Snack stix stalled took 24 hrs
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Made 50 lbs of stix. Started smoking, had issues with my smoker. They stalled out at 145 for 6 hrs. End up finishing in my oven in batches, to internal temp of 160°. By that time it had been 24 hrs. Is it still safe to eat even though it took so long? Thanks
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processhead Power User Regular Contributors Smoker Build Expert Bowl Choppers Nebraska Veteran Team Camo
If you used a recipe that included cure I think you should be fine.
Curious to know what kind of smoker you have and how many lbs of stick you had in it? -
processhead I had 25 lb of snack stick Willie’s and 25 lb of the barbecue snack stick it’s a homemade smoker I have two burner element in the bottom of an old bread proofing oven about six feet tall 2 and 1/2 ft deep and a foot and a half wide the two burner elements are wired to a thermal controlled PID controller
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twilliams Power User PK100 Regular Contributors Team Greyreplied to AaronSilves on last edited by twilliams
AaronSilves the homemade smoker dont sound too off the wall, just unsure about of the insulation factor to retain heat.
Other than that im guessing the issue is somewhere in your processing or smoke/cook schedule
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processhead Power User Regular Contributors Smoker Build Expert Bowl Choppers Nebraska Veteran Team Camoreplied to AaronSilves on last edited by processhead
AaronSilves
The smoker sounds like a good design over all.If the two-burner element is a typical 120 volt unit, I suspect it may not have enough wattage (thermal capacity) to bring 50 lbs of product up to the required max temp .
Have you successfully done 50 lb batches in the past?
Also, is it insulated? If not, heat losses are much higher than when using an insulated cabinet which compounds the problems from overloading.
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glen Regular Contributors Team Grey Sous Vide Canning Dry Cured Sausage Masterbuilt Power User Meat Hack Winner Veteran Kansasreplied to AaronSilves on last edited by
AaronSilves What was your smoker temp during the stall?
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It was the smoker not the prosses that was the problem. I had my controler set for 175°, but it wouldn’t get above 145. Prosseshead I think your right about the 2 burner element not getting/having enough power. The box is insulated, but not sure how well.
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Definitely a few things to work on before my next batch I was just more concerned about the snack stick being safe to eat
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The ambient temp or air temperature in the smoker with the same as the snack stick 145 so definitely something to do with the smoker not getting warm enough
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processhead Power User Regular Contributors Smoker Build Expert Bowl Choppers Nebraska Veteran Team Camoreplied to AaronSilves on last edited by
AaronSilves said in Snack stix stalled took 24 hrs:
Definitely a few things to work on before my next batch I was just more concerned about the snack stick being safe to eat
It may be as simple as breaking your smoking down into two or three separate sessions.
After all the stuffing, load the smoker with fewer sticks. Put the others in a tub and refrigerate till the following day.
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processhead Power User Regular Contributors Smoker Build Expert Bowl Choppers Nebraska Veteran Team Camo
It has been my experience with home processing type smokers that you can reach some of their fundamental limitations when you attempt to overload them.
First is not having enough heating capacity to bring cool product up to the required internal temperature. The second is not enough internal volume needed for proper air flow past the product and out the flue for sufficient drying.
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glen Regular Contributors Team Grey Sous Vide Canning Dry Cured Sausage Masterbuilt Power User Meat Hack Winner Veteran Kansas
You may try running it empty to see if a high enough temp is even obtainable
Assuming your 2 burner plate is 1800 watts you are already at 15 amps so adding more electric heat may be a problem with your existing outletGive a man a fish and he eats for a day
Teach a man to fish and he drinks beer for a lifetime -
processhead Power User Regular Contributors Smoker Build Expert Bowl Choppers Nebraska Veteran Team Camoreplied to glen on last edited by processhead
glen said in Snack stix stalled took 24 hrs:
You may try running it empty to see if a high enough temp is even obtainable
Assuming your 2 burner plate is 1800 watts you are already at 15 amps so adding more electric heat may be a problem with your existing outletAgree with glen. My largest home build smoker has a 2400 watt 240 volt oven element as it’s heat source. It is hard wired to a dedicated circuit, but it also has the capacity to do fairly large batches.
If you have to operate from a dedicated 120 volt 20A circuit you may have one already you can use. If not, they are generally not too difficult to run.
My best guess is the element you have will raise the smoker up to 200 degrees easily when it is empty. What you will need to find is the maximum amount of product that it can hold and stay within the heating capacity limitations.
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AaronSilves just to clarify you set it to 175° from the start of your smoke/cook cycle and let it go? Or did you do the step up temp settings?
