Snack sticks in the works

[drano]

Time to try out my new 900 watt fin heater--with some snack sticks.
Was planning to buy 80/20 ground beef. 
But they had boneless chuck on sale at $2.99.  OK, throw four of those in the cart, and off we go for a 12.5 lb batch, to finish up the Frisco brand snack stick mix I need to get used up.

I mix the spices with 2 cups water into the cut up meat, then grind--letting the grinder do the mixing.  Then I added 2 cups more water to make stuffing easier (for the motor--not my arm!).

Stuffed, and in a storage pan for the night.  Wow, the fridge smells great!

First up Monday morning--autotune the Auber PID for the new 900 watt element.  I dug a brick out of the snow to simulate a meat load. 
Then hang as much on 3 sticks as will fit, and get smokin.  Hope I can get it done in 2 smokes. 

[beefmann]

looking good so far,,, hope the 900 watt element  and auto tune works  like it should

[drano]

Thanks.
Autotune is running.  Should be done soon. 
Sure came up to temp quick with a 4x4x12" landscape brick in there!
I'm hoping for some quicker low 'n slow smokes. ;)

[drano]

Autotune done, sticks loaded at 930.  Now rolling the smoke with 3 cherry and 3 hickory. 

[OU812]

Lookin gooood!!

With that big of a load in there ya might want to rotate them sticks front to back

[drano]

You read my mind-rotated them at 2 hours, and will continue until done.
Thanks!

[Kevin A]

You should get some good color with that wood combo. Looks great so far!

Kevin

[Keymaster]

Looking really good!!!

[drano]

OK, they're done, turned out great.  This Frisco's mix definitely has a little heat in them, but not overpowering. 
Not sure the temp control was as good as it could be--I've got the wall mounted sensor about 1/2 up the back wall, so not a perfect setup.  Some day I need to buy the hanging sensor. 
Tuesday I'll finish the 12.5 lb batch--I think today was about 2/3 of it.   I'll lay them on the rack and see how that works.   Will make rotating a whole lot easier than pulling the dowel rods out. 
Here's a shot as they were close to done.

And here they are on the kitchen counter.  The front corners got a little warm so those bottoms got a little crunchy, but still good. 

[OU812]

OH YA!!

I use them Frisco seasonings all the time,,,,,,there just a couple miles from were I work  ;D

[drano]

Thanks Curt.
Yes, I like everything I've bought from Frisco--Beer Brat, Summer Sausage, Snack Stick, and Breakfast Sausage mixes.  And their collagen casings are a good price with lots of sizes available.   

Put the remaining 3.5 lb of sticks in the smoker this morning, and after about 3 hours, the smoker temp dropped to 70 deg--used IR thermometer on the finned element, and it was only 100 deg.  Connections were good, cycled PID off and on, PID green power output light was on.
So I transferred them to the oven to finish them up. 
I'll troubleshoot the smoker tomorrow to make sure the fuse and wiring are good.  Then call Zoro Tools and hope they'll replace it if its bad.  If its the element, I hope I just got one of the small percent that fails, and the next one works well.  If not, I'll join the dual Bradley element mod club.