Deer Stick Temperature

[deerhunter18]

Hi! Excited to be a part of this group. Tried my first set of deer sticks a few weekends ago on the Pit Boss Grill/ smoker and noticed that the lowest temp I could set it to was 185 deg. What is everyone’s recommendation here to what I should do? Do I simply smoke it at that temp until it reaches the internal 165 deg? Some of my sticks came out good and some were soft last time, thanks!

[tarp]

Got to adjust temp. ,open it up some keep it low as you can first hr. at least. It’s better that getting fat out because of to high temp.

[Jonathon]

deerhunter18 So you have a few options and we will have a video coming out on this “fairly” soon as we now have a pellet grill smoker combo that we want to sell online.
In the past we have propped the door on our oven and achieved a 30° drop on the top rack. Lowest setting was 150 and we actually got it down to 120 (I am fairly sure at least). So, propping the lid is going to be best practice for sure. However, it is -5 outside right now so that might not be possible.

We did 5 lb batches of snack sticks in our camp chef. The Camp Chef starts at 160° so our decision was, prop the lid, and bleed off some heat or just roll with 160°. Since this was the first time we had done this on a pellet combo smoker we decided to just run it at 160 till IT was 130 and then bump it.

I have to say, we were pretty pleased with the results of just starting at 160. They weren’t perfect though, after letting them sit in the cooler overnight before packaging the casing seems to have absorbed more moisture than they normally would and it effected the snap and bite of the stick. That isn’t the end of the world though so if your option is a smoker that can start at 160 then it will absolutely work, though don’t expect perfect results.

With 185…that really might be pushing it. What you might run into there are case hardening, which is where the outside of the meat cooks too quickly and can no longer pass thermal energy into the center of the stick efficiently. Or casing bursts from the temperature rising too quickly. Plus fat out is a bigger danger at that temp so I 100% recommend Sure Gel Meat Binder, Soy Protein or even Super Bind if you are planning on doing this.

[deerhunter18]

Jonathon Thanks for the info, much appreciated!

[deerhunter18]

tarp Thanks, will try to keep the temp low as best I can

[s.a.m]

deerhunter18 is that the low temp with it set on the smoke setting?

[deerhunter18]

s.a.m It is a Pit Boss pro series 850, I don’t think there is a smoke setting? There is the cap that I can open or close depending on how much smoke to release etc but the lowest temp it allows me to set it too is 185 deg.

[Jonathon]

s.a.m If you were asking me about the camp chef that was with a smoke setting of 1. I was more concerned with temp than amount of smoke at this point. I maybe could have upped the smoke settings after the first hour or so.