Quick report back. So I made a 1.5lb batch. It came out pretty good but I think I’d cut back a little on how much I added. I used 30 grams for the 1.5lbs. Every rub is going to be different. This is a saltier rub so I’d probably knock it to 20 grams next time. Feedback so far was that it was preferred over the PS seasonings Cajun mix with pepper jack cheese which really surprised me.

jac1

Thanks for the reply. I took a look and those are actually priced pretty well, but I definitely want something with humidity control this time around. Don’t want to have to mess with water bowls and sponges like in my pk100. The one I mentioned above is the only one I can find so far but $10k is a big gamble for something I can’t test first or find any reviews on.

Just curious if anyone has a really good dry rub they like using for their ribs, pulled pork, burgers, etc, and tried using it for snack sticks? Does it work the same like the seasonings made specifically for snack sticks?

I was tasting some commercial rubs the other day and found one that I thought, damn this would be really good if I could make the snack sticks taste like this and add some high temp cheese. Just wasn’t sure if it would work or not.

Also, how much would you add? I plan on using sure cure and an accelerator.

Thanks in advance.

Hey guys! Looking to upgrade from my PK100. I’d like to get a little bigger smoker with humidity control for under the $10k mark. It’ll be used specifically for snack sticks, jerky, and smoking brats/sausage. As much as I’d love to have a ProSmoker 500t-HVE, it’s way out of my budget.

I’ve been eyeballing the Nu-Vu Smoke 13 with an external smoke box. It’s the only one I’ve been able to find that has humidity control. The manual I downloaded it pretty vague but it has what they call “automist” and you can adjust from 1-10 which controls how often it sprays I believe. It’s all analog controls, so no display of what the actual relative humidity is inside. I’d probably have to add some kind of monitor for that.

Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on it? Any other brands or models out there that I’m missing?

TIA

Thanks a ton for the info and pictures. A few questions.

Does throwing them in the sous vide wash away the smoke from them?

How long do they last unrefrigerated once you vacuum pack them?

Genoa salami is going to be next on the list of things to try for me.

What was your process with the snack sticks? Those look amazing.

Jonathon ,

Which smokehouse are you guys using to do all of your jerky, snack sticks, and smoked sausages on?

Thanks,
Dan

Joe Hell

That’s an idea I’ve thought about, but I’m really wondering how the local sausage shop is doing it. It’s about a 45min-1hr drive from me. I was going to go in on Monday, buy some sausage, and try to talk to the owner but I know it’s gonna be too slammed with Superbowl coming up. I’ll go the following week when it hopefully dies down a bit. Whatever method they are using, it’s definitely working very well.

PapaSop

Yeah I’m not sure. I’m using a big bowl of water with the drying towel dipped in the bowl like a wick. Jonathan said he was getting like 55% humidity with that setup in his testing.

PapaSop

Thanks for the info. So I’m actually trying to figure out how to smoke them before packaging them up, but keeping them safe and not changing the texture.

Maybe I over mixed when I did the smoked ones, not sure, maybe not enough fat. I guess I should experiment with way smaller batches(maybe 2-3lbs).

Hey guys! So I’ve made a few batches now of brats, both fresh and smoked, collagen casings and tubed natural hog casings. I wasn’t a fan of the texture of the collagen casings. My favorite combo was the fresh brats with hog casings. The problem I’m having is when Indo the smoked brats. I followed all of the directions which was easy to follow since I have the PK100 smoker. I’m not liking the texture of them though vs the fresh brats and not sure where I’m going wrong.

We have a VERY popular sausage place that sells mostly fresh brats, but they have one brat in particular that they make a smoked version of. The texture on theirs is perfect(not to mention amazing flavor). I’m curious if there is another way of smoking brats without cooking them. Like make them fresh but just have them in the smoker long enough to get some smoke on them but not cook them, and not hold them in the danger zone if that’s possible. The place that sells them always has lines out the door and is so busy they don’t have time to answer any questions.

