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[indaswamp]

The goose pastrami and swiss snack sticks I just finished drying- I used block swiss cheese in those. Hand cut dice to 1/4" and no problems stuffing thru the 5/8" horn.

 

[wesir]

I'm betting it is both the sure gel and the high temp cheese. What size dice is the high temp cheese?

It's 1/4" cubes so on a 3/8-1/2" ID stuffing tube it would take up a good chunk of the tube and likely drag the inner wall. Where do you get your 23mm casings from? Was going to order some but Waltons only sells them in bulk so I ended up ordering more 21mm. I don't hunt so usually just grab a 10lb lug of 73/27 beef and use that and it works pretty well, toss it in the LEM tilt mixer and stuff it, normally use ECA but going to try cure excellerator the next batch.

 

[kuroki]

On the subject of cubed vs grated cheese, the butcher who processes most of the beef and pork we buy makes these jalapeno cheddar sticks that have pretty fine cheese particles in them evenly distributed throughout.
Am I way off thinking he probably mixes grated cheese with meat pre ground through a 1/2" or so plate and then runs it through the final size together?

 

[indaswamp]

normally use ECA but going to try cure excellerator the next batch.

ECA is encapsulated citric acid and it is used for the tang in summer sausage and snack sticks without fermenting. Now you can use it for a cure accelerator but that is an expensive way to do it if you want it just for that. Most cure accelerators won't drop the pH down low enough for tang when used in the dosages recommended as a cure accelerator.

Where do you get your 23mm casings from?

https://townsendspice.com/shop/details/Collagen-Casings

 

[wesir]

On the subject of cubed vs grated cheese, the butcher who processes most of the beef and pork we buy makes these jalapeno cheddar sticks that have pretty fine cheese particles in them evenly distributed throughout.
Am I way off thinking he probably mixes grated cheese with meat pre ground through a 1/2" or so plate and then runs it through the final size together?

He might, you'd probably want it frozen solid before doing that so it doesn't smear, I was thinking I'd just take the slap chop to the cheese I already had and give that a try. Has anyone ever tried shredding cold smoked cheese and tossing that into their sticks?

 

[wesir]

https://townsendspice.com/shop/details/Collagen-Casings

Do you hang those? They're half the price of the ones on waltons/amazon which seems nuts, didn't know if they were thinner or something.

 

[indaswamp]

Do you hang those? They're half the price of the ones on waltons/amazon which seems nuts, didn't know if they were thinner or something.

These are thick collagen casings which accept smoke. Yes I hang them...

 

[jkc64]

Maybe you'll get lucky, LEM also used a custom base diameter for the stuffing horns but luckily they went slightly smaller than the 2" horns and you can just modify one to fit in it, 21mm casings will barely slide over the smallest horn they gave you without the need to unravel them. If you want a horn for anything smaller than that this one isn't bad but the smaller diameter adds more pressure, just chuck the stuffing end into a drill and file down the base until it fits in the LEM plastic ring:

Mine came with 4 tubes 1/2, 5/8, 1 and 1.25. My thoughts are if it won't stuff a 1/2 tube why did it come with one. Guess I'll find out one of these days.

 

[wesir]

Mine came with 4 tubes 1/2, 5/8, 1 and 1.25. My thoughts are if it won't stuff a 1/2 tube why did it come with one. Guess I'll find out one of these days.

There's probably a * somewhere in the instruction manual that says "If stuffing smaller than 5/8" remove the motor and trick someone into cranking it for you", going to try the suggestions and switch to 23mm casings once I run out of 21mm but it's just kinda annoying that I used to do 17-19mm and am slowly working my way up to making hotdogs with a stuffer that's 7 times as expensive as the manual one I had.

 

[JckDanls 07]

OK Fellars... I didn't see this mentioned anywhere... Here's a little trick (Rick ( BGKYSmoker ) passed on to me to help getting mince to go through the smaller tube easier... It works WONDERS....

Just leave the mince out on the counter and let it come to room temp... Is MUCH more softer than cold mince and therefor not as stiff ... Give it a quick mix before stuffing

 

[wesir]

OK Fellars... I didn't see this mentioned anywhere... Here's a little trick (Rick ( BGKYSmoker ) passed on to me to help getting mince to go through the smaller tube easier... It works WONDERS....

