I’m going to be making summer sausage shortly. In the past when I’ve made summer sausage I have not used Soy Protein Concentrate (SPC) nor have I used Encapsulated Citric Acid (ECA). I would like to use SPC to improve the moisture of the sausage and the ECA for that tang taste. Is there any issue in using both in the sausage mixture? I understand the ECA needs to be added and mixed just prior to stuffing and then right into the smoker. Also when using SPC do you still use the recommended amount of water that’s on your spice mixture instructions or do you need to add additional water?

Jonathon Thank you!

I just received your Sweat Chipotle jerky seasoning and I’m really looking forward to making it. I’m going to use whole meat muscle and I’m not going to make the full 25lbs. I’m going to divide the batch down so I know how much seasoning to use per pound. My question is how much water do you use for the marinade? After soaking in the marinade I’m going to pat dry the meat dry. Do you recommend sprinkling more seasoning on the meat prior to loading the meat into the smoker? Thanks.

Jonathon Thank you Jonathon, not patting it dry does make sense. The article you referred to in your reply for Thermal Processing states:

THERMAL PROCESSING

Lay seasoned jerky strips on jerky screens or smoke screens and place in smoker, smokehouse, oven, or dehydrator to cook.
130F for 1 hour (open damper on smoker)
145F for 2 hours (2/3 closed damper on smoker)
175F until internal meat temp of 160F

My question is why do you close the dampers down after the 1st hour? To me this seems counterproductive since isn’t the purpose of long heat for a long time to dry the jerky. With the dampers closed 2/3 of the way won’t that allow the moisture to remain in the smoker and not dry out the jerky. Thanks.