Summer Sausage, Snack Stick Extravaganza - Live Weekend Thread

blazinfire · 12-07-2017, 08:48 PM

Hello folks.. So Here we go... I purchased close to 50lbs of beef to make Summer Sausages and Snack Sticks for family/friends and even for myself. First time doing large batches of anything with the sausage stuffer and first time making Summer Sausage.

I ordered all my supplies from www.sausagemaker.com

Day 1: Starting Summer Sausages.
Started processing one slab of meat.Trimmed the hard fat off of it.

Decided the best way to tackle this process was to cut the meat into steaks then cube it.. The meat was still pretty frozen in the middle.

Looks like pretty good ground beef

Here is the first batch of summer sausages.. I have another 10lb batch to do which will equal to the same amount here. I ran into a problem after taking this picture..... I decided to run outside with one of these logs and see if it would fit hanging from the top shelf of the MES40....... sure enough if I hang above the heating element they are too long!! So I had to cut these down into single logs and I'll hang them from the top shelf.

You can tell the two at the top were my first two.. The other two are a little more uniform.. It will be ok.. I'll just temp them as they cook to make sure I don't over cook them.

Anyways I have to finish the next batch of summer sausages. Will do 1 more regular batch of summer sausages, and the final batch I will add cheese and Jalapeno's.

Tomorrow I will smoke these summer sausages then tomorrow afternoon I will grind and stuff the snack sticks to prepare smoking for Saturday.

Stay tuned!

Joshw · 12-07-2017, 08:54 PM

Looks like you are well on your way to some good sausage.

Stlsportster · 12-07-2017, 10:49 PM

tom b · 12-07-2017, 10:49 PM

tuned in

blazinfire · 12-07-2017, 10:59 PM

Day 1 complete!! Tomorrow is gonna be hectic.. Should be processing snack sticks while I'm smoking the summer sausages.. I ended up with 20 sausages... If I had experience with it before I probably could of ended up with 22 similar size sausages. The smallest chub weighs in at 1.2lbs.

After finding out I couldn't fit the whole logs in the smoker I went with individual sausages. It was easier to stuff half of the casing, tie it off twist then move up about 1/2" and make a knot for the next sausage.

5 of the sausages ended up Jalapeno and Sharp Cheddar cheese stuffed sausages. Excited to see how that turned out.. Here's my dicing skills and the final count of sausages.

Stay tuned!! I'll be back tomorrow!!

IamMadMan · 12-08-2017, 04:05 AM

Vanilla Coke, my favorite....

Oh wait, were talking about making sausage.... Looks like you have the process down.

Keep us posted, I'll be watching for updates.

blazinfire · 12-08-2017, 09:34 AM

Well the day is starting off on the right step... Got the summer sausages hung by 10:30... good news is I was able to hang all of them without doing multiple smokes. I also learned I had 18 and not 20 sausages. Will be my only update until tonight with finished summer sausage pics, and snack sticks

On the left kinda by them selves are the jalapeno and cheddar sausages.

blazinfire · 12-08-2017, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IamMadMan

Vanilla Coke, my favorite....

Oh wait, were talking about making sausage.... Looks like you have the process down.

Keep us posted, I'll be watching for updates.

haha... It's not an ad for Vanilla Coke... It's and Ad for Pepsi haha! Only Vanilla Coke I'll drink is Rum & Coke only because Rum sorta makes it taste like Vanilla coke with alcohol in it. LOL Speaking of rum and coke........ Crap... No coke.....

blazinfire · 12-08-2017, 03:22 PM

Well it wouldn't be a live thread without some updates... at 10:30 the summer sausages went on at 130 degree's.. I went without smoke for 1 hour.. then Fired the cold smoking attachment to the smoker. I love the MES40 with the cold smoking attachment to it. Well worth the money.

After the first hour I cranked it up to 140... the MES40 seems to have a 10 degree temp swing so I was reading temps at 150 degree's normally. Been running for 3-4 hours I'm getting ready to take off the smoke.. I decided to use my thermopop to check temp of a few sausages in various parts of the smoker.. They all seem to be hovering at 110 degrees. Cranked the smoker to 160 and will Pull the sausages once they hit 161... Was debating on 152 (container says 152), or 160, 161, or 165 for pulling temp.. I still don't know LOL

MisterChrister · 12-08-2017, 04:56 PM

Looking GOOD!

blazinfire · 12-08-2017, 08:41 PM

well 10-11 hours the summer sausages are sitting at 130 degrees. I got busy making the snack sticks I forgot about the timer shuts off the smoker when it hits 0.. Luckily I caught it on time.. The remote needs to beep when the timer runs out.