Would cold smoking work? Cold smoke for maybe an hour, then freeze and vacuum pack?

Jonathon

So on that note, will the Colosimos fit on your Walton’s 26lb electric stuffer? I think I’m just going to order that one but want to make 100% sure it will fit before I drop $400 on it. Looks way more solid.

blackbetty61

Wanna sell it? Lol

Yeah I have a jerky gun but I’m looking for something more automated now to hook up to my Walton electric stuffer and plan on doing 25lb batches at a time.

The Colosimos looks pretty solid, but I have a feeling it’s made for the industrial hydraulic vertical stuffers, not the regular ones we have, based on the YouTube videos I watched.

Anyone have one of these? I’m curious to know if they will mate up to the Walton’s electric stuffer?

The description in Walton’s website just says stuffers and then #34+ grinders.

I’d like to buy it to start making the extruded jerky with my Walton’s electric stuffer since the all around jerky maker attachment has been out of stock for over a year.

Ok, I’ll try to keep this as short as I can, but it may still be a little lengthy.

There is a VERY popular(lines out the door constantly) meat shop near me that specializes in brats. They have a bunch of different flavors. So one flavor in particular that I’m shooting to make mine like has two versions. On one, the sign says “fresh bratwurst” and the other says “smoked bratwurst sausage” of the same flavor.

So of all the research I’ve done on the net and all watching all of the videos on meatgistics, when someone says “smoked”, it usually means cured and cooked. When someone says “fresh”, it’s referring to brats that got seasoned, mixed, stuffed and thrown into the freezer until ready to cook.

So today I did a little experiment. Me and my buddy made 15lbs of smoked sausage and used the Walton’s 32mm clear collagen casings. These got the sure cure, sure gel binder, accelerator and some basic seasonings with fresh garlic. They got smoked in the PK100 with a water bowl and dry wicking towel like in the videos so we had an approximate 50% humidity.

We also did another batch that was with the same casings and spices, but didn’t have the cure or binder. These got stuffed and thrown into the fridge.

Once the smoked ones were finally done, we cooked the fresh sausage in some boiling water for 10 minutes. We through the smoked sausage in for just a minute or two just to warm it up. For some reason, the casing on the fresh sausage popped off when we took it out of the boiling water. The difference in texture was night and day. The fresh sausage was so juicy and tender. The smoked sausage not so much. Also, I think I’m much more a fan of natural casings vs the collagen casings. The collagen are too chewy to me.

With all that said, and trying to imitate the meat shops brats near me, I’m really curious if they are actually curing and smoking their “smoked brats”. The texture is too tender to have been smoked and brought to 160°. Is there a way to smoke brats just enough to get smoke on them but not cook them while still being safe? Maybe smoke at 120 for an hour, and then into an ice bath and then fridge/freezer? I really feel they are doing something similar to this.

I actually went ahead and bumped the smoker temp up to 185° and it raised the IT to 160° pretty quick. Got them into an ice bath for 25-30 minutes and now they are drying on the counter. I tried one and they definitely got a lot of smoke. Good flavor but a little drier than I’d like.

I do have the Thermoworks Smoke but the meat probe is tweaking out. I was able to get it to work so I knew when I was at the IT. Need to get a new probe but I’d like to get something that can take like 6 probes. That way I can have two for grate temps and a few for different snack sticks.

Here’s a video of a toy that sure made things a lot easier than my hand mixer. Obviously comparing apples to oranges but it’s nice. Except for the cleaning because it doesn’t come apart so that’s a PITA.

https://youtu.be/nMm-PM9SJmI

I believe it’ll go to 250°. They were at about 150 earlier but Everytime I open the door(every two hours) to check temp they drop. I thought about bumping the temp up but I don’t want to cook them.

Alright one last question. These things have been on the PK100 forever. I can’t get them to reach the 160° mark. Temp is at 175 and has been since about 7am PST.

How long do they usually take to get there?