Soft meat sticks. Hey guys, I have a problem. My meat sticks have pretty much always been nice and firm and then I asked about my casings not sticking very well. I also had an issue with my temp not getting up to where I wanted it unless I really cranked up my smoker temp. It was suggested that I should be adding a little water in the water pan (which I had not been doing). I did that today and my casings are only so-so and my sticks are kinda soft. Could it be that the water kept the sticks from getting/staying firm? I used two different temp readers(I-grill and grill eye) with two different temps all the way through. I took the sticks off when the highest one said about 165 and the lower one reading about 145. Maybe that was the problem? Any help. Is greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

vjbutler Hi vjbutler. I’m making ten pound batches in a vertical smoker. I try to stay with the guide from the Waltons videos for time and temps u til the end and then I have to bump up to around 185 to get my final up. To 160-165. I use a cabelas manual mixer for right around 10 minutes. The sticks came out soft, but not mushy. Some of the casings aren’t stuck to the meat real well. This is the first batch I’ve used a cabelas casing also. I ran out of my usual ones and had to improvise and they are closer to me. I’m not real happy with these so it may be my last time with them too. I peeled the casing off of one of the sticks that wasn’t stuck very well and there was a grease like on the meat. I was thinking that might be from not getting hot enough? Definitely a few things I’m going to change the next batch. First may be to make sure of my thermometer. Thanks for any thoughts and ideas.

I am fairly new to the world of stick making so I’m still unsure of a few things. Today I made a batch (10 lbs) of sticks. I use an ounce of water per pound. These were all beef. After they got up to temp (165) I removed them and put them in ice water and usually I leave them in the ice/water for about ten to fifteen minutes but today I was in no hurry and it probably ended up being about half an hour or so. When drying them so I could cut them to length I noticed they had what seemed to be water under the casing in a lot of them. I use collagen casings. Did I do something wrong? Will the water evaporate out if I let them set for a day or two before vacuum sealing them? Could this be because they sat in the ice bath for that long? Hope it doesn’t affect the sticks too bad. Thanks for any helpful suggestions

Just curious if I add the ECA dry or do I dissolve it in water when adding it? I’m going to use it for my first time so don’t want to ruin my sticks. Also, what is the difference between summer sausage and salami? Thank you.