Jesser I had the same problem many years ago with hog casings & smoking but I solved the problem. I can not stress enough about using a water pan in your smoker. Instead of drying out the casing with a dry smoke, by using a water pan in your smoker it gives moisture to your smoke and in turn produces a much better product in my opinion that is not dried out.

fallis10 There is a site called eplastics.com they carry polypropylene sheets that you can cut to size. These sheets are USDA approved and the last time I bought from them a 0.030 thick 24"x47" sheet was about $9.00 I’m just going to make a suggestion as I cure and smoke a lot of bacon at home. I have used pork belly & pork butt you will save a lot of time and money if you leave the bacon in pre cut slabs I cut mine into 6" wide x 10" long stick in a vacuum seal bag a seal it up. Leaving the bacon in block form makes it easy to stack, is a better product in my opinion, I have never had a complaint from anyone having to slice their own bacon before cooking it. Especially when it’s given to them, and they understand the work you put into it.

This is what happens to chickens that free range on THE NEW GREEN GRASS THATS APART OF THE GOVERMENTS “NEW GREEN DEAL”

Johnboy13 I wanted to reach out to you, whatever you decide to do PLEASE DON’T DUMP your batch if you are unsatisfied with it. Please check and see if there is a shelter, soup kitchen, etc. in your area and donate it. THERE ARE WAY TO MANY FOLKS VETERANS, & EVERYDAY PEOPLE IN OUR COUNTRY GOING HUNGERY. Thanks!!

samspade I use my dehydrator all year long for jerky. What I can tell you is this, I make my jerky using ground meat and a jerky gun (my gun also came with an attachment for snack stix’s) the reason for this is I can make 9 trays of jerky made with ground meat in about 6 hours time. I have also made whole muscle jerky in my dehydrator but you are looking at about 12-16 hrs. and it can take longer if you don’t rotate your drying trays, with the ground meat it is “SET IT AND FORGET IT”

Excalibur dehydrators are tops in my book, I own 2. Mine are the 9 tray model # on their Excalibur’s site is 3926TB it has a 26 hour timer, and a thermostat on top as well. It is very affordable and IT GET’S THE JOB DONE!!! I have dried fruit, made granola, I do all my jerky & beef sticks on it (much quicker) I use a jerky gun and you can make 9 trays of jerky in about 6 hours, I also make my dog treats on it. I will tell you this I bought mine off of E Bay and saved about $125.00 on each machine, Excalibur’s web site is pretty pricy. You can also buy replacement screen inserts, etc. for the machine on E Bay at a much cheaper price. These dehydrator’s are the best I have ever owned nothing digital, or fancy, it simply does what it is suppose to do. Hope this helps you out!!!

I have used Midway USA in the past. I found a web site called “AMMOSEEK” it’s the best in my opinion these days to find out who has what, and at what prices. It’s simple to use. Enter caliber, grain of bullet, etc. it will bring up what stores have in stock, and prices are shown cheapest to most expensive. This site is great for handgun, and shotgun ammo as well.

As a veteran I would like to join this group. I served from 1987-1993 in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. ENTERPRISE (CVN-65) I worked on the flight deck as an Aviation Boatswains Mate Handler (ABH).

I don’t own a butcher shop, but as a disabled veteran living on a fixed income I do most of my own butchering, curing, etc. with my game meat, pork, beef. I make brat’s every year and have found that if you have a favorite brat recipe the only thing I change is what meat I’m using. I make brat’s with duck, venison, pork, goose, beef. The only thing that I may add is cure, and what dictates that is if I’m cold or hot smoking. PR butchering I’m sure I don’t have to tell you but I have found out in the years I have been processing at home that when I find something that works I stay with it, because processing meat on any scale is hard enough so I try not to make it any harder.

We do this every year with our left over green tomatoes WE MAKE PICKLES. If you have a favorite pickle recipe use it the same way you would if you were using cucumbers. We also make tomato relish. Hope this helps you out.

I use my unburned charcoal all the time because as a disabled veteran I live on a fixed income. I use dryer lint, or cotton balls coated with petroleum jelly, they both work great but the cotton balls burn hotter and longer. I also keep both in my bug out bag, in my truck, in my camping gear, etc. in case of emergencies. Another little trick is instead of paying an arm and a leg for waterproof matches make your own, all you need is a box of stick matches and a bottle of clear finger nail polish it takes a little bit of time but will save you a lot of money. Simply dip the strike end of the match into the clear finger nail polish and lay the match on a table or something else flat with the strike end of the match hanging over the tables edge so the polish can dry. You now have a water proof match that will burn longer and hotter even if it is windy.

Jonathon there are several calibers out there that will get the job done. I have a .270 WSM, 30/06, .300 Win. Mag. I shoot Federal Trophy Bonded Tip ammunition in all 3 rifles, I have harvested game of all sizes with all 3 calibers. My go to deer/elk rifle is my .300 Win. Mag. I shoot 180 grain Trophy Bonded Tip ammo out of this rifle, and I have harvested game from pronghorn antelope, to elk with this rifle and everyone of them were 1 shot kills, and I feel this combo of caliber & bullet will harvest anything on this continent. Every animal I have harvested with this bullet acts like they have been hit right between the eyes with a sledge hammer. If I can give you a bit of advice, it doesn’t matter the caliber/bullet combo, if you can’t shoot your rifle well, and put the round where it needs to be, neither caliber or bullet type matters.

Jesser when I am finished with my beef/venison sticks I always let the sticks cool to room temp. then I make sure there is no visible moisture on the sticks (I check each one) if there is any moisture I wipe of with a towel, then I arrange drying racks that are stackable (like the type used for cooling cookies, or loaves of bread) over a sheet pan, place the beef sticks on the racks, place in the frig overnight. The next day I vacuum seal, and place in the freezer. I have never had to use desiccant bags using this process.

Surg Another thing you can do is make you a few more hangers that you are sticking through your belly for hangers, and if your belly pieces are to long you can cut them in half and then hang em in the smoker vertically. Cutting your belly in half will not affect your final product.

Surg You are welcome! I know the work that goes into this and I would hate to see a whole batch of belly ruined for the amount of time I know that you have put into this.

If you hang your belly vertically like you had it before you will end up with a much better, evenly smoked product, that you will not have to turn over or rotate. If you have any questions reach out I smoke my belly like this every time I make a batch.

I understand that where you had the wood is the top shelf, what I’m trying to explain is if you leave your top metal rack in the smoker and take the metal racks out below you can hang you belly like you had it, you just hang it vertically from the metal rack that you have your top piece of belly on now. Put you metal hangers into your belly like you had it, and use the grate’s on your top wire rack to hang your belly from.

Just a word of advice, if you haven’t started smoking your belly yet I would take the wood you have rigged in your smoker and put your top metal rack back in and hang your belly from it. The wood you have put in your smoker to hang your belly from can get warm enough that the pores in the wood open up and leave your belly with a rancid taste & ruin the batch, not to mention hanging from your top metal rack will moved the belly higher above your heat element.

Ridley Acres processhead if you make your processing room 20x 28 foot you won’t have to cut any of your 4x8 sheets of plywood, insulation sheets etc. Just a suggestion, the less cutting you have to do the faster your project comes together.

I agree 100% with you mdseaside, I cold smoke pork products year round. Rusty72, you have to remember the smoking the meat is adding flavor, your cure whether it is dry or a brine is what cures the meat.