Uneven vertical smoker temperature.
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wgiles The good thing is that you are able to get them to 140° F in the smoker, that is the key. After that period you can absolutely pull them from the smoker and finish them in an oven but a better idea might be to finish them in water. Parksider changed the way a lot of people do stick and summer sausage here a few years ago when he said he smokes to 130° (or so) pulls them from the smoker and finishes them up in water. He does his in a big pot with an adjutable burner but there are countless ways to do this. I have done it with a sous vide cooker (just know that since the sous vide circulator sucks the water in and heats it before recirculating it that you need to vac seal you meat or risk ruining it) on a stove and in roaster. Get your water to around 170° and you will be done with sticks in about an hour and a half or so.
I don’t even use bags anymore unless I am using my sous vide circulator (reason above) it took a while but Parksider finally convinced me that it does not leech out the smoke or seasoning flavor from the meat. Queue his celebration dance!
Jonathon I have a water bath that I could use for that and I have seen where a roaster has been used. Since I don’t have a vacuum chamber machine, I would prefer not to vacuum bag the sausages or snack sticks and I would still want to use my internal temperature probe.
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wgiles Yeah as long as you have something where you don’t have to worry about the water being sucked into a filter and then heated and put back in you should be fine. My worry with that is that fat and oils will build up and destroy that type of unit. If you dont have a vac sealer but still want to use bags, you can also use good thick zip lock bags. Just leave the top open, push it under water until just the zipper is above it and then zip it closed. It’s not perfect but it does work!
Get more help with your processing questions and learn more about processing meat by subscribing to our waltonsinc.com youtube page at https://wltns.link/waltonstv I am a Gorilla, love yourself
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wgiles Yeah as long as you have something where you don’t have to worry about the water being sucked into a filter and then heated and put back in you should be fine. My worry with that is that fat and oils will build up and destroy that type of unit. If you dont have a vac sealer but still want to use bags, you can also use good thick zip lock bags. Just leave the top open, push it under water until just the zipper is above it and then zip it closed. It’s not perfect but it does work!
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wgiles Yeah as long as you have something where you don’t have to worry about the water being sucked into a filter and then heated and put back in you should be fine. My worry with that is that fat and oils will build up and destroy that type of unit. If you dont have a vac sealer but still want to use bags, you can also use good thick zip lock bags. Just leave the top open, push it under water until just the zipper is above it and then zip it closed. It’s not perfect but it does work!
Jonathon I have used a water bath in the past in a large pot on the stove and it worked very well and I put a candy thermometer in it to check temp .
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Sous vide 1000% I stayed away from 2.5" casings for summer sausage in the past due to the insane time in the smoker. I now smoke to 130deg and finish naked in the water. may never use 1.5" casings again! Use a elcheapo cooker from amazon and a 40qt storage tote.(didnt want to drop a lot of coin till I was sure it would work) Going to use a cooler next time. Takes a while for the little 1k watt cooker to heat the water.
If the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy - Red Green
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Sous vide 1000% I stayed away from 2.5" casings for summer sausage in the past due to the insane time in the smoker. I now smoke to 130deg and finish naked in the water. may never use 1.5" casings again! Use a elcheapo cooker from amazon and a 40qt storage tote.(didnt want to drop a lot of coin till I was sure it would work) Going to use a cooler next time. Takes a while for the little 1k watt cooker to heat the water.
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I don’t know if I can get 7 2.5"x24"(15lbs) bologna logs in one and that’s the normal batch for me. I will try it on small test batches tho.
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smokinbubba I’ve done it in the huge red bologna casings. Works great, it just takes a little longer obviously. I set it just a few degrees above the target temp and prepared for a few hours. Had many people say that was the best thing I made up to that point and I sort of agreed. 130° in the PK gets enough smoke in my mind, not all smokers are going to be the exact same though.
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I don’t know if I can get 7 2.5"x24"(15lbs) bologna logs in one and that’s the normal batch for me. I will try it on small test batches tho.
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wgiles Your dog in your profile is insanely cute by the way!
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Sous vide 1000% I stayed away from 2.5" casings for summer sausage in the past due to the insane time in the smoker. I now smoke to 130deg and finish naked in the water. may never use 1.5" casings again! Use a elcheapo cooker from amazon and a 40qt storage tote.(didnt want to drop a lot of coin till I was sure it would work) Going to use a cooler next time. Takes a while for the little 1k watt cooker to heat the water.
smokinbubba Do you vacuum seal the 24" logs before sous vide in the tote? I’m wanting to finish my snack sticks this way but don’t have reasonable capability to vacuum seal long sections of sticks.
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Christopher Beach That’s a matter of choice. IN my opinion, if you cook them up to 130 before you put them in the water then they dont need to be vac sealed. Direct exposure to the water does not water log it or remove the smoke or seasoning flavor. If you pull it before 130 I cant say for sure. Also, if you have a sous vide cooker that has a pump that draws water in, heats it and then shoots it back out you might want to vac seal it to prevent any fats or pieces of casings to clog the filter.
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smokinbubba Do you vacuum seal the 24" logs before sous vide in the tote? I’m wanting to finish my snack sticks this way but don’t have reasonable capability to vacuum seal long sections of sticks.
Christopher Beach I do not. naked for mine
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