Hi temp cheese melted in snack sticks?!?!?

[kansassmoker]

This is my first post and just got my bradley before Christmas so I'm kinda new to all of this...I know this has probably has been posted before but I made some deer snack sticks the other day and my hi temp cheese that I bought from cabelas ended up being melted when it was finished cooking.  I bought a packaged season and cure and it called for 20% pork which all I had was bacon that I grounded up.  The cheese (which was in the freezer and should have been mostly thawed out) was suppose to go up to 400 degrees which I had the smoker set on 170 to 180 the whole time...so I didn't know why the finished product was melted....if it was the cure or maybe being partially frozen (which it might have not been) I also used edible collagen casings...any help?

[Sailor]

First of all....Welcome to the forum.  Could you provide more information?  Did you have the stix laying in the baskets or hanging.  If they were in the baskets did you rotate them front to back top to bottom.  If hanging were they in the middle, front or back.  Did you use a PID to control the temp or did you rely on the door gauge for your temp readings?

The high melt cheese will melt in the Bradley if it gets to hot just as sausage will fat out if it gets over 175.  Holding a temp below 175 just using the door gauge is like climbing a smooth mountain.  Very hard to do.  A Bradley will have wild temp swings and you may think it is at 175 using the door gauge when in fact the back of the cabinet may well be over 200 degrees.

If you can provide more information I am sure one of us can nail it down for you and help you with the next batch.  When doing sausage and stix you don't want the cabinet to get any hotter than 170 degrees.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi kansassmoker;

Welcome to the forum.

One thing you can eliminate now, is that the cure has nothing to do with your cheese melting.

[drunknimortal]

I've used regular store bought cheese in my summer sausage and it didn't melt (Tillman's). I'm new to this to but someone here will give you the answer.

[NePaSmoKer]

This is my first post and just got my bradley before Christmas so I'm kinda new to all of this...I know this has probably has been posted before but I made some deer snack sticks the other day and my hi temp cheese that I bought from cabelas ended up being melted when it was finished cooking.  I bought a packaged season and cure and it called for 20% pork which all I had was bacon that I grounded up.  The cheese (which was in the freezer and should have been mostly thawed out) was suppose to go up to 400 degrees which I had the smoker set on 170 to 180 the whole time...so I didn't know why the finished product was melted....if it was the cure or maybe being partially frozen (which it might have not been) I also used edible collagen casings...any help?

Start your sticks low like 130-140 then work up the temp.

Your whole time 170-180 is what melted your cheese.