Hot stick

[bocephus]

Ironworker71 Did you do an ice bath after smoking, that really helps with the casings not peeling off.

[Ironworker71]

I sprayed with water.Is it better to use ice cold water? Thank u for all the info.Nothing more frustrating when u ruin meat!

[Dave in AZ]

Ironworker71 said in Hot stick:

I really think it was mixed good. I also used encapsulated acid.what do u mean about protein extraction?

Not sure when you added the encapsulated acid, but it is supposed to go in at the very end with almost no mixing except a gentle dispersal. If you mixed the ECA too much, the acid gets exposed, and it breaks down the meat binding you just worked to make. This leads to crumbly texture, and Fat Out due to not binding the fat with the protein anymore.

You also mentioned the deer was left to thaw in sink overnight, but didn’t say what it’s temperature was…sounds like it may have been room temperature, not 32 to 34 f, which would also cause issues. Another video to watch in addition to the one Jonathon linked, is 2guysandacooler at youtube did one where he started with cold meat, but one batch he didn’t rechill between grinds or stuffing it… just that alone led to 4x as much fat rendering during cooking vs. the one he kept well chilled.

[Jonathon]

Ironworker71 Few things, most of them have been touched on above but unless you have a smoker that can spray, run the fan, then spray, then run the fan then yes, Ice bath absolutely superior to spraying. However, I don’t think that was your issue, that’s gonna help stop the cooking process but if you have fat out, it already happened before that phase.

Dave in AZ asked about the Encapsulated Citric Acid above and if you added that with the rest of the ingredients then there is your problem. If you rupture that encapsulation then it is going to denature your proteins and kill the bonds which would cause your issue. (also Dave that’s an interesting video from them, I want to try that cause it seems like 4x is extreme, but maybe! When Cabelas90 who is a commercial processor and I were talking we agreed that 90+% of issues is either meat gets too warm or lack of protein extraction)

I think the most likely thing from what you say though is, twice through a 3/8 isn’t going to get the meat fine enough to get proper protein extraction. You need to go through 3/8 and then through 1/8 plate. That is going to break the meat down enough and it will bind much better.

[Ironworker71]

Thank you for the help. I put the encapsulated in last and didn’t mix much by hand.I think , like ur saying The meat got warm and I never used that 1/8 plate ever. I always just double ground but will use for sure now on!Thanks again

[TimC 0]

What was your salt level? You need at least around 1.75% meat weight = salt to extract protein & create bind. Encapsulated acid is relatively fragile and the capsule can dissolve if the blend sits too long before stuffing. You can also strip the capsule off if you grind or chop the mix after the encapsulated acid is added and the acid will destroy bind when you add more mechanical action during stuffing.

[cdavis]

bocephus just saw that I accidentally downvoted your post. It’s fixed now. Sorry

[bocephus]

cdavis Not a problem, I have hit the down vote button by accident on occasion.

[Dave in AZ]

Jonathon was watching some vids and ran across this one I mentioned above, and you said you were interested. Turns out it was 5x as much fat came out, I said only 4! You can see in the vid he doesnt really abuse the meat temperature, just doesn’t do a good job on one batch ensuring it is rechilled. Pretty impressive how much difference in texture and fat out it makes to do poor job keeping meat chilled while grinding, mixing, and stuffing.
https://youtu.be/_NQy7IUK3Sc

[cdavis]

Dave in AZ very informative. Thanks again