stuffer troubles

[Fair-chase]

 Mixed up 5 lbs 80/20 venison to pork last night. I used LEM hot stix mix and stuffed into 19 mm collagen cases through a 3/8 tube with my manual 3Lb. stuffer. My 13 year old son and I got it stuffed , but it took both of us riding on the handle to get it through the 3/8 nozzle. I even added a little more than the 5 oz. of water to try and help : didn't seem to.

Do the 5 lb. vertical stuffers have more umph making this less of an issue , or is this the 3/8 nozzle , mix ,etc. ?

[marauder11]

I have had similar problems. I have added more water to some batches and it seemed to make a little difference. I am not an expert but i would say tube size would be the biggest factor.

[lophole]

I had the same trouble. I shelled the teeth out of my 5lb stuffer (electric). I ended up putting up to 2 cups of water to 5lb of meat. It gets pretty thin but it works. Remember you are working opposite of a hydraulic cylinder. Big piston pushing through a small hole. Good luck.
lophole

[NePaSmoKer]

Mixed up 5 lbs 80/20 venison to pork last night. I used LEM hot stix mix and stuffed into 19 mm collagen cases through a 3/8 tube with my manual 3Lb. stuffer. My 13 year old son and I got it stuffed , but it took both of us riding on the handle to get it through the 3/8 nozzle. I even added a little more than the 5 oz. of water to try and help : didn't seem to.

Do the 5 lb. vertical stuffers have more umph making this less of an issue , or is this the 3/8 nozzle , mix ,etc. ?

Its the tube size and the temp of the meat. Next time get the meat to close to room temp, then add the mix to the meat, mix by hand then stuff.

NOTE: If you add your dry to the meat and then let it get to room temp it will be starting to bind together. Thus making it hard to stuff again.

nepas

[Fair-chase]

 Thanks guys !

  I mixed my seasonings with luke warm water mixed and stuffed as soon as I got done mixing. The meat however was straight out of the frig and very cold. Next time I'll let the meat warm up some.


I hung these stix from dowels on 1x3 blocks. This was my 2nd attempt at hanging sausage in the bradley. I haven't been happy with the results. On both smokes the bottom of the links had the highest I.T.  the tops were a little lower and then the middle was the lowest by a good bit. I'm not using a circulation fan , and maybe thats a must for hanging sausage .

I took these stix out of the bradley at about 140 I.T. and finished in a 170 deg oven. Stix turned out ok , but this didn't work as well as I had hoped. Even though oven temp said 170 my 2 mavrick probes said otherwise 190-210 deg which is way to hot.