Sous vide no bag = soggy sticks
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How are you fellas keeping your sticks and summer sausage from getting soggy when you Sous Vide them without bagging? I have did 2 batches of summer sausage a while back and they were watery tasting and very bland. Like the water washed all the tase out. I did another batch and bagged them and they were great.
I did a batch of snack sticks last night. I was going to bag them but decided to give them a try un-bagged. They to came out watery tasting and very bland. The casing still snaps when you bite into it but they are not firm at all. If you hold a 8” stick strait up, it bends almost 90 degrees. I took a couple of them and threw on the Traeger for about 30 minutes and they dried up well and the taste was back. I suspect I will have to “dry” that batch on the Traeger to salvage them.
I just can’t figure out how you guys are making it work.
Grimpuppy i just made a batch last night and vac packed them today. How long are you smoking for before the sous vide?
“You never really die until you end up on the wall at a Cracker Barrel”
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Grimpuppy i just made a batch last night and vac packed them today. How long are you smoking for before the sous vide?
Grimpuppy just wondering if you are using a binder and if so what type?
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Grimpuppy thats why i dont sous vide, perfection takes time. When you rush the process it equals poor finished results. Im just rambling and really have no idea, however its keeping my mind out of purchasing more equipment and going to sous vide method. My traditional method works so i have a hard time changing it
twilliams said in Sous vide no bag = soggy sticks:
My traditional method
“My traditional method”
What is your traditional method? -
Grimpuppy i just made a batch last night and vac packed them today. How long are you smoking for before the sous vide?
GWG8541 said in Sous vide no bag = soggy sticks:
Grimpuppy i just made a batch last night and vac packed them today. How long are you smoking for before the sous vide?
I pulled them out of the smoker right at 135 internal. Was about 3 hours to get there.
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GWG8541 said in Sous vide no bag = soggy sticks:
Grimpuppy just wondering if you are using a binder and if so what type?
No binder on the snack sticks. I use 16 mm casings so I have never had any trouble. I did use smoked meat stabilizer cause I ground 3 batches of 12 1/2 pounds. I have 2 smokers that #12 is pretty much max in each. I needed to smoke one last night so the other 2 could smoke today.
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twilliams said in Sous vide no bag = soggy sticks:
My traditional method
“My traditional method”
What is your traditional method?mrobisr low and slow smoke/cook schedule
110° dampers wide open no smoke (drying phase) for 1 hour
125° top damper open 1/8, bottom open 1/2 for 2 hours start smoke of wood choice
140° for 1 hour pull out smoke pan
155° for 2 hours
170° until IT temp reaches 160° -
mrobisr low and slow smoke/cook schedule
110° dampers wide open no smoke (drying phase) for 1 hour
125° top damper open 1/8, bottom open 1/2 for 2 hours start smoke of wood choice
140° for 1 hour pull out smoke pan
155° for 2 hours
170° until IT temp reaches 160°twilliams said in Sous vide no bag = soggy sticks:
mrobisr low and slow smoke/cook schedule
110° dampers wide open no smoke (drying phase) for 1 hour
125° top damper open 1/8, bottom open 1/2 for 2 hours start smoke of wood choice
140° for 1 hour pull out smoke pan
155° for 2 hours
170° until IT temp reaches 160°My other 2 batches that I smoked all the way through today are perfect. I can ice bath them for 15 minutes and never had a problem with it. Just seems an hour in the Sous Vide and they are water logged. I Took my sausage poker and pricked the entire length of each one into the center of the meat. Wrapped in paper towel and squeezed a bunch of water out.
Guess I will just stick to the smoker.
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how long do you let them air dry / bloom after the sv ?
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craigrice said in Sous vide no bag = soggy sticks:
how long do you let them air dry / bloom after the sv ?
They sat out a couple hours and then Started cutting them to length. That is when I noticed they were water logged. After I cut them to length I left them out a couple more hours hoping they would dry but they didn’t. Been in the fridge all day today. I have dried a couple small batches in the traeger. It got rid of the water but there is just no flavor at all. Probably going to trash the batch.
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craigrice said in Sous vide no bag = soggy sticks:
how long do you let them air dry / bloom after the sv ?
They sat out a couple hours and then Started cutting them to length. That is when I noticed they were water logged. After I cut them to length I left them out a couple more hours hoping they would dry but they didn’t. Been in the fridge all day today. I have dried a couple small batches in the traeger. It got rid of the water but there is just no flavor at all. Probably going to trash the batch.
Grimpuppy it sounds like you did everything right, the only real difference is I am using sure gel as a binder. Sorry to hear you are having such a bad time with it.
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I agree with twilliams on the advantages of processing snack sticks in a traditional smoker.
