Snack stick help

[Blowchowski]

HI All,
Long time lurker first time poster...

I've had my Bradley for about 3 years now.  I make some mean chicken, salmon, turkey and pork with it, and absolutely love it.  Yesterday for the first time, I made some venison stick with it.  There seemed to be an issue with the evenness of the product cooking.  The spice packaging came with smoking instructions that started the sticks at 140 for the first hour.  It then called for 140 for two hours with smoke.  After that it was 160 for 1 hour, then 180 until an internal temp of more than 156 was met, then icing etc. etc...  As I followed the cooking profile, the stick in the center of the unit didn't come up to temperature as fast as the ones in the front.  As I looked at the ones in the back, they too were starting to look more done than the ones in the center.  I ended up having to finish the process in the oven with a temp probe. The total weight processed was about 13 lbs. and was hung on dowels. 

Is this how it usually works?  Any tricks?

Thanks in advance

[Tenpoint5]

Without any pictures it is hard to decipher. I am going to do some guessing from the info provided. 13lbs of sticks, thats quite a few sticks. Guessing you had them all on 3 racks to keep them up and away from the heating element. Thus you had them packed together to tightly and it minimized the airflow around the sticks. The only place for the air to flow was up the back and up the front by the door the sides have the flanges to stop the flow. Next time use the fourth rack and every time you make a temp adjustment rotate your racks from front to back and top to bottom. Should help things out quite a bit. Like I said just a guess from the information provided. Glad you finally came out of the shadows!!

[FLBentRider]

W E L C O M E  to the Forum Blowchowski!

I concur with 10.5.

A visual of the smoker in action would be helpful, but it sounds like the sticks were in there (too) close together.

[Blowchowski]

I hope this works..
And I think I know what I did.  I suspect I interrupted the convection action within the smoker by placing the tray on top of the sticks.  I had a little left over mix and spread it like  jerky on a rack so as not to waste anything...  It looks like I re-routed the normal air flow within the smoker creating a cooler zone in the center. I think?

[RAF128]

I made some sticks a little over a month ago.   I hung them from doweling.   I made mine about 5 - 6 inches long.   IMO if they're too long the bottom will cook faster than the top.   Mine turned out pretty good.

[pensrock]

I lay my sticks back and forth across the racks. That way I can rotate the racks top to bottom and front to back to even out the cooking. Others installed a small fan to help circulate the heat to even things out.

[RAF128]

I'd like to put a fan in mine but wonder where I can get one that can take the heat.   The one you use, is it batter operated or do you have to run a cord out the door and how do you prevent smoke and heat from leaking out?

[Blowchowski]

I may try the racks next time.  The local processor advised me not to do that because the metal will heat up and cook the stick more where it touches the meat and give me an uneven finished product.  Maybe I'll just do the racks, rotate the rack, and rotate the sticks...  Would the recovery time on temperature excessive doing it this way?

[NePaSmoKer]

I lay mine flat too with no over done spots. Racking them lets you do more LBS.


nepas

[Blowchowski]

Really?  I had 13.5 lbs in mine.  Are you using 4 racks?  how much can you fit in yours?

Thanks

[NePaSmoKer]

Really?  I had 13.5 lbs in mine.  Are you using 4 racks?  how much can you fit in yours?

Thanks

I have a 4 rack that i can add 4 more too make 8 racks and get around 12.5 pounds in. But i have means of another smoker for larger quantities of sticks  ;D

Like 75 to 100 pounds at a time.



nepas

[Mr Walleye]

Hi Blowchowski and welcome to the forum

I also have a large smoker for doing batches of sausage up  to 100 lbs. When I was using my 4 rack Bradley I felt I got a better finished product by hanging it. I also felt I could get larger loads in that way. When I made snack sticks I usually did 10 lbs at a time. For Kielbasa I would do 15 lbs at a time. I did find in certain areas in the smoker the sausage finished first. I just pulled them as they finished. I do have a circulation fan as well which helps. Certainly adding the rack above you sausage may very well have interfered with the air flow. 180 for a cabinet temp may be a little high, I usually use 165 or 170. Here's a picture of how I hung mine to max out the interior space. I used hog rings for the hooks.




Mike

[Blowchowski]

Outstanding.  And thanks everyone for the warm welcome.  I look forward to sharing info when I'm schooled enough   :D

Mike, Nice walleye in the avatar.  I'm an Erie central basin walleye guy myself..  (how long did it take for your sticks to get done hanging like that?  was your temp constant?)

[Mr Walleye]

Outstanding.  And thanks everyone for the warm welcome.  I look forward to sharing info when I'm schooled enough   :D

Mike, Nice walleye in the avatar.  I'm an Erie central basin walleye guy myself..  (how long did it take for your sticks to get done hanging like that?  was your temp constant?)

Excellent! Another walleye guy!  ;)

That was Kielbasa in  38/42 hog casings and the typical time was around 8 to 10 hours at 165 to 170. The odd time I have got away with increasing the temps up to 175 but anytime I have bumped it up to 180 I end up either rendering the fat out or having tough casings. Ya just have to be patient...  :D

Mike