Pepper sticks

[Smoker John]

Nice job on the sticks

[cobra6223]

no I haven't  :'(...show lots of screw ups LOL..... ok just lots of pics... put soe of the aroma in a plastic bag and send it my, oh yeah and a stick or two !!!

[SiFumar]

They look great!

[drunknimortal]

Well Curt another fine looking batch of sticks. I have a favor though.... to all of your PROS and you who you are just once would you guys post a screw up so the rest of us know you really are human and not super human !!!! Any way keep up the good work and keep sharing all that goodness with us. Tim

Well Im no pro but I did ruin around $ 80 worth of meat sticks last week working with my new smoker( not my bradley) Even the dog spit it out.

[zr2paul]

Allow the sticks to get to room temp (68 to 70 F) wile the smoker warms up

1 hr smoker set at 110 F no smoke
1 hr @ 120 F start 3 hr smoke
1 hr @ 130 F
1 hr @ 140 F
1 hr @ 150 F
1 hr @ 160 F
Finish @ 170 F

After the smoke,dump and refill the water pan and rotate the racks every hr front to back and bottom rack to top, the rack above the bottom one goes down to the bottom and all the other racks go down one, then the bottom rack goes on top.

As to when there done shoot for an IT of 152 F after that I go by look and feel,,,,,,,,,,plan on all day  ;D

In regards to the venting...at what stages do you keep it closed and open?  During the smoking stage Id assume you keep it completely closed then once the smoking is done you open the vent a 1/4 to let some of the moisture exhaust? 

Also once I'm done, do I put them straight in the fridge for 24hrs then vacuum pack?

Any tips would be much appreciated...Thanks!

Paul

[OU812]

Paul, you never want to use your smoker with the vent fully closed.

The smoke and moisture will back up into the generator and really mess it up.

My vent is stuck wide open and has been for years,,,,,,,so all my cooks are done with the vent wide open  ;D

When done with the cook allow the sticks to cool at room temp for 2 to 3 hr before you put them in the fridge

I keep the sticks in the fridge a day or 2 to firm up a bit before they get vac sealed

[zr2paul]

Im in the process of doing my pepperettes as we speak...Temperture is really hard to keep it steady.  Windy, Raining, Sunshine  >:( weather is all over the place!  First hour in I had them between 115F-120F then 2nd hour was all over the place 115F-125F ... temperature is a little on the higher side than what I want.   I'm just getting into the 3rd hour and temp is sticking at around 127F.  This will be the last hour the smoke will be on.  Not sure how much the temp will change once I turn off the smoker.  I hope they turn out!!!

Paul

[OU812]

If you push off the last burnt puck you can keep the generator on for extra heat.

[zr2paul]

Thats the problem...Im getting too much heat.

[Sailor]

Thats the problem...Im getting too much heat.

Once you turn off the smoke generator you will lose at least 10 to 15 degrees.

4/20

[zr2paul]

I'm having serious problems and Im getting frustrated  :( ... I've been rotating the racks each hour but it seams like the pepperettes arent cooking in the middle.  They look boiled in the middle but the edges look dried out.    They have been in since 12:00pm and its now almost 7pm... Not sure what to do???  Do I keep them in there until they dry out?

The only issue that I think may have caused this is I over stuffed the smoker with too many pepperettes???  Like an idiot I bought 4 extra racks thinking I can put 8 racks inside...been so long since Ive opened the smoker I didnt realize there are only 4 slots  :o .  So I have 8 trays of pepperettes all ready to go in and thats when I see the 4 slots  :P so I reveresed the racks so that each slots holds 2 racks.  Just have to becareful with top rack as the pepperettes could roll off since the racks are upside down.  Anyway....would too many pepperettes cause too much moisture inside the smoker which is causing them to look boiled?  On top of that issue I'm fighting with temperature balance....getting colder and colder this evening and its tough to get temperatures up to 170F.  I have the entire smoker covered with plywood, drop sheets, cardboard  :P anything I could find to block the wind, rain, coldness.

What to do?

Paul

[OU812]

First off Paul, lets not get frustrated, this smokin stuff is suppose to be fun  ;D

8 full racks is allot for a 4 rack smoker but it can be done, guessin ya got 10 or 12 lb in there, thats allot of moisture.

This was 12 lb in my 6 rack with fans and the double element set up and it still took me over 10 hr to get what you see here

Did ya have the vent wide open?

Cooking with 2 racks on each slot works great, just make sure the meat is placed on them so the smoke and heat can rise, note the way I got the sticks on the racks

I use to do the same thing till I added more slots, got tired of the sticks wantin to roll off the inverted racks

The wind is your smokers worst enemy, try to keep your smoke generator down wind

When you covered the smoker with drop sheets and all that other stuff did ya make sure the louvers on the smoke generator were NOT covered?

The intake air flow comes from them louvers, thats whats makes the draft.

With them blocked there will be no draft and with no draft the moisture cant escape and when the moisture cant escape the cabnet temperature wont rise and it will make for a long day

You could also poach the sticks in 160 to 168 F water after the smoke is done

If you took some pictures maybe start a new post and we all can help ya figure out your deal

I would love to see how they turned out

[pikeman_95]

Paul
You might not just want to rotate the racks but also rotate the sticks on the racks. When I make jerky in my smoker even with 4 fans I still have dry edges so not only do I rotate racks I also rotate the sticks from the inside to the outside of each rack and at the same time I flip the sticks center to the outside and flip them over top to bottom. I am quite fast at this and you can see that all the sticks are ready to come out of the smoker and are equally dehydrated and the ends are not over cooked. Just moving the racks is not enough. I am including a link of my jerky ready to go into the smoker and notice that they have a extra score down the center to facilitate the flipping the inside to the outside of the rack.

http://s943.photobucket.com/albums/ad274/pikeman_95/A%20BATCH%20OF%20GROUND%20BEEF%20JERKY/?action=view&current=NOWFORTHESMOKERANDTHENTHEDEHYDRATOR.mp4

The same works for sticks. They will have to be rotated on the racks. If your smoker shows signs of hot areas move the most undone sticks to those areas. As for the wind and rain I would suggest that you come up with some sort of drop over cover. I see some have made them out of hotwater heater wraps and that looks like a good idea.

Notice the sticks are mostly evenly smoked and dried and heading to the dehydrator.