Most small hobbyist smokers will do just fine to do the thermal processing on snack sticks if you don’t overload them beyond their physical capacity. IMO, the disadvantages of thermal processing snack sticks in hot water probably outweigh the advantages. -
Sounds crazy, I am now just the opposite now. I used to go the long traditional route in smoker the whole way. But after trying the sous vide, I do not think I will ever go back. Not sure why yours came out soggy and soft. Mine do not, and have incredible smoke flavor. Sure is strange.
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mrobisr low and slow smoke/cook schedule
110° dampers wide open no smoke (drying phase) for 1 hour
125° top damper open 1/8, bottom open 1/2 for 2 hours start smoke of wood choice
140° for 1 hour pull out smoke pan
155° for 2 hours
170° until IT temp reaches 160° -
I agree with twilliams on the advantages of processing snack sticks in a traditional smoker.
Most small hobbyist smokers will do just fine to do the thermal processing on snack sticks if you don’t overload them beyond their physical capacity. IMO, the disadvantages of thermal processing snack sticks in hot water probably outweigh the advantages.processhead in a previous life when I was in a commercial setting we cooked all the meats very slowly, only difference being instead of the ice bath the walk in smoker had a spray system to cool the product down. Think I’ll stick with the “traditional” method for time being, thanks for the info.
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twilliams said in Sous vide no bag = soggy sticks:
mrobisr low and slow smoke/cook schedule
110° dampers wide open no smoke (drying phase) for 1 hour
125° top damper open 1/8, bottom open 1/2 for 2 hours start smoke of wood choice
140° for 1 hour pull out smoke pan
155° for 2 hours
170° until IT temp reaches 160°My other 2 batches that I smoked all the way through today are perfect. I can ice bath them for 15 minutes and never had a problem with it. Just seems an hour in the Sous Vide and they are water logged. I Took my sausage poker and pricked the entire length of each one into the center of the meat. Wrapped in paper towel and squeezed a bunch of water out.
Guess I will just stick to the smoker.
Grimpuppy
An hour in the SV?. My last two runs took less than eight minutes. 135-160.
SV set at 170. 12.5# batches. -
I know some talk about putting them in the water bath at 130F. I don’t do that until about 150F, especially for something semi-dried.
Semi-dried need the time to dry out. Frankly, I don’t know how others do it, either.
I like the idea of finishing via sous vide, but I’ve also found that cutting corners does what cutting corners can do, and that’s often getting you a lesser product than you get doing something properly.
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Grimpuppy
An hour in the SV?. My last two runs took less than eight minutes. 135-160.
SV set at 170. 12.5# batches.PapaSop said in Sous vide no bag = soggy sticks:
Grimpuppy
An hour in the SV?. My last two runs took less than eight minutes. 135-160.
SV set at 170. 12.5# batches.Maybe that is the problem. I am doing it for way to long. I Will give this a shot and monitor the temp like a hawk and pull at 160.
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PapaSop said in Sous vide no bag = soggy sticks:
Grimpuppy
An hour in the SV?. My last two runs took less than eight minutes. 135-160.
SV set at 170. 12.5# batches.Maybe that is the problem. I am doing it for way to long. I Will give this a shot and monitor the temp like a hawk and pull at 160.
Grimpuppy I always leave my sticks in the smoker until the IT stalls out. That usually happens at 140 to 150. When it does stalls I wait an hour to see if it pulls through. If it doesn’t I have my turkey roaster ready and drop the sticks in with water temp at 165. They usually finish in 20 to 30 minutes. If they don’t stall for very long I finish in the smoker. Good luck on your next venture.
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PapaSop said in Sous vide no bag = soggy sticks:
Grimpuppy
An hour in the SV?. My last two runs took less than eight minutes. 135-160.
SV set at 170. 12.5# batches.Maybe that is the problem. I am doing it for way to long. I Will give this a shot and monitor the temp like a hawk and pull at 160.
Grimpuppy Good luck with the next batch. I am a new user of sous vide and I listened to several folks like PapaSop on this site for guidance. I’ve had no issues with my batches doing both sticks and summer sausage. Im not sure if it matters, but I do use Sure Gel as a binder with mine. I wish you luck.
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PapaSop said in Sous vide no bag = soggy sticks:
Grimpuppy
An hour in the SV?. My last two runs took less than eight minutes. 135-160.
SV set at 170. 12.5# batches.Maybe that is the problem. I am doing it for way to long. I Will give this a shot and monitor the temp like a hawk and pull at 160.
Grimpuppy you could always try to set the water temp at about 160-162 as well, I’ve had my sticks in for 30 min-hour and never had any issues
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