10 lbs of snack sticks

fishrman · March 04, 2012, 03:05:48 PM

We can't seem to keep snack sticks in the house, so decided to do a big batch today - 10 lbs. Spent a few hours last night combining beef and pork, mixing in the seasonings (used Hi Mountain Hickory and Pepperoni) and stuffing the casings. Used the jerky gun to do the stuffing and after doing 10 lbs. of these, considering getting the sausage grinder/stuffing attachment for my kitchenaid mixer! They all went into a couple of 2 gallon ziplock bags and into the fridge for the overnight cure.

Up this morning at 5:30 to get the ball rolling. First, out of the fridge and onto the counter to take the edge off the chill while the BDS preheated to 200F:

Then it was time to pull out the stepladder and stage the sausages for the smoker. For the first time I decided to hang them rather than use racks. Used 1/2" aluminum L-shaped pieces as the hanging supports. I figured hanging would allow for better circulation of heat and smoke, especially since I put in the recirculating fan:

Then it was into the BDS with 2 hours of hickory. 10 lbs. is quite a load, especially when, as a part of the mix I'd added in 2.5 cups of water. As a result, after 2 hours the IT was only about 115F, a long way from 165F. Took the better part of another 3 hours to get to finished temp. Since I'd put the fan in, I chose not to rotate (actually, since I was hanging them I could not think of a quick and efficient way to do so!) and see how things worked out. Here they are just about done and lookin' pretty tasty:

When they hit the desired IT I shut down the smoker and opened the door a few inches and let them hang there for about an hour to cool down - fighting the temptation to take a hot one out and eat it right away. In retrospect, why did I fight it? So after an hour I pull one, cut it up and share it with the wife. She gives it a 2-thumbs up so life is good in the household. I went back and unloaded the smoker and here's what I saw in better light and with all sticks visible:

It turns out that the bottom ends got a bit overdone, so there may be a small amount of waste. Or maybe it'll turn out to be just a bit more chewy but still delicious (haven't tried any of the well done parts yet). I don't know if it is because A) 10 lbs. is too big of a load so it had to cook a lot longer, B) because I measured IT in a shorty stick and should have put the probe in one of the lower ones or, C) that's just the way it is, the smoker will always be hotter at the bottom. Guess I'll just have to do it again soon and change the variables around a bit ;).

Another good day of smokin'.

viper125 · March 04, 2012, 03:14:14 PM

Well if your going to hang you have to switch end to end. I use a cotton string to tie the other end together then just reverse while smoking. Either that or trays and keep rotating. i hate losing even the tiniest piece of meat.

mikecorn.1 · March 04, 2012, 03:52:23 PM

I had the same problem with my last batch. That's with the fan running. They were still good. Just a small amount of throw away.
BTW. I though about a stuffer after doing 5 lbs a couple times. Lol. :D

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ghost9mm · March 04, 2012, 03:54:45 PM

Well they sure look real good, and I know they will be gone in a short time...

SiFumar · March 04, 2012, 04:23:00 PM

Looks good! How long to stuff all that by hand? If y'all like them that much a stuffer will definitely help.

rsherman24 · March 04, 2012, 04:40:09 PM

great looking sticks. I have been stuffing mine in about 36 inch lengths. I tie the two ends together to form a loop. Makes it easy to flip them over during the cooking process and seems to avoid the burnt or dried ends. I rotate front to back and flip the loops over once or twice while cooking.

JZ · March 04, 2012, 07:02:31 PM

Damn - I thought the fan would solve the rotating issue and I just finished putting one in. Haven't even got to try it yet and it doesn't work.

Maybe 2 fans will do the trick.

I am with Viper on this one I would prefer not to lose any of the sticks to waste. Maybe racking and rotating is the answer.

Thanks for posting your results and hope you didn't loose too much to waste. Heck at my place the dog will eat it (or I will). ;D

fishrman · March 04, 2012, 09:26:28 PM

Love the advice about tying the other end with string to allow for fast rotation. Will have to try that next time around!

Since the bottom seems to stay so much hotter, do you think it is radiant heat coming from the heating elements via the drip pan or is it truly convective heat but that there is so much moisture in the sticks that as it rises it cools? BTW, I had the pit probe at the bottom front of the chamber (you can see it in the photo) and I dropped my Maverick probe down the vent about 6". I saw about a 25F temp difference between the two probes at hour 3 but during hours 4 and 5 the top gradually rose to get within a few degrees. Maybe it is a combination of both the radiative and convective heat?

fishrman · March 04, 2012, 09:29:28 PM

Quote from: SiFumar on March 04, 2012, 04:23:00 PM
Looks good! How long to stuff all that by hand? If y'all like them that much a stuffer will definitely help.

Mixing/stuffing/cussing took about 4 hours all said and done. Right forearm was a bit tired from squeezing down on that Jerky gun trigger for the 38 14" sticks. A stuffer was definitely sounding good at the end of that process! Perhaps the addition of several adult beverages during that process would have been a good idea . . .

Gizmo · March 04, 2012, 09:37:19 PM

Quote from: fishrman on March 04, 2012, 03:05:48 PM
Used the jerky gun to do the stuffing and after doing 10 lbs. of these, considering getting the sausage grinder/stuffing attachment for my kitchenaid mixer!

May want to reconsider the KitchenAid route. The stuffer attachment is very slow, very labor intensive to push the meat into the auger and tends to smear the fat even with multiple trips of the unit into the freezer to keep it cold. Don't get me wrong, it works, but if you plan to do this often and in batches of 10 lbs, I would suggest getting a 5 or 10 lb verticle stuffer.

devo · March 04, 2012, 09:47:22 PM

The fan mode makes a big difference in heat distributions but it's not big enough to be a cure all. Mine won't even start spinning in the cold winter mornings till the smoker heats up. Kinda like me I'm not getting out of bed till the furnace kicks in :)

mikecorn.1 · March 05, 2012, 05:46:06 AM

Quote from: devo on March 04, 2012, 09:47:22 PM
The fan mode makes a big difference in heat distributions but it's not big enough to be a cure all. Mine won't even start spinning in the cold winter mornings till the smoker heats up. Kinda like me I'm not getting out of bed till the furnace kicks in :)

Are you saying that the fan will not spin? Sounds like it's stuck? I was having that issue too when it was
Cold. I emailed Scott at smokeandstuff and he told me that the screws that are holding the
Fan to the housing might be
Too tight causing the shaft not to spin freely. I didn't think that was the
Problem cause the shaft spins freely when done by hand.

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