Dried Slim Jims and ground meat

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mathman

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Jan 19, 2014
133
14
South Texas
My FIL and I will be making about 100 lbs of ground meat tomorrow. We are using about 50 lbs deer and about 50 lbs Boston butt. We will be grinding it all. :)

I decided I want to make a little bit of dried sausage. We have some collegin 26mm casings in the pantry so I'll make about 4 lbs. we make sausage and slim Jims every year but this year I want to make a little in my MES.

Our recipe has cure #1 in it so it will be safe.

What temp should I dry it at? I've been reading on here and some people dry at 100-130 degrees and increase it during the drying. Why do they increase it?

Can I just leave it at 100 degrees until it's done (about 20 hours) and then hang it to dry for about a week after that?

Is 100 degrees enough? Some people say max 100 degrees and some people change their temps.

It probably won't be smoked though because I don't have my AMNPS yet. I want to do it In my MES because the wife hates the smell in the house and because I want to use my MES.
 
I dry for an hour at 110* with no smoke and then add smoke and  hit 130* for a few hours and finish it at 150*. It 's not dried out and you are not smoking for a day. Good luck !
 
Thanks. I'll try 110 for 1 hour and then 130 for 4 hours and then at 150 till finished. Does that sound good?

I don't want to cook it. Is 150 too hot?
 
Since you are wanting to dry it the lower temps would be best. That said I believe that my dehydrator hits 150 when doing beef jerky. If your sausage has a high fat content that could be an issue as you don't want the fat rendering out. So you may want to keep it a bit lower.
 
It was a total of 120 lbs. I got 60 and my FIL got 60.

We made 5 lbs of slim jims. They are smoking right now at 100 degrees. How long should they take at that temp?
 
Below is a Pasteurization Table:



Temperature Time Temperature Time
°F (°C) (Minutes) °F (°C) (Seconds)
130 (54.4) 112 min 146 (63.3) 169 sec
131 (55.0) 89 min 147 (63.9) 134 sec
132 (55.6) 71 min 148 (64.4) 107 sec
133 (56.1) 56 min 149 (65.0) 85 sec
134 (56.7) 45 min 150 (65.6) 67 sec
135 (57.2) 36 min 151 (66.1) 54 sec
136 (57.8) 28 min 152 (66.7) 43 sec
137 (58.4) 23 min 153 (67.2) 34 sec
138 (58.9) 18 min 154 (67.8) 27 sec
139 (59.5) 15 min 155 (68.3) 22 sec
140 (60.0) 12 min 156 (68.9) 17 sec
141 (60.6) 9 min 157 (69.4) 14 sec
142 (61.1) 8 min 158 (70.0) 0 sec
143 (61.7) 6 min
144 (62.2) 5 min
145 (62.8) 4 min
Table C.1: Pasteurization times for beef, corned beef, lamb, pork and cured pork (FDA, 2009, 3-401.11.B.2).
 
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I figured it out. Will it be ok at 115 for the night and then I turn it up in the morning?
 
I saw that while searching. What does it mean?

Pasteurization (American English) or Pasteurisation (French, and English) is a process invented by French scientist Louis Pasteur during the nineteenth century. In 1864 Pasteur discovered that heating beer and wine just enough to kill most of the bacteria that caused spoilage prevented these beverages from turning sour. This was achieved by eliminating pathogenic microbes and lowering microbial numbers to prolong the quality of the beverage. Today the process of pasteurization is used widely in the dairy and food industries for microbial control and preservation of the food we consume .[1]

Unlike sterilisation, pasteurization is not intended to kill all micro-organisms in the food. Instead, it aims to reduce the number of viable pathogens so they are unlikely to cause disease (assuming the pasteurized product is stored as indicated and is consumed before its expiration date).
====================================
If you cook/smoke sausage to 145 for 4 minutes, like recommended, you are pasteurizing it.... the same can be accomplished by cooking/smoking at a temp of 130 for 112 minutes.... at lower temps I add a considerable amount of time to their table.... in the event my therm is off or there is a cool spot in the smoker.... It's not unusual for me to add hours to the lower temps... like slim jims, I will hold at 135, while my smoker is at 150 ish, for 3-4 hours... that makes the fat much more palatable and solid... no fat out...etc....
 
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I just put it at 135. I'll keep it there for 4 hours and then it will be done:). They are looking good. Firm and no fat came out:). I'll post pics around lunch.
 
I just put it at 135. I'll keep it there for 4 hours and then it will be done:). They are looking good. Firm and no fat came out:). I'll post pics around lunch.


I'm not sure the meat will get to the same temp as the smoker.... Moisture evaporation has a cooling effect on the meat... "Usually" meat temp runs about 15 cooler than the smoker temp..... AND measuring the IT of the sticks should be done....

My sticks usually take 24 hours at a smoker temp of 150 for the last 12 hours.... slowly ramp up temps for the first 12 then 150 for the last 12.....
 
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