24 lbs of venison snack sticks

[Dave in AZ]

Whew… 0210, just took them out of ice bath. Decided to finish on smoker instead of SV… that takes a long time. 5 hrs to 160 f internal.
Had about 20% cross rib beef, 18% brisket fat, rest venison. Willies seasoning. Added msg, ascorbic acid accelerator, cure1.

18mm smoked collagen. Ran out near end, had to do a half stick of 21mm fresh collagen. Laid all horizontal in smoker so OK, but didnt want to SV the fresh. Probably would have been OK inside bag to SV.

Will package after an hour or 2 of drying and bloom.

[gus4416]

Very nice looking snacks

[bocephus]

Dave in AZ That should last you awhile.

[Deepwoodsbutcher]

Dave in AZ they look good. I like the Willie’s seasoning.

[Dave in AZ]

gus4416 thx Gus!
bocephus they never last as long as I expect

Deepwoodsbutcher thx much! My wife wanted me to try doing it all outside of the kitchen, so I did it in a much smaller workspace this time. I was thinking of your new shop while working, and how workflow and a walk in cooler wod help me!

[zbigjeff]

Dave in AZ Much effort and looks like a good result. You’ll be good for awhile. Like your precise measurements for current and future batches.

[Deepwoodsbutcher]

Dave in AZ looks like you made your space work for you.

[Denny O]

Dave in AZ said in 24 lbs of venison snack sticks:My wife wanted me to try doing it all outside of the kitchen

Well, I like your not in the kitchen workspace!

[Dave in AZ]

Denny O lol… ok, I did all the grinding and mixing and stuffing elsewhere. I guess I did do the ice and cutting and bagging in the kitchen

[processhead]

They look very good, but I am curious about the color variation on a few of them. Any thoughts on what caused that?

[Jonathon]

Dave in AZ I was going to say the same thing as processhead I am guessing you used a smoker that had a smoke box that was up against a rear wall and that heated that wall more than the others? It is what happened to me when I used the Camp Chef Vertical Smoker and loaded it chock full.

[cdavis]

Dave in AZ good looking sticks. Congrats

[zbigjeff]

Dave in AZ There’s much there to be consumed in the future. I truly like mine while sitting around an open fire. You just have fun wherever you decide. Great job.

[lkrfletcher]

Dave in AZ - Yeah Man!

[Dave in AZ]

processhead and Jonathon
if you mean the 20 or so at front left that are more grey brown vs reddish, I ran out of 19mm smoked casings and had to use 21mm fresh collagen, so they were clear, and make that color.

However, also there were oddly a few ends that were much darker, like brown black, for 6 inch or so. Those appeared to be at the edge near bottom. Upon cutting and eating, they didnt seem overcooked and no fat out, so it looks like they just got waaaay more smoke than others maybe? Like Jonathon said, I think that was due to racks being super full, and maybe a bit hotter near that side? I used a Bellas Cold smoke generator, and the smokin it smoker digital control seems to hold internal temps within 2 degrees. Anyways, it’s a good tip from Jon and I will investigate that!

I almost didn’t have spaces with 24lbs in there, need to buy a few more racks. But I don’t think it was a temperature thing based on the 140 to 170 temp level and 4 temp probes at various heights bottom to top, all showing within 4 degrees f. But maybe could be, with it jammed full reducing air circulation…
I may try to get a fan in there to circulate, any suggestions on where to get one that can take the temps and smoke creosote etc?

[Dave in AZ]

cdavis lkrfletcher zbigjeff thx much!

[processhead]

I had some dark staining on snack sticks when water vapor condensate from the from the chimney ran down the inside and dripped on the sticks. Product touching the inner walls like I think Jonathon mentioned could also cause that. Really anything that touches the black creosote on the walls or chimney and then touches the product can cause some dark discoloration.
I haven’t had it happen for a while and kind of forgot about it, but it is a possible cause.

[Craig Rice]

processhead on my Master built the smoke enters and exits on the same area, next smoke on sticks I think that I will put the bottom tray in with 1/2 of it wrapped in foil to create an off set flow

[Dave in AZ]

Dave in AZ said in 24 lbs of venison snack sticks:

I may try to get a fan in there to circulate, any suggestions on where to get one that can take the temps and smoke creosote etc?

Hey, just thought I’d post this here, Auber Instruments makes a new circulation fan for smokers, that they specifically show mounted in my smoker (Smokin It 3.0 pics, I have 3.5). So I know it will work in CookShack and Pk100 smokers too. They have nice graphs of how it affects temperature uniformity and max range.
https://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=929

[John Belvedere]

Dave those are some nice looking sticks. Love that Willies seasoning.