Jonathon Sorry to get off of the beer topic since it is a great topic as well. I have a full size steam pan that I use for finishing in hot water. I place it across 2 burners on my stove. The problem is that I have to constantly monitor water temp to keep it around 160. Would the Sous Vide heater clamp to a 6" deep steam pan?
2nd question. Is there any consistency difference in the meat when only going to 130-140 and then straight to a hot water bath? I usually leave summer sausage in the smoker over night (just so I can get some sleep) and then put it in the HWB in the morning. It is usually still in the stall stage and probably has been for several hours. (142) I haven’t had any issues though.
If I can pull it out when the INT is 130-140 that would save hours.

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

@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.

Meatmaster I use 50/50 butt to venison, but I think that your 60/40 should be fine if you are using all of the fat from the butts. I have never used the oven method. I don’t consider myself an expert, but my snack sticks and summer sausage are always very flavorful. Maybe because you’re not smoking?

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

Jonathon I have now also realized that the new grinder won’t work with the 44 lb mixer. Is there an adapter available?

Jonathon I bought the new #32 Meat grinder for myself for Christmas. I was wanting one that would attach to my 44lb Weston mixer. I assume it will, but it doesn’t have reverse. I didn’t notice this until today. You recommend switching directions every minute when mixing. Is this really necessary, or can I run the motor continuously to get effective mixing? Thanks, and Merry Christmas.

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.

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

What is the average lean to fat ratio in a butt?

North I use 1 cup dry for 25lbs of sausage. I mix all of my dry ingredients together in a bowl with my water and then pour it into the mixer. Great results.

macsinsac Did you cook the onions in the smoker with the butt? Looks great!

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.

Jonathon Base is from PS Seasonings. It is maple Habanero. I added 1 cup of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of McCormick maple flavoring. I only smoked the snack sticks for 1 hour and the SS for 3 hours. Less smoke helps retain the maple flavor. In the past the smoke flavor has overcome the maple flavor. These turned out great. Sticks ans SS are from the same batch.

Actually, it’s 25lbs of Maple Habanero summer sausage and a few dozen snack sticks.

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.

chrisndee2

chrisndee2

    

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.