Too much water
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I made 2 batches of snack stick 7 lbs each. One with Carrot Fiber 1.5 cups water and one with SureGel 1.5 cups water. The SureGel batch is way too wet, I let it sit overnight before putting it into casing, stiffened up some but tooo wet. Will smoke/cook anyway. How do I fix this next time? Add a small amount of Carrot Fiber? Adding more meat is not an option. Thanks guys. Dewey
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deweymeats Adding some carrot fiber would soak that extra water up. Other than that if you want to add less water next time you obviously can but 1.5 cups per 7 lb works out to be just about 1.5 quarts per 25 lb batch which is pretty much what we normally recommend when using sure gel. Out of curiosity what was your meat block and what was the fat content? What seasoning did you use? I am wondering if the salt failed to solubilize the proteins well enough allowing the water to bond with the meat. Did you add anything that would have dropped the pH of the meat?
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deweymeats Adding some carrot fiber would soak that extra water up. Other than that if you want to add less water next time you obviously can but 1.5 cups per 7 lb works out to be just about 1.5 quarts per 25 lb batch which is pretty much what we normally recommend when using sure gel. Out of curiosity what was your meat block and what was the fat content? What seasoning did you use? I am wondering if the salt failed to solubilize the proteins well enough allowing the water to bond with the meat. Did you add anything that would have dropped the pH of the meat?
Jonathon thanks for checking in on me. 3.5 pounds venison, 3.5 fresh ground pork butts, 4.76 oz Bloody Mary Snack Stick mix, 1.5 oz Suregel and 6 oz Swiss Hi Temp cheese. And you know about the 1.5 cup of TAP water. I will check the water Ph level.
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deweymeats Adding some carrot fiber would soak that extra water up. Other than that if you want to add less water next time you obviously can but 1.5 cups per 7 lb works out to be just about 1.5 quarts per 25 lb batch which is pretty much what we normally recommend when using sure gel. Out of curiosity what was your meat block and what was the fat content? What seasoning did you use? I am wondering if the salt failed to solubilize the proteins well enough allowing the water to bond with the meat. Did you add anything that would have dropped the pH of the meat?
Jonathon Tap Water Ph is 6
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deweymeats Your meat block sounds fine, in fact probably better since the 3.5 of venison hasn’t been pumped with anything. For 7 lb of snack sticks the 4.76 is a little low, the bag weighs 1.125 so 1.125/25 = .045 x 7 (lb of meat) = .315 lb x 16 = 5.04 oz but that’s just a 1/16th too little so that almost certainly isn’t it. Sure gel should be 1.68 but again…is that enough to throw you off? ALmost certainly not. Now, TAP water at a pH of 6 is a little low, tap water should be between 6.5 and 8 apparently (according to the EPA so take that for what it is worth). My thought was that if the pH was really low it might have prevented the meat from being able to bind up with the water. I’m going to check with our application specialist and see what he says.
Oh, what did you use for mixing, hand or mixer?
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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deweymeats Your meat block sounds fine, in fact probably better since the 3.5 of venison hasn’t been pumped with anything. For 7 lb of snack sticks the 4.76 is a little low, the bag weighs 1.125 so 1.125/25 = .045 x 7 (lb of meat) = .315 lb x 16 = 5.04 oz but that’s just a 1/16th too little so that almost certainly isn’t it. Sure gel should be 1.68 but again…is that enough to throw you off? ALmost certainly not. Now, TAP water at a pH of 6 is a little low, tap water should be between 6.5 and 8 apparently (according to the EPA so take that for what it is worth). My thought was that if the pH was really low it might have prevented the meat from being able to bind up with the water. I’m going to check with our application specialist and see what he says.
Oh, what did you use for mixing, hand or mixer?
Jonathon I mixed by hand. The first batch where I used the Carrot Fiber, I felt was a little dry to pump out in the 19mm casing. As soon as I added the water and started mixing I was afraid or knew it wasn’t going to work with the Suregel batch. Are there different amounts of water absorbed by the 2, Carrot Fiber & Suregel? This is my first go around with Suregel, I have been using Carrot Fiber for everything, smoked & fresh. Thanks
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deweymeats Okay, I didnt understand this is your first batch with sure gel and thusfar you have been using carrot fiber for cured sausage. So whether you use carrot fiber or sure gel I recommend 1.5 quarts max per 25 lb batch. 1.-1.25 is what I use, I start with a quart and then go from there, usually if it is summer sausage I use 1 and if it is snack sticks I go closer to 1.5. The sure gel will let water cook off better than the carrot fiber will so I would recommend you cook it, see how it comes out and if the texture isn’t what you wanted I would cut back to 1 quart and work from there?
I asked our application specialist about the pH of the water and he was wondering how you measured, if it was a test strip he said we shouldn’t be too sure of that number as those can be inaccurate. He also said it most likely wont be the factor here though.
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I am making 25 pounds of venison/pork bourbon peppercorn snack stick can anybody tell me how much water to add to the mix first time using Excalibar mix have always used a different brand from a different manufacture, thanks in advance
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I think it is a quart (32oz) for 25lbs.
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oldmeatcutter If you are not adding a binder I would add no more than 32 oz, if you are adding sure gel you can add up to 48 oz. You can actually go above that but the more water you add the more you will have to cook out, so it could increase your smoke time and could change the texture of your product.
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