Love it!!

Totally agree with processhead; another thing you may want confirm is proper vent settings while smoking. If your smoker isn’t able to breath/vent out properly due to weather conditions or wrong settings, the smoke can become trapped potentially causing the bitter smoke.

marzig20 absolutely

The vent has a spring loaded plug that can be adjusted with the set screw. Loosen it only enough to allow air to escape and minimalize any meat escaping. It works extremely well in my opinion.

Brianzipperdog123 I totally agree, I only use pounds/oz to weigh the meat block, all other ingredients are measured in grams.

I also use a spreadsheet to document and print my recipes. I have it setup to calculate exact weights of all ingredients based on the actual pounds of meat used in the batch. I print the results then measure each ingredient and place each on a serving tray. As I add each ingredient I remove it from the serving tray leaving only what still needs to be added. By doing this I no longer miss things like ECA that gets added later than some of the other ingredients.

I’ve seen this with both snack sticks and summer sausage. It appeared in my case that I slow cooked the sausage in the smoker too long without adding humidity. I believe I cooked too much of the moisture out of the meat giving it a hard almost rubbery texture.

processhead I have owned the PK-100 for about a year now and am very happy with it. However, I have not tried to load it nearly as heavy as stated and never plan to. I completely agree that the stated max capacity is overly optimistic and would result in reduced smoke/meat quality. This is only my opinion, but I can say that much meat would be a very tight fit!

jcflorida Since my original post, I have made several batches of skinless hotdogs using the cellulose casings and am happy to say they are in fact permeable. I have been very happy with the look, taste and color of my finished product.

You certainly can but I personally prefer to dissolve it separately with water in an attempt to maximize the dispersion in the meat.

There is no cookie cutter answer to these question, there are several variables to consider with each. First question; most people would agree that using a binder in smoked meats is the best practice for achieving a good texture and feel. It will help retain moisture in the meat and helps to bind the fat to the meat, but is not an absolute necessity for making a good sausage. Question 2; I do not use ECA in most of my sausages, I use it primarily in snack sticks because I like the initial tang it brings when you bit into it, I also have used it in summer sausage but usually not. Question 3 also depends on the types and desired outcomes with the sausage you are making. As a default I target around one quart per 25 pounds of meat, but often adjust to obtain good emulsification.

I’m planning to make skinless hotdogs using cellulose casings as in your video, my understanding is that these casings are non-permeable and will not allow smoke to penetrate into the meat. Do you still apply smoke or does it have no value in the thermal process?

Jonathon Thanks Jonathon, I did dissolve the cure in water before mixing with the meat and the end product does have nice color to indicate the cure is in it. Does that mean anything or should I assume it is still ineffective?

Thank you, I’ll keep smoking and won’t take them out until internal temp reaches 160 F.

I am making snack sticks and forgot the encapsulated citric acid. The meat is already in the smoker, is it going to be good or do I have to toss it?
Thanks!

Thank you TexLaw and smoke king for your comments, I very much appreciate them. I have found very little detailed information on the internet regarding the PK 100 so to get help from other owners is invaluable to me.

I recently pulled the trigger on a PK 100 Smoker to upgrade from my 40" Smoke Hollow. After the initial seasoning of the smoker I used it for the first time to smoke ribs but struggled badly. I preheated to 180 degrees (@625 watt setting) which took considerably longer than I was accustomed to. The problem however came when I put the chip pan of moistened sawdust/chips on the heating coil to begin the smoke process. My internal temp began to descend for the next 1/2 hr or so bottoming out at around 120 degrees. Through the smoke cycle the temp increased a few degrees but never came close to fully recovering until I removed the pan from the burner a couple hours later. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?

Please disregard my last post; I have never used carrot fiber and I had it in my head that it was a cure accelerator not a binder.

Jonathon, in your Summer Sausage video you put both carrot fiber and ECA in the mix. I know the ECA is to give the tang to the meat but doesn’t it also act as a cure accelerator? Was the carrot fiber also needed to smoke the meat right from the stuffer?