25lb batch of Jalapeno Cheddar Snack Sticks
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Haven’t made anything for a bit with summer in full swing. Took advantage of the summer sale and free bonus free shipping weekend to pick up the 50# mixer so had to give it a shot. This is after telling myself for years I don’t mind hand mixing and didn’t want yet another large piece of equipment to clean. Sucker for a new tool I suppose. Honestly cleaning this is pretty easy - as long as your sink is big enough to hold it.
Started with 25lb of pork butts (Costco boneless $2.49/lb + $5 off per 2-pack - ouch). Did a single pass on a 3mm plate then mixed with seasoning/cure (this batch was the PS one), 2 quart water, and 2.5lb hi-temp cheddar.
I have been using 21mm collagen casings with a 13mm tube for some time due to some issues with 19mm with 12mm tube on my Hakka 15lb stuffer. This batch gave the 19mm another shot and had no issues. Well, except when I started and forgot to switch handle to the stuffing gear on my Hakka. Threw a few choice words out and was about to switch to 13mm horn when I realized. After that it went well. Next batch will try to go down in water by 1/4 quart or so and keep doing that till I find a good balance of stuffing ease vs water added. I also intended to use Sure Gel this batch - but forgot it on the counter.
Let sit overnight in fridge and hung them out for a bit while loading up the dowels. Currently running at 130F with smoke after an hour at 110F to dry. Plan 2h @ 130F, 1h @ 145F, (remove smoke and rotate dowels), 2h @ 160F, then 170F to finish. May do sous vide depending how they are after 160F.
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Denny O Iowa Team Camo Weber Grills Canning Gardening Cast Iron Regular Contributors Power User Green Mountain Grill Sous Videreplied to Jamieson22 on last edited by
Jamieson22 Must not be too hot where you live, we are into the 90’s to 100 here. I won’t try cold and very low smoking in this temp.
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Currently 81F with high of 85F and 69% humidity here in Chicagoland with a nice breeze. Def not cold smoking weather but lowest I am doing is 110F with majority at or above 135F. No major issues with that.
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Denny O Iowa Team Camo Weber Grills Canning Gardening Cast Iron Regular Contributors Power User Green Mountain Grill Sous Videreplied to Jamieson22 on last edited by
Jamieson22 And you have an electric smoker. Mine are pellet and propane.
Denny O's-Smokey Bones
I'd rather be sit'in in a boat fish'in and thinking about God,
Than sit'n in church and thinking about fish'in! -
Jamieson22 Team Blue PK100 Regular Contributors Power User Illinoisreplied to Denny O on last edited by
Denny O I have a pellet smoker running 160F right now on some jerky.
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Here they are after hour 4. Just pulled sawdust pan and rotated the dowels. Not too different than first pics!
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Jamieson22
Perfect!
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Jamieson22 Them are great looking snack sticks I need to try and make some of these
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Dave in AZ Military Veterans Sous Vide Canning Traeger Power User Arizona Dry Cured Sausage Dry-Cured Expertreplied to Jamieson22 on last edited by
Jamieson22 very nice writeup and pics, thank you!
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6 hours in I just opened real quick to put a probe into one. 2nd dowel back, front/middle stick is reading 135F. Bumped smoker to 175F and shut vents down.
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Jamieson22 looking good. I just did a very similar project last week with my PK100-turned out awesome. Let us know how they turn out…I ended up bumping mine up to 180 about 3 hours in to get them to get up to 155 quicker.
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Jamieson22 Team Blue PK100 Regular Contributors Power User Illinoisreplied to Woody1551 on last edited by
Woody1551 Do you mean 3 hours into total cook or 3 hours into the final 170F stage?
I just went out to pull some jerky off my other smoker and my IT was now 148F. Will def spot check a few once I get to 155F to make sure my probe is actually in middle vs outside edge. Seems pretty quick to gain that much temp.
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This is what I did:
1 Hr @ 100 to dry vents fully open
1 Hr @ 130 vents 1/3 open. Added full pan damp hickory funneled out center
1 Hr @ 155
1 Hr @ 170
1.5-2 Hr @ 180 vents closed until IT of 155
I did give them a quick 30-second ice bath and then put them on a towel in the fridge spread out to dry them a little for about 5-6 hours. They were fantastic. I never removed the sawdust pan, just let it go until it was done which was about 3 hrs after I put it in. Good smoke flavor, but a little much for my wife. I think next time I will do exactly the same, but use 3/4 pan of sawdust funneled out in middle. -
Jamieson22 Team Blue PK100 Regular Contributors Power User Illinoisreplied to Woody1551 on last edited by
Woody1551 How big of a batch was this? I do 25lb and have been a tad disappointed on how the PK100 does. Just seems it doesn’t have enough power for a full batch.
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I did 12.5 lbs. It is tough to fit 25 lbs of sticks in there, but I do 25lbs of summer sausage quite easily. I actually did 50 lbs of summer sausage a couple of weeks ago and that was too crowded. Didn’t get good smoke color all the way around. I have been experimenting with 26mm casings for sticks and think 25lbs is doable in those. I will be doing that in a week or so and let you know.
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Jamieson22 Team Blue PK100 Regular Contributors Power User Illinoisreplied to Woody1551 on last edited by
Woody1551 My pic above is 25lb meat + 2.5lb cheese in 19mm. I do 4 wood dowels and cut them at 42" long so they hang down at 21" a side. 10 lengths per dowel.
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Jamieson22 , yeah that actually looks ok. I am curious how your smoke color consistency is on all of them. If you bump up even to 21mm you will have a little more room, but I really am liking the 26mm and then I just cut them a little shorter for a similar portion size. This way you can have more spacing in the smoker. I also cut mine to 40"-42"
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Jamieson22 Team Blue PK100 Regular Contributors Power User Illinoisreplied to Woody1551 on last edited by
Woody1551 I’ve actually done a bunch of 21mm batches before this as well (probably see some past threads with those). Kind of wanted a thinner stick.
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Jamieson22 Everyone has their preference
