then cut a small piece off and fry it up. If it's too salty, rinse/soak it some more until it's where you want it. After the rinse, I put mine on bacon hangers and hang in the fridge for at least 5 days, and have went 10. This drys them real good and even promotes moisture loss. I lose over 30 percent water weight in the curing process, which really enhances flavor.
Not a bad price on the bellies, Jay, you too!! I charge 6.00 per pound for mine, but have not figured out the dry ice shipping. I normally don't sell mine, as I like to eat them. I have two bellies off one of my pigs I just got back from the processor. Her hanging weight was 347. Both bellies together weighted 39 pounds and are over three inches thick in some places, without skin. That along with the 40 or so pounds of ham will keep me curing for the next few weeks. I'll do them in meat lugs and stack them in the fridge. The bellies will be done first, so I'll hang them then smoke and get them out of the way before I rinse the ham, as the ham will take longer to cure.
Oh, by the way, the same pig yielded 62 individual 3/4 inch pork chops.