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Well, I've made my first snack stick run in the MES Custom SS (SS as in Sticks & Sausage). Performed like a champ. I did change up the location of the pellet tray and drip tray for this run. My logic was since the highest temp was only 170*, the location of the pellet tray was not so much as issue as long as it had airflow to burn the pellets. I was right. Tray was above the heating element for this run and the drip tray/heat baffle was only used for the first half of the smoke.
I used Owens BBQ Chipolte Wildfire snack stick seasoning for this run. This was also the first time I've used that particular flavor and the results were great. They make some great seasonings if you have not tried them. I did make some slight changes from the "stock recipe". I add a phosphate binder (Butcher & Packer #414 "special binder"), and encapsulated citric acid (ECA) to my sticks. The binder gives commercial quality stick texture and the ECA is for that stick "twang" that normally comes with a fermented product. Both worked well with the Owens BBQ spice mix.
Oh, I also make spreadsheets for most of my recipes and seasonings so I can have a precise amount of spices for any amount of meat. Here is the one for Owens Chipolte Wildfire that I made. It should also work with any of their other spice flavors where 1 pound of seasoning makes 12.5 pounds of sticks/sausage. This spreadsheet does include the binder and ECA (both in LEM and B&P recommended weights as they are different ratios). The spreadsheet is protected and the weight should be the only thing you can change, but it is not pass-worded.
Owens BBQ Chipotle Wildfire snack stick ratios.xlsx
No photos of the spices, mixing or stuffing. This looks like every other stick smoke I've done before. I did dissolve the cure in about 1/2 cup of water before pouring it over 6 pounds of 80/20 chuck from Sam's Club. Then I added the B&P 414 binder to the spice mix, stirred to distribute and poured the dry spice/binder over the meat and mixed by hand for about 7 or 8 minutes. This will become very tacky. Then into a container to rest in the fridge overnight to let the flavors develop.
The next day, I added another 1/2 cup of ice cold water to thin up the meat mix. I'm using a 9mm stuffing tube and I need it looser that for larger tubes. I wanted to use up the last of my 17mm casings and they fit that smaller tube better. Then I sprinkled the ECA over the meat and gently mixed by hand again to distribute the ECA in the meat mix. 6 pounds of meat in a 5 pound stuffer means I have to reload. I ran out of the 17mm casings and then finished stuffing with some 21mm I had on hand. The 17mm were mahogany and the 21mm were the clear collagen snack stick casings.
Loaded in the MES Custom SS, with the rack & pellet setup I used for this smoke. PID temp sensor is clipped to the very top rack rung on the right. There was a little casing squeeze out that I shaped into a casing-less stick and laid on the top rack. Color difference is the 17mm vs the 21mm casings.
Ran the following temps and times:
1) 120* for 1 hours with no smoke to dry the casings
2) 130* for 1 hour with smoke
3) 140* for 2 hours with smoke (until the pellets in the tray ran out)
4) 150* for 1 hour (I also pulled the drip pan/heat deflector at the end of the 140* phase)
5) 160* for 1 hour
6) 170* until done.
I rotated some of the racks around during the latter half of the 140* phase, and again as needed during the 160* phase. The bottom racks run a little hotter so I kept the 21mm casings down there most of the cook.
2 racks of 17mm casings were done after 6-7 hours, and the rest an hour later. 21mm casings were on top in this photo. The color changes in those clear casings always amaze me.
And done and blooming on the cooled racks. Will cut and trim tomorrow.
Flavor and texture were spot on! I will be making these a lot....
I used Owens BBQ Chipolte Wildfire snack stick seasoning for this run. This was also the first time I've used that particular flavor and the results were great. They make some great seasonings if you have not tried them. I did make some slight changes from the "stock recipe". I add a phosphate binder (Butcher & Packer #414 "special binder"), and encapsulated citric acid (ECA) to my sticks. The binder gives commercial quality stick texture and the ECA is for that stick "twang" that normally comes with a fermented product. Both worked well with the Owens BBQ spice mix.
Oh, I also make spreadsheets for most of my recipes and seasonings so I can have a precise amount of spices for any amount of meat. Here is the one for Owens Chipolte Wildfire that I made. It should also work with any of their other spice flavors where 1 pound of seasoning makes 12.5 pounds of sticks/sausage. This spreadsheet does include the binder and ECA (both in LEM and B&P recommended weights as they are different ratios). The spreadsheet is protected and the weight should be the only thing you can change, but it is not pass-worded.
Owens BBQ Chipotle Wildfire snack stick ratios.xlsx
No photos of the spices, mixing or stuffing. This looks like every other stick smoke I've done before. I did dissolve the cure in about 1/2 cup of water before pouring it over 6 pounds of 80/20 chuck from Sam's Club. Then I added the B&P 414 binder to the spice mix, stirred to distribute and poured the dry spice/binder over the meat and mixed by hand for about 7 or 8 minutes. This will become very tacky. Then into a container to rest in the fridge overnight to let the flavors develop.
The next day, I added another 1/2 cup of ice cold water to thin up the meat mix. I'm using a 9mm stuffing tube and I need it looser that for larger tubes. I wanted to use up the last of my 17mm casings and they fit that smaller tube better. Then I sprinkled the ECA over the meat and gently mixed by hand again to distribute the ECA in the meat mix. 6 pounds of meat in a 5 pound stuffer means I have to reload. I ran out of the 17mm casings and then finished stuffing with some 21mm I had on hand. The 17mm were mahogany and the 21mm were the clear collagen snack stick casings.
Loaded in the MES Custom SS, with the rack & pellet setup I used for this smoke. PID temp sensor is clipped to the very top rack rung on the right. There was a little casing squeeze out that I shaped into a casing-less stick and laid on the top rack. Color difference is the 17mm vs the 21mm casings.
Ran the following temps and times:
1) 120* for 1 hours with no smoke to dry the casings
2) 130* for 1 hour with smoke
3) 140* for 2 hours with smoke (until the pellets in the tray ran out)
4) 150* for 1 hour (I also pulled the drip pan/heat deflector at the end of the 140* phase)
5) 160* for 1 hour
6) 170* until done.
I rotated some of the racks around during the latter half of the 140* phase, and again as needed during the 160* phase. The bottom racks run a little hotter so I kept the 21mm casings down there most of the cook.
2 racks of 17mm casings were done after 6-7 hours, and the rest an hour later. 21mm casings were on top in this photo. The color changes in those clear casings always amaze me.
And done and blooming on the cooled racks. Will cut and trim tomorrow.
Flavor and texture were spot on! I will be making these a lot....
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