Maybe this has already been suggested but I’ll add my 2 cents anyways. I was making a 5 lb batch of snack sticks yesterday with my 11 lb Walton’s stuffer and you know how it always leaves about 3/4 lb of your ground and mixed meat in the throat? Usually I just make some hand formed sausages or use it to add to a batch of scrambled eggs but this time I made a strong jalapeno based blend with ghost pepper cheese and didn’t think the wife would like it. So, when the stuffer was done stuffing the casings I was trying to think of something to get the rest of the meat out of the throat and I saw my lemon tree was loaded so I put a lemon over the top of the throat and ran the plunger down-worked like a champ! The lemon fit inside the throat and gave me another 6" of snack stick. All that was left was a small handfull of meat that I made a patty out of. Next time I’ll put a second lemon in there when the first is all the way in. I tried some old hamburger buns the last time I made sticks but they just flattened out and didn’t get the meat out. Lemons are the perfect size! Hope this helps! R!

I’m Randy from the Butte county area of N. Ca. I’ve been making jerky and smoked salmon for years but thought it would be fun to try my hand at making sausages. I have a Huntrite grinder with stuffing tubes and a Masterbuilt electric smoker. I’ve already made some Italian and breakfast sausages that turned out pretty good. I’ll be doing my first batch of snack sticks with Willie’s seasoning and all the other ingredients I got from Walton’s

I ran out of the collagen casings the last time I made breakfast sausages so I formed the bulk meat into sausage size rolls with my hands. I put them in the freezer for an hour or so till they firmed up then vac sealed them. Freezing them first keeps them from being crushed by the vac sealer. Time consuming but it worked and my wife likes them better with out the casing.

Today was my 3rd batch of snack sticks but I’ve done a couple batches of breakfast sausage and some brats in the past couple of weeks. I’ve never been satisfied with the texture as it’s always come out kind of like a hot dog. I’ve been using a countertop cheapy grinder that grinds pretty well but I think my texture problem is due to the meat going through the auger again to get it in the casings. It looks like the auger is grinding it to mush trying to force it into the casings. I put 2 cups of high temp cheese in today’s batch but as the meat was going into the 16 mm casings there was no sign of any cheese-just meat mush. Time to upgrade to a sausage stuffer!

I have the same smoker and as mentioned above I use a smoker tube with pellets that I place upright in the smoker after getting the pellets going. I usually do just a half tube of pellets and that gives me about 2 hours of good smoke. It works great if you’re doing something like jerkey or snack sticks where you don’t want high heat but still want some smoke. I don’t get any smoke out of the little wood chip chamber that came with the MB unless I have the temp set for over 180. With the smoke tube I can have smoke at 125 degrees.

I let my dog back in the house early one morning before a fishing trip. She came running in and started rolling on the carpet but as she ran past me I realized she’d been sprayed by a skunk-too late! Before I could get her back outside she ran into the bedroom where the wife was still sleeping and jumped on the bed-total pandemonium. My wife wasn’t real pleased when my fishing partner showed up and I had to leave. But, still married-47 years this year.

txbigly I haven’t taken the plunge yet on a stuffer. Just discovered that my auger driven meat grinder isn’t the right tool for stuffing sausages even though it came with the attachments. My latest snack sticks look more like hot dog sticks because of the texture.

There’s no added sugar so no alcohol conversion. I added 3% salt by weight to the ground up chilis and stored in a jar with a vent to release the gasses that form. I processed the month old batch yesterday and it’s pretty tasty. I’ll start a batch of cayenne peppers tomorrow.

Mr. Fwed That’s how I do mine. I cut the meat into about 1" x 3" pieces then mix in the seasonings & pork fat. Sometimes I’ll let that sit in the fridge for a few hours before doing the first grind. Refrigerate again for a couple of hours and do the second grind. Always comes out great.

I made several pints of fermented dill pickles and the cloudy brine is to be expected. I also did some asparagus spears and some snap peas-highly recommend the snap peas

To avoid the vinegar try using a fermented hot sauce that doesn’t have it. It’ll be listed in the ingredients on the bottle. When I process a batch I save the pulp that gets strained out and add that to sausages.

I’ve smoked a lot of salmon and trout that is excellent. I have tried halibut and it’s usually a little dry and seems to toughen up because of the lack of natural oils. Last year I got 14 whole albacore and canned/jarred most of it but the best was to smoke it for an hour or so before canning. I haven’t tried it yet but thinking that after a wet brine try brushing on a little bit of oil before putting it in the smoker. R!

I made several pints of fermented dill pickles and the cloudy brine is to be expected. I also did some asparagus spears and some snap peas-highly recommend the snap peas

The Pico sounds tasty-I have to give it a try. Love the taste and smell of fermented stuff.

There’s no added sugar so no alcohol conversion. I added 3% salt by weight to the ground up chilis and stored in a jar with a vent to release the gasses that form. I processed the month old batch yesterday and it’s pretty tasty. I’ll start a batch of cayenne peppers tomorrow.

I have a batch fermenting right now. 14 Hatch Chilis of which I roasted and smoked half and 10 Serrano peppers. Trying something different and did this as a mash versus a brine. I did add 3% salt to the mash and after 4 weeks now it’s about time to blend and strain. I used onion segments to keep the mash out of contact with air and it’s working fine with no mold. I never add vinegar but may have to on this batch to get the Ph down to where I want it. I think I have enough Cayenne peppers ripe for the next batch. My Piri Piri and Pepperdews aren’t ready yet. Love my little science experiments.

I just started fermenting hot peppers this year and it’s addicting! I don’t have any of the super hot peppers in my batches but the last one was red serranos and habaneros. I lightly rosted about a third of them to add a little bit of charred flavor and then put them in the brine-about a 2-3% salt ratio. After a little over 2 weeks I blended with some garlic and whole cranberries. My ph level was 3.9 so I didn’t add any vinegar. The flavor is great and without the vinegar taste that you get with traditional sauces like Tabasco. If you haven’t done so already check out the Youtube videos by Chili Chump. He gives very detailed recipes and instructions. R!

I’ve done the bourbon bacon and it imparts a nice bit of flavor-a bit of a smoky taste but different from smoke flavor that comes from the smoker. Hard to describe but nice! R!

That looks good-I’m referring to the frosty bottle of Fireball!

I have the same smoker and as mentioned above I use a smoker tube with pellets that I place upright in the smoker after getting the pellets going. I usually do just a half tube of pellets and that gives me about 2 hours of good smoke. It works great if you’re doing something like jerkey or snack sticks where you don’t want high heat but still want some smoke. I don’t get any smoke out of the little wood chip chamber that came with the MB unless I have the temp set for over 180. With the smoke tube I can have smoke at 125 degrees.