Last weekend’s production!
Turned out great!

Jonathon I watched several cook videos and reviews and decided to pull the trigger. I have only grilled burgers and smoked 2 racks of ribs. Great charcoal flavor and easy to use. I cooked the ribs at 225 directly on the grates for 2 hours. Wrapped and sauced for 2 more hours. When I unwrapped them, they were falling apart. Cooked another 45 minutes to caramelize the sauce. Ribs were excellent.
Overall great value for $500
Biggest dislike is how much charcoal it wastes. 1-1/2” briquettes fall through the provided grate into the ash box. To fix this I cut a piece of expanded metal and placed it over the existing grate. I cooked some burgers after this mod and saw no performance issues. No more briquettes in the ash box.

chrisndee2

chrisndee2

PapaSop Those all look great. I just bought my 44lb mixer a couple of weeks ago. I plan on using it this Friday for the first time to make a 25lb batch of Jalapeño Cheddar summer sausage and snack sticks. I’ll let you know if I have the same issue with the mixer. I hope not, but I’ve seen a couple of other people post pictures of snapped blades.

wvhunter1965 McCormick has a maple flavoring that you can buy at Walmart. I add it to my maple Habanero summer sausage and snack sticks and it seems to increase the flavor a good bit. I also add extra brown sugar. Maybe it will give you similar results with your bacon.

PapaSop The jalapeño cheddar was 80/20 ground beef. I also did a 5lb batch of venison snack sticks with what I call Paw-Paw’s recipe.

weatherbow21 I agree with Jonathon of several points. I have been making snack sticks and summer sausage for years and I have scrapped my fair share of batches. There is certainly a difference between wild game and beef or pork from the store. My advice on this, buy a 10lb “log” of 80/20 from Sam’s. This takes out the grinding and having to mix in the right amount of fat. I have made several successful batches this way. BE PATIENT! The more meat you have in the smoker, the longer it is going to take, however, you will find that your temps will fluctuate less. If you get impatient and crank up the heat, you increase your chances of “fatting out”. Been there, done that.
You don’t have to put the entire batch in the smoker at one time as long as you are not using citric acid. Put in a few pounds, follow the temp settings in the recipe, and you will likely have good results in 4-5 hours max. I never set my smokers above 170, but I may try since I am seeing 175 a lot in the Walton’s recipes.
For a binder, I always use soy protein, but the type of binder that you use is based on your preference. I never make a batch without it.
I also document everything from start to finish. I find this helps me to remember not to leave ingredients out of my recipe. It sucks when you get done stuffing and then find your bag of cheese still sitting on the counter. I document my temp settings, time of day, internal temp, smoke on, smoke off, etc. and I do this with every batch I make. You can then record your results, flavor, texture, presentation. I often go back through my notes just skimming results to see what worked and what didn’t, especially if I am trying a new recipe. If you are fairly new to sausage making and you are not busting casings during the stuffing process, you might not be packing them tight enough. You definitely do not want to under stuff. You will get unsightly fat deposits between the meat and the casing. Don’t give up!

33196frank The Weston 44lb meat mixer works great for 25lb batches. I used to mix by hand because I only had a 20lb mixer.

Jonathon I’m going to try the 21mm for the first time this weekend. I have always used 17 and 19mm, but LEM changed their casings a while back. I’m tired of having to strip the casing onto my tube. The 19’s used to slide right over my 1/2” tube. I’ll post updates when I’m done.

@M-Saboe Pork fat is definitely better. I have made snack sticks from straight 80/20 ground beef from the grocery store and used 25lbs of ground butt along with several mixtures of both and have had very good results. The only thing I haven’t had a whole lot of luck with is mixing beef with venison. I never seem to get enough fat content. Nowadays, if I use venison, I always go with 50% ground butt with it for best results.

Tex_77 Wow! I paid $495 for mine when they first came out. I love mine.

First time with this recipe and 21mm casings. Stuffing was the easiest I have done with snack sticks. Sample patty tasted great. I’ll let you all know how they turn out. I’d post pictures, but I’m not sure how to post them on here.

@M-Saboe Also, document everything you do. If you don’t get the results that you want, try something different next time.

deplorablenc1 I always keep a reserve for myself. I take plenty of samples to work for feedback. A few folks said that this was their favorite so far. I think they turned out great, but I like my spicy garlic recipe the best.

    

I just finished 25 lbs of Jalapeño Summer Sausage and snack sticks. I used my new 44lb meat mixer from Weston. The mixer worked great. The only downside to it is that it is not easy to clean. The mixer is only welded on the outside, so strands of meat tend to get stuck in the corners.
I also tried sodium phosphate for the first time instead of protein powder. Only needed 1/4 cup vs. 2-1/2 cups of protein powder. Flavor and texture was still excellent.

Jonathon 10hrs in the smoker, 1.5 hours resting in foil/towel in the cooler.

That sauce is actually store bought Sonny’s Sweet.

Pictures were taken about 3 minutes apart. It fell apart easy and had great flavor.

Used cherry wood in the smoker.