beer sticks

[rocam69]

Hi guys,
Im new at the whole smoking thing and I was just wondering how long and at what temp do you cook/smoke your beer/pepproni sticks for? can this be done in a charcoal smoker?Im debating on weather or not to build my vault cloan smoker as a chrcoal or gas.
Thanks

[MossyMO]

Total amount of time can sometimes be difficult to predict. I give my sticks 45 min. to an hour dry time at 90º - 110º and then apply smoke for 2 hours at 200º. I leave the sticks at 200º till the internal temperature of the stick is 158º - 160º. Then give the sticks a cold water bath for appearance if you don't want the wrinkles in the sticks.
Charcoal should work fine as long as you can control the temperature.

[minnbill]

Very,very,very important give them the dry time mossy spoke of .wet skins will not absorb smoke.

[mulepackin]

I pretty much do what Mossy and Bill do. Ryteks book would have you do them entirely at around 110 with pretty heavy smoke. That produces more of a jerky like texture, and I prefer something more of a cooked salami texture.

[Richtee]

Charcoal should work fine as long as you can control the temperature.

To me charcoal is preferred... but..read above. It's not easy doing stix/sausage with coals in my WSM anyway. I do it, but it's a PITA. I hate to say it, but for sausage, I am considering a gas unit. No....NOT a wattburner tho!

[Fishawn]

I am considering a gas unit. No....NOT a wattburner tho!

Rich, I will send you a "Set it & forget it" T-shirt when you convert to the dark evil wattburning side.....

[lcruzen]

To me charcoal is preferred... but..read above. It's not easy doing stix/sausage with coals in my WSM anyway. I do it, but it's a PITA. I hate to say it, but for sausage, I am considering a gas unit. No....NOT a wattburner tho!

Didn't you recently de-gas a GOSM? Just retrieve your burner and install a needle valve and you'll be set(for small batches anyway). 15lb batches is about my limit but for now that's fine for me.

[Richtee]

Didn't you recently de-gas a GOSM? Just retrieve your burner and install a needle valve and you'll be set(for small batches anyway). 15lb batches is about my limit but for now that's fine for me.

Yep. Off to the landfill to find burner now.

[Fishawn]

yep. Off to the landfill to find burner now.

hot plate!

[rocam69]

thanks for all your help guys. I dont think my smoker will do 110F, my stove wont even go that low. mossy do you have a treager or something? or do you burn charcoal?

[minnbill]

thanks for all your help guys. I dont think my smoker will do 110F, my stove wont even go that low. mossy do you have a treager or something? or do you burn charcoal?

as far as i knowMossy has a couple watt burners,I have a wsm and a smoke vault wich i prefer for smoking sausage

[MossyMO]

For sausage I have a homemade, retired, stainless freezer that runs off propane with a thermostat and an auto ignition.

[Big Guy]

I like to dry my stix @ 120 f for at least 1 hour ( no smoke) then ramp up my smoker to 150F and give them 4 hours of medium heavy smoke. then increase the smoker to 175 until I get an internal temp of 152 in my stix ( usually 10-12 hrs). You have to have very fine control on the temp. if you get the temp over 175 F there is a good chance you will render out the fat in your stix, this results in a greasy outside and a very dry stix inside. It takes a long time to get it right. Don't try and rush things along by increasing the smoker.
I use a propane powered smoker as I can't get that tight of control with charcoal. this year I purchased an electric smoker and it is very controlable too.
Good luck, Stix take a few times to master. Imho you need 20%-30% fat in your meat mix to start. add your favourite spices stuff and smoke low and slow. Its that easy.

[mulepackin]

For sausage I have a homemade, retired, stainless freezer that runs off propane with a thermostat and an auto ignition.

Could you elaborate on your thermo control for your smoker? Even start a new thread if you want, or if you've already covered it on the forum link us to it? I've threatened to convert at least part of my smoker to gas for awhile, and a good, tight thermo control has been my roadblock. Thanks

[IrishChef]

I have always wanted to find one of those half sized, propane ovens you find in old campers/rvs, and pull the burner and thermostat out of it.