Anyways.. Here's the snack stick pictures.. It's only 1 batch.. I have to make a 2nd batch.. I'm doing a 10lb batch of the sausage maker seasoning, and another 10lb batch with Hi-Mountain hunter's blend.

Here's the meat I am working with on the snack sticks

Just like with the summer sausages it was still frozen in the middle and the best way to tackle this cut of meat was to cut steaks and cube it.. I also removed alot more fat this time around than I did with the summer sausages.

1st grind

2nd grind after seasoning/cure mixed in

Trying to get a grove going.. I figured the best way to do this is just to make 1 large stick, and then tie a knot to separate the links.. twisting them last time did not work out very well

mchar69 · 12-08-2017, 09:55 PM

Lookin' mighty fine!

blazinfire · 12-08-2017, 10:12 PM

2nd batch of snack sticks done. Will post summer sausage pictures tomorrow. To give them time to bloom and cool. I'll slice one tomorrow! They are still in the cooker sitting at around 140 degrees.

blazinfire · 12-08-2017, 11:05 PM

Anyone got an estimate on how long to cook summer sausages.. I'm working on close to 13-14 hrs now. Still sitting at 141 IT.. Cooker is running 160-180.

I did check them with a thermapop a few minutes ago.. the ones closer to the right above the element is sitting at 150ish.. So the one that has the meat probe in it once it hits 150-155 I'll start pulling the ones on the right side off.. as long as they are above 160 IT

Joshw · 12-09-2017, 12:09 AM

Assuming you have the right cure percentages, you are safe to pull them at 155 Internal Temp. Have you checked the accuracy of your smoker temp? That seems like a little long to me, at those temps. But I usually steam to finish, so I really can't remember how long it takes.

12-07-2017, 08:48 PM	#1
blazinfire Babbling Farker Join Date: 07-28-15 Location: west virgina	Summer Sausage, Snack Stick Extravaganza - Live Weekend Thread Hello folks.. So Here we go... I purchased close to 50lbs of beef to make Summer Sausages and Snack Sticks for family/friends and even for myself. First time doing large batches of anything with the sausage stuffer and first time making Summer Sausage. I ordered all my supplies from www.sausagemaker.com Day 1: Starting Summer Sausages. Started processing one slab of meat.Trimmed the hard fat off of it. Decided the best way to tackle this process was to cut the meat into steaks then cube it.. The meat was still pretty frozen in the middle. Looks like pretty good ground beef Here is the first batch of summer sausages.. I have another 10lb batch to do which will equal to the same amount here. I ran into a problem after taking this picture..... I decided to run outside with one of these logs and see if it would fit hanging from the top shelf of the MES40....... sure enough if I hang above the heating element they are too long!! So I had to cut these down into single logs and I'll hang them from the top shelf. You can tell the two at the top were my first two.. The other two are a little more uniform.. It will be ok.. I'll just temp them as they cook to make sure I don't over cook them. Anyways I have to finish the next batch of summer sausages. Will do 1 more regular batch of summer sausages, and the final batch I will add cheese and Jalapeno's. Tomorrow I will smoke these summer sausages then tomorrow afternoon I will grind and stuff the snack sticks to prepare smoking for Saturday. Stay tuned! __________________ Custom 36x24x24 Vertical Offset,Grilla Grillz Silverbac

12-07-2017, 10:49 PM	#4
tom b somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 10-12-15 Location: Temecula, CA	tuned in __________________ LSG 24x48 offset, MAK 2 Star General, Built in Santa Maria Pit, Weber Performer Deluxe 22 w/CB Rotisserie, Blackstone Pizza Oven, WGA, A PBC A 26'er AND A Jumbo Joe

12-07-2017, 10:59 PM	#5
blazinfire Babbling Farker Join Date: 07-28-15 Location: west virgina	Day 1 complete!! Tomorrow is gonna be hectic.. Should be processing snack sticks while I'm smoking the summer sausages.. I ended up with 20 sausages... If I had experience with it before I probably could of ended up with 22 similar size sausages. The smallest chub weighs in at 1.2lbs. After finding out I couldn't fit the whole logs in the smoker I went with individual sausages. It was easier to stuff half of the casing, tie it off twist then move up about 1/2" and make a knot for the next sausage. 5 of the sausages ended up Jalapeno and Sharp Cheddar cheese stuffed sausages. Excited to see how that turned out.. Here's my dicing skills and the final count of sausages. Stay tuned!! I'll be back tomorrow!! __________________ Custom 36x24x24 Vertical Offset,Grilla Grillz Silverbac

