Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone could help me understand case hardening and the smoking process?

I’m making snack sticks in the UK using devro casings from Waltons and i’m struggling with the casings being very tough to bite when they come out of the smoker. I’ve tried low humidity, high humidity, low temps, high temps, short cycles, long cycles, but it never changes.

To fix it i let them bloom on a work surface then put them in the fridge for a few hours and the casings seem to soften up, then they’re fine.

Question: Does everyone suffer this problem and if so do you solve it the same way? Does anyone have any success just taking them out of the smoker and letting them bloom at room temperature, without the need to put them in the chiller?

YooperDog i’ve water bathed a few batches and find it has the same effect as putting them in the chiller, if anything perhaps making them a little soggy. Never tried a sous vide as the smoker seems to be capable of managing the temperature pretty easily. Correct me if i’m wrong but people generally seem to use the sous vide if their smoker can’t quite get up to the final temperature?

I guess what i really want to know is how the commercial producers do it? Are they putting massive batches of sticks in a water bath or a sous vide?!

Cheers

AdamCA yeah i used ice water! It sounds like we all have to use ice water and/or pet them in the refrigerator for some time to get the casings to soften. I just wanted to make sure this was the only way of doing it, ie that there wasn’t a way of just bringing them out of the smoker and letting them sit at room temperature for a while. Thanks for the help!