mrobisr there is a YouTube video on this from 2 guys and a cooler. I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet but I did notice it. The videos are usually pretty informative

twilliams there is a different company out there that sells these. They come in a few different sizes. A metal plunger to clear out the tube and then a brush for cleaning. Thought about trying them instead of using a wooden spoon handle (mine are actually plastic) I even thought about buying a couple different size dowel rods to try.

twilliams take half of your batch and do with no smoke then do the other half with smoke. That is if you have the time.

lkrfletcher you need to give the eq method a try. Take 1 belly and cut into thirds. Try 3 different percentages and see what you like better. No matter what they should still all be edible.

Haven’t got to see one yet

Surg I got the 1050 for $299. Couldn’t pass it up to at least try it out. Even if I have some issues to work thru it will be annoying but not as annoying if I paid the $900 or whatever full price is now.
The 800 is a walmart exclusive as far as I know (has griddle). I wanted the biggest one because I was going to try to use it to get different smoke flavor for snack sticks, sausage, etc. Wasn’t sure how low I would be able to get Temps but once again for the price I paid it was hard to pass up.

Surg people are also putting splits in with the charcoal to act more like a stick burner and also have made raised racks to put wood in the Ash bin to also add smoke similar to a stick burner. I know there have been issues with the safety switches and other things but it is the same as a lot of things. There are people who don’t have any issues but you don’t normally hear those because people who have issues are the loudest.

I picked one up I was able to get on clearance. Got it right before I found my pk100. It got too cold out and it is still sitting on my porch in a box. It’s gonna wait until spring until it gets opened. People have come out with mods for these also they may/may not help with some issues.

Bacon the Bentons way. No cure, a month before it hits the smoke and 3 days of smoking. Finally found the video again and wanted to share because I figured some of you might find it pretty interesting.

https://youtu.be/nVNSNGXzmO4

Check it out!

bobfrapples what was your venison to pork ratio? Might need more spices to overcome a strong venison flavor. The spice mix is for pork which would take on flavors easier.

bobfrapples

Merry Christmas

Wow that’s a long time.

Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy holidays to whatever you celebrate. This is the first Christmas day I have had off in quite a while so I don’t know what to do with myself lol.
Hope everyone has a safe festive and enjoyable day with friends and family and you get all of the processing equipment that you asked Santa for.

calldoctoday I haven’t experimented much with different additions to the bag but if you go watch if you go watch sousvide everything on YouTube I know Guga has done tons of experiments and adding liquid and certain things seem to dilute the flavors. Don’t remember exactly eat all they were because I have been lacking on my sous vide cooking for quite a while. Hopefully that will change. You will learn a lot of things about sous vide. One thing though is in his early days he never saved the juice from the bag to make sauce. He saves it all now

Grimpuppy got my stuffer too. Hope I get a chance to try it out soon

Grimpuppy when is the chamber vac showing up?

HerbcoFood I just picked some up last week at my “nearest” Costco. It is over 1 hour away. But it is the cheapest I have ever seen it at $3.69/lb. Too bad they didn’t have much to choose from. I grabbed 2 anyway because I could pass up that price and I need to do some testing in the pk100

Couple things you can do to help. First you can rest it in the fridge overnight to dry out the skin. You can rub some oil on the skin (get adventurous and try some duck fat) And you need high Temps. Like 375 and up.

metlman501 sorry I am not much help on this one. I have tried a couple of mixes but I just like my own recipes the best. I need to do some more experimenting and maybe try some other pre-made mixes when i find the time.