Snack sticks. Not turning out

[Blaker25]

So I did my first batch of snack sticks today. I have a Bradley smoker and I used waltons willies snack sticks. I followed the directions on how to smoke and everything. So I put 10 pounds of snack sticks inside the smoker. This ended up taking 16 hours to reach an internal temp of 152. I didn’t use any gel binder or anything (because I’m new and not sure if I need them yet. Hoping someone could tell me.) not only did it take 16 hours. They shriveled up and don’t look appealing. I also used the smoked collagen casings 19mm. Love the size. But now the casing taste awful which I think might be from being on the smoker for so long. Please help. Want to successfully make snack sticks but really struggling. Also I feel that 16 hours was way to long. When I need to get the rest of the 25 pound batch done. Please tell me what I’m doing wrong.

[Tex_77]

Take a look at these 3 posts and they will likely answer all of your questions: https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/277/top-5-mistakes-made-when-making-homemade-snack-sticks?_=1605179534507

https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/21/how-to-make-snack-sticks?_=1605179534510

https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/182/how-to-make-homemade-snack-sticks?_=1605179534513

[Blaker25]

Tex_77 but is the smoking suppose to be taking 16 hours. I don’t feel like it should be?

[Tex_77]

Blaker25 Most likely not, but there are a number of factors that can cause longer cooking times. Many members on here have begun finishing there snack sticks in a sous vide bath.

[Blaker25]

Tex_77 so a binder will hold the form better and you can’t taste it in the meat at all? Should I cut them into there lengths. Will that speed up the smoking

[lkrfletcher]

Blaker25 I used to have a bradley smoker. The heating element on them read no where near what the display reads. I had to change that element 3 times, all with the same result. I recommend getting a remote thermostat (like a weber i-grill) and checking the actual ambient temp inside the box. I got very little support from bradley when dealing with this, so I upgraded the element to a different type - You can find this on you-tube. Eventually, I just ended up getting a PK100 and never looked back at the bradley again.

[Jonathon]

Blaker25 Tex_77 was right in pointing you to videos/article where we talk about case hardening/protein extraction. I am 90% sure that is what you ran into here. THis is where the outside of the stick cooks/dries too quickly and then it cannot pass heat effectively into the center resulting in long long cooking times. 16 for snack sticks is insane. Couple things can cause case hardening and they are:
Fat out - to prevent this make sure you have at least 20% fat and use a binder (sure gel best one)
Too Hot - if you start out too high in your smoker you will cook or scorch the outside and harden it
Too dry - this is less likely but absolutely can happen. Check out this video for ways to increase humidity https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/1099/cured-sausage-205-advanced-thermal-processing

[mfrievalt]

Not sure what your smoke schedule looks like. I had same issue and thru posts here found that I was not closing dampers during final stage which never allowed the sticks to finish at the 160 temp causing extremely long cook times and very dry nasty product.