Fred Bear man that is some nice accuracy Fred! I’m researching to build a smoker like yours, what kind of PID did you use, and where can I get one? I’d love to see any notes on your build. I’m really impressed with so many of the devices folks have made, and yours sounds great.

https://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14

For water, you are at half of what I use, 25oz is just shy of 800ml, I use 1600ml - 1800ml for a 25lb meat block depending on amount of seasoning. The sweet seasonings have a lot of seasoning compared to a plain seasoning.

As far as mixing/protein extraction i disagree with Dave, I mix all my batches by hand. I wear cotton gloves under nitrile gloves. It’s definitely achievable to get great protein extraction by hand mixing, sure gel or other binder does help in that process, although not necessarily needed to achieve it.

I run a thermal schedule that I have found to be very successful, here it is,
110* 1 hour all dampers wide open (drying phase)
125* 2 hours top damper open 1/8 and bottom open 1/3-1/2 (start smoke)
140* 1 hour (smoke)
155* 2 hours (remove smoke after first hour of this set) (hours of smoke is based on personal preference)
170* all dampers closed until IT reaches 157*~160*
Ice bath immediately after IT is reached. All smokers react differently.

In my opinion you do not need humidity in the smoker until the meat reaches the stall point, which is around 148* IT for me. However with you having an oven element for your heat source which I’m assuming is 240V I believe you would have the energy to push the meat past the stall without adding a water pan and sponges. That method would definitely get you past the stall faster however. If you do use the pan and sponge method I would not put it in the smoker til the stall point, this would allow the meat to properly dry while cooking. Adding humidity really helps for people with small smokers with 110V small burners or pellet grills.

For your smoker, just a few points, you said you had a 3” exhaust, does that have a fan built into it to supply air flow? As well as a damper at the bottom of door to allow air flow? My smoker also has a built in recirculation fan to keep the cabin heat even on top middle and bottom. I believe it is necessary for the bigger open cabinet models, small smokers not so much.

Does your Auburn PID turn your burner on and off when set temps are reached or needed? What type of temp swings does it have if so?

Final conclusion/opinion: I fully believe two issues are the main suspect of your end result. #1 your water amount was not enough to give you full protein extraction ending up a dryer consistency thinking it was mixed thoroughly by giving an early stickiness. And #2 a rushed step up in temperature during your thermal process as well as adding water pan for humidity too early.

Hey, I just reread the opening post, and processhead might have a great point, I totally missed the fact his “smoker” is almost 100% airtight sealed commercial fridge! I was thinking a box with airflow like a normal smoker, but he has a hearing element in there, smoke daddy making the smoke, and his vent tube was barely cracked. I could see relative humidity in that climbing to 99% pretty fast as moisture left sausage and then no more drying. Could be a factor, along with mixing and binder.

With such an airtight and nice setup, what do you think about getting a Line Voltage Humidistat, and a small humidifier in there to turn on and off? The sensors are pretty accurate, they are small units 6in x 2in x 2in or so. I used to use the temperature ones from Grainger and White Rodgers, and replace the temp controls on refrigerators for beer making and storage. They had a nice humidistat line also. If it turns out your humidity is up 95% in that sealed box, you could wire a computer fan to your 3 in damper, controlled by the humidistat. I’ve been looking at this myself all week for a smokehouse/drying chamber design.
Thx again for the nice chat, laying on beach was getting boring

As soon as I read his smoker setup, I was thinking, This guy and processhead are the dudes I need helping me build my temp/humidity controlled smoker!

I would just leave them out in the fridge and let them dry a bit more, I bet the internal moisture will even out thru case walls and dry to a nice texture in a couple days in fridge.

Here is their suggested thermal profile for snack sticks
THERMAL PROCESSING

For information on adding humidity to your smoke schedule go HERE
Either hang on smoke sticks or lay on racks in your smokehouse or oven. Just be sure to leave a slight gap between the snack sticks. A simple cooking schedule you can follow is here:
125F for 1 hour
140F for 1 hour
155F for 2 hours
175F until internal meat temp of 160F

After rereading your thermal profile, it really looks good. And your sponge humidity thing should have been fine, no issue there. And you didnt add too much water… I made some last week and ended up adding 630ml or so to 7 lbs meat, 3 cups or so, a lot. Yet all the moisture is bound up, not wet at all, and I was in smoker 4 hrs total or so, to 141 f internal, then I sous vide finished it.

The other thing I notice besides mixing are

1. No binding agent listed. I used 3/4 cup instant dry milk, the binding agent in Walton’s sold out Sure Gel. A good binding agent keeps the water and meat juices from cooking all enmeshed in the meat matrix, so it doesn’t leak out as juice and moisture. If you didn’t use anything, that could definitely affect final wetness, especially if not a super mix.

Anyways, hope any of those thoughts might help. I’m just happy to have a good problem to think about, as I lay on the beach here in Hawaii watching my kid surf, trying to stay occupied!