First time snack sticks and thermo processing
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taufrecht 30 hours for snack sticks is way too long so there are a few things that could be going on here. (sorry, I know we’ve kind of moved on but I wanted to point this out)
You might have gotten case hardening, where the outside of the casing either cooks or dries too quickly. At -8 I hope you warmed up your smoker first and then tried to keep the doors open for short periods while you loaded it? Adding humidity is a good way to increase the thermal processing energy as it fights off the stall and helps convey the heat more effectively into the meat.
Last thing, it COULD be an issue with your PK-100. I remember someone else saying something similar recently. I hope they don’t have a bad batch of controllers or something out there. Using a thermometer that can check the ambient temperature in the smoker is probably idea.And, of course, finishing in water speeds everything up!
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processhead i bloom mine with a fan blowing on them. Works good.
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smokinbubba the term “bloom” i dont quite understand, the look of my snack stix, summer sausage and ring bologna has the same look from finished out of smoker to 20 minute ice bath to 1 hour set dry time and after overnight in fridge before packaging. So not really sure on the term or what it is supposed to do
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Bloom is basically a resting period after the ice bath. Some smoked products will develop a nice mahogany color. It also dries a little. It really helps my sticks that were finished in sous vide. Didnt see much color change in thise tho.
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taufrecht call customer service at proSmoker
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processhead Power User Regular Contributors Smoker Build Expert Bowl Choppers Nebraska Veteran Team Camo
Could be several things causing that.
- Bad temperature probe telling the controls that it is hotter than it actually is, so the controller doesn’t call for the element to turn on.
- Bad control board.
- Bad or intermittent wire connection between control board and the element.
- Bad heating element. Usually when they go bad, you will get zero heat .
Depending on your skills and comfort troubleshooting electrical power equipment, you may want to have a technician look at it for you.
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processhead i assume it is under warranty, if that is the case only a certified technician can dive into it.
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processhead Power User Regular Contributors Smoker Build Expert Bowl Choppers Nebraska Veteran Team Camo
Yes, if its under warranty, exhaust all those options first.
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taufrecht I have forwarded your information to the manufacturer to see if they know what this might be. Hopefully they will respond quickly with a “fix” if not it is possible that they will need to contact you directly. I will let you know what they say asap.
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Jonathon, please post what you find out from the manufacture. I had previously submitted a request for help from the group for a similar occurrence with my PK-100 and my first and only so far attempt to make snack sticks. I got some suggestions to try the next time but overall I came away with the conclusion that it can’t keep up with Iowa winters at either temp setting.
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JoeB Team Blue Oklahoma Military Veterans Veteran Yearling Sous Vide Canning Masterbuilt Power User Regular Contributorsreplied to GWG8541 on last edited by JoeBThis post is deleted!
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I contacted Bill. He said the PK100 will Not work well in cold weather. He did give me some ideas. I will push my smoker outside my garage and complete the smoking process in cold weather. I will then put my smoker inside my garage and complete the cooking process
More to come. -
So the pk100 will not work well in cold weather per the manufacturer? I have been wanting to purchace this smoker for a while and i use my smokers year round in Pennsylvania. I have a smokeshack and never had any problems with it. It is too small and only gets down to 140. I liked that the pk100 could cold smoke for cheese and bacon and hoping a better smoke flavor than using smoke tubes
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twilliams Power User PK100 Regular Contributors Team Greyreplied to DieselAddiction on last edited by twilliams
DieselAddiction you will not have an issue with cold temps, yes it may take longer to finish compared to doing it in the summer but they are very well insulated. I am having a hard time believing it will persay “cold smoke”. I’m thinking it will still get too warm using the factory burner and may still have to use a smoke tube
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lkrfletcher Sous Vide Canning PK100 Team Blue Power User Colorado Military Veterans Veteranreplied to taufrecht on last edited by
taufrecht This is news to me. I have used mine in the snow at 5 degrees here in Colorado and it worked. Very strange.
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lkrfletcher I thought it seemed strange coming from the manufacturer also. I can see them saying that it need to work harder to keep temp but to say it doesn’t work good when it is supposed to be so well insulated. I also understand there are vents on top and bottom that would cause some heat loss but kind of disappointing to hear
