tarp - I just ordered a new Masterbuilt Pro Smoker (dual heat source - propane/charcoal), mainly for making snacksticks. My old electric smoker doesn’t even start smoking chips until the inside temp gets up to 300 degrees, well above the lower temperature steps I will need for smoking snack sticks. Once the new smoker is here, I will have to measure and get some dowels for hanging my snack sticks. Maybe use some large ‘S’ hooks to hang the dowels under the top rack? Do you know if there are any types of wood that shouldn’t be used for making dowels?

This is my first attempt at making snack sticks (I am ordering Jalapeno and TexMex). I picked up an inexpensive vertical sausage stuffer, and found out that the “smallest” tube/horn included with it was a 15mm. The horn/casing chart says for a 15mm tube/horn, I need to go with a 26mm Collagen casing. I was hoping to go with a 17mm or 21mm casing, but I guess they are too small for my tube/horn. I haven’t seen any smaller replacement snack stick horns that would even fit my unbranded stuffer. My tubes/horns are plastic, have angled raised areas along the outside, and just twist into the stuffer a quarter turn to lock them into place. Now, looking closer at the 26mm size casing, it says that size is good for hot dogs. I feel like if I order these, they will turn out too big to be called snack sticks (maybe I could call them snack-dogs?). Since I’m kind of stuck because of my equipment, I guess I’ll just have to try the 26mm Casings for my snack sticks. Has anyone else made them this big? On a good note, I got my new smoker assembled and seasoned, so I’m going to go crazy smoking stuff… soon! Thoughts and ideas much appreciated! Thanks!

Parksider - A homebrew club friend had a hands-on grinding/sausage stuffing/smoking session for a few of us who wanted to learn (and I got the bug). We each made 5 lbs. of the German Hunter Sausages in Natural casings. They came out so good, I wanted to give sausage making a try, with an emphasis on hot tasty snack sticks. So you think 21mm casings will go onto my horn without having to unravel them? That would be great! My plan is to go a little heavy on the water when I mix to make it easier to stuff into the casings (I hope). I was reading that a little extra water should cook out of the sticks in the smoking/cooking process.

Here are a couple of photos from my first sausage attempt (German Hunter Sausage), with buddies. I was proud of them. They came out really good!

Parksider - I’m going to order the 21 casing, and try to make that work for me, even if I have to unravel them to get them on. I hate to end up with hot dog size snack sticks, they just sound a little big. Quick question on adding a little high temp cheese to the snack stick mix… the details say the cheese is cut in 1/4" cubes. My first attempt, I was going to try making a five pound batch of sticks with some 80/20 burger. Would you advise running the store bought burger through my grinder with the cheese (to get the 1/4" cheese cubes smaller for the mix), or throw the cubes in a processor to get smaller pieces for mixing with the burger grind? I do have some venison and pork butt chunked and froze, ready to grind (plan to mix 3 1/2 lb deer, and 1 1/2 lb pork), but I’d like to get some experience with burger before using my good venison. Thanks for the all the help answering questions you’ve probably heard many times before, to help get me started!