Fairly basic question. What is you all’s process for vacuum sealing brats? I made a small batch of brats the other day, put in the freezer for about an hour and then vacuum sealed. Noticed a few days later there was some ice crystals on the meat. Looked like a good vacuum seal. How do I avoid this? Did I not freeze long enough or need sit the brats in the fridge to air-dry before freezing / sealing? Thanks for any thoughts.

Is there a way to save a topic for future reference? There is a lot of great information here that I would like to flag and reference at a later date. Might just not be seeing it. Thank you.

Jonathan - thank you for the feedback. I was hoping to do all turkey to try to make it a little more healthy. You are correct that I would like to smoke these. Unless you have additional thoughts, I will use the recipe above (which includes the sure gel) and see how it goes. Will do a small batch in the event it is too dry and becomes food for the dog.

Would like to make turkey hot dogs and saw your video on turkey brats. Would you recommend adding carrot fiber and cold phosphates to the hot dogs as you did the turkey brats? Anything else you would recommend when making turkey dogs? Thank you for your thoughts.

thank you

Will be making summer sausage next weekend. My pellet smoker does not go below 150. Thoughts on using a dehydrator for a few hours and then transferring to smoker to smoke and finish the cooking? I can adjust the temp on my dehydrator. Thanks for thoughts.

Austin - you indicate we do not want protein extraction when making brats. Can you explain why? I am making deer brats (70/30 pork) and thought protein extraction would allow better binding and moisture retention. Thanks for your thoughts.