12-08-2017, 09:34 AM	#7
blazinfire Babbling Farker Join Date: 07-28-15 Location: west virgina	Well the day is starting off on the right step... Got the summer sausages hung by 10:30... good news is I was able to hang all of them without doing multiple smokes. I also learned I had 18 and not 20 sausages. Will be my only update until tonight with finished summer sausage pics, and snack sticks On the left kinda by them selves are the jalapeno and cheddar sausages. __________________ Custom 36x24x24 Vertical Offset,Grilla Grillz Silverbac

12-08-2017, 03:22 PM	#9
blazinfire Babbling Farker Join Date: 07-28-15 Location: west virgina	Well it wouldn't be a live thread without some updates... at 10:30 the summer sausages went on at 130 degree's.. I went without smoke for 1 hour.. then Fired the cold smoking attachment to the smoker. I love the MES40 with the cold smoking attachment to it. Well worth the money. After the first hour I cranked it up to 140... the MES40 seems to have a 10 degree temp swing so I was reading temps at 150 degree's normally. Been running for 3-4 hours I'm getting ready to take off the smoke.. I decided to use my thermopop to check temp of a few sausages in various parts of the smoker.. They all seem to be hovering at 110 degrees. Cranked the smoker to 160 and will Pull the sausages once they hit 161... Was debating on 152 (container says 152), or 160, 161, or 165 for pulling temp.. I still don't know LOL __________________ Custom 36x24x24 Vertical Offset,Grilla Grillz Silverbac

12-07-2017, 08:54 PM	#2
Joshw Babbling Farker Join Date: 09-25-17 Location: Oklahoma	Looks like you are well on your way to some good sausage.

12-07-2017, 10:49 PM	#3
Stlsportster Babbling Farker Join Date: 08-09-16 Location: Random Point In Time and Space Name/Nickname : Parental Assigned Label

12-08-2017, 04:05 AM	#6
IamMadMan somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 07-30-11 Location: Pemberton, New Jersey	Vanilla Coke, my favorite.... Oh wait, were talking about making sausage.... Looks like you have the process down. Keep us posted, I'll be watching for updates.

12-08-2017, 04:56 PM	#10
MisterChrister Quintessential Chatty Farker Join Date: 04-28-12 Location: Wis-con-sin	Looking GOOD! __________________ Kettleheads Anonymous Charter Member

12-08-2017, 08:41 PM	#11
blazinfire Babbling Farker Join Date: 07-28-15 Location: west virgina	well 10-11 hours the summer sausages are sitting at 130 degrees. I got busy making the snack sticks I forgot about the timer shuts off the smoker when it hits 0.. Luckily I caught it on time.. The remote needs to beep when the timer runs out. Anyways.. Here's the snack stick pictures.. It's only 1 batch.. I have to make a 2nd batch.. I'm doing a 10lb batch of the sausage maker seasoning, and another 10lb batch with Hi-Mountain hunter's blend. Here's the meat I am working with on the snack sticks Just like with the summer sausages it was still frozen in the middle and the best way to tackle this cut of meat was to cut steaks and cube it.. I also removed alot more fat this time around than I did with the summer sausages. 1st grind 2nd grind after seasoning/cure mixed in Trying to get a grove going.. I figured the best way to do this is just to make 1 large stick, and then tie a knot to separate the links.. twisting them last time did not work out very well __________________ Custom 36x24x24 Vertical Offset,Grilla Grillz Silverbac

12-08-2017, 09:55 PM	#12
mchar69 Quintessential Chatty Farker Join Date: 02-22-14 Location: Kensington, MD	Lookin' mighty fine!

12-08-2017, 10:12 PM	#13
blazinfire Babbling Farker Join Date: 07-28-15 Location: west virgina	2nd batch of snack sticks done. Will post summer sausage pictures tomorrow. To give them time to bloom and cool. I'll slice one tomorrow! They are still in the cooker sitting at around 140 degrees. __________________ Custom 36x24x24 Vertical Offset,Grilla Grillz Silverbac

12-08-2017, 11:05 PM	#14
blazinfire Babbling Farker Join Date: 07-28-15 Location: west virgina	Anyone got an estimate on how long to cook summer sausages.. I'm working on close to 13-14 hrs now. Still sitting at 141 IT.. Cooker is running 160-180. I did check them with a thermapop a few minutes ago.. the ones closer to the right above the element is sitting at 150ish.. So the one that has the meat probe in it once it hits 150-155 I'll start pulling the ones on the right side off.. as long as they are above 160 IT __________________ Custom 36x24x24 Vertical Offset,Grilla Grillz Silverbac

12-09-2017, 12:09 AM	#15
Joshw Babbling Farker Join Date: 09-25-17 Location: Oklahoma	Assuming you have the right cure percentages, you are safe to pull them at 155 Internal Temp. Have you checked the accuracy of your smoker temp? That seems like a little long to me, at those temps. But I usually steam to finish, so I really can't remember how long it takes.