Just leave the mince out on the counter and let it come to room temp... Is MUCH more softer than cold mince and therefor not as stiff ... Give it a quick mix before stuffing

That might have actually been another difference between my batch and my buddie's other than the high temp cheese, I measured out his meat and put it in a covered container in the garage for him to hand mix since 5lb was too small for the mixer. When he showed up we had a few mandatory beers before getting to it and his went through the 3/8" tube no problem.

Edit, found the comment:

Question about using a 10 mm stuffer tube

I bought a 10 mm stuffer tube to make some smaller diameter sticks. When the tube arrived, it surprised me how tiny the tube was and made me wonder if I need to modify the mix a little before using. Will I need to double grind to get the sausage to flow through this tube? Or Will a...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Mix and then toss in the canister and let sit for an hour to come to room temp, might need to skip the suregel since it seems like that stuff makes it solidify if it sits too long.

 

[wesir]

Just stuffed a batch and it went through the 1/2" tube like butter even with cheese/diced jalapeno and 1.5 oz water per pound of meat instead of 2 oz.

What I did differently:

• Light mix of the meat in a lug with the water, cure, and Cure Excellerator and let it sit at room temp for 2-3 hours while cleaning/prepping
  • Cure Excellerator = Dextrose, Sodium Erythorbate (22%), Sodium Citrate (22%)
  • Mixed seasoning, high temp cheese (room temp), jalapeno, suregel binder in after it warmed up and did the rest of the mix until I got good tackiness (5 min in the tilt mixer for me), could probably add the seasonings when you add the cure but if you're using a binder I think you want to wait until right before stuffing
• Gave the cylinder, O ring, and piston a nice coating of Crisco (found a post by daveomak saying he did this)
  • I was previously using the LEM lubricant and Crisco does a way better job, before I would see smears down the shaft where the O ring dragged meat/cheese, this time around it was spotless
  • You can also lubricate the stuffing horn if you rub some Crisco into LEM's cleaning brush, could use a pipe cleaner as well but the silicone is easy to clean
    • https://www.lemproducts.com/product/stuffing-tube-cleaning-brush/jerky-making-supplies

 

[jkc64]

Great to hear that. I've always used crisco to lube the o ring, thought that was normal, I have the LEM silicone spray but only use it on the grinder. Letting the meat warm after all the work is done is new to me but I will be using this method. Never thought of lubing the stuffing horn.

 

[DougE]

Great to hear that. I've always used crisco to lube the o ring

I always have, too. I also give my grinder plate and knife, as well as the back of the worm where it rides on the housing, a coat to keep it from running dry when I start a grind.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Excellerator = Dextrose, Sodium Erythorbate (22%), Sodium Citrate (22%)

22%? Is that real or a typo?

 

[indaswamp]

did you mix enough to get a good bind? did you hold your hand upside down with some meat paste to see if it stayed stuck and not fall?

 

[wesir]

Excellerator = Dextrose, Sodium Erythorbate (22%), Sodium Citrate (22%)

22%? Is that real or a typo?

If it's a typo it's one on their site

Cure Excellerator

This Cure Excellerator is a combination of Sodium Erythorbate and Sodium Citrate. It is faster acting than pure sodium erythorbate.

waltons.com

did you mix enough to get a good bind? did you hold your hand upside down with some meat paste to see if it stayed stuck and not fall?

Yea, I was going to go for 8 min like the videos recommend but it was like paste at 5 and super tacky, think the suregel does a lot to help with that.

Great to hear that. I've always used crisco to lube the o ring, thought that was normal, I have the LEM silicone spray but only use it on the grinder. Letting the meat warm after all the work is done is new to me but I will be using this method. Never thought of lubing the stuffing horn.

I've tried the silicone spray as well as the brown lube they have (it comes in a spray bottle but can't actually mist so it's like shooting a stream of lube at something). I was able to lube the 3/8" horn with crisco and that silicone cleaning brush (that thing makes getting meat out when you're done super easy) but ended up switching to the 1/2" horn before we started just because we were iffy on the 3/8" and I forgot to lube the 1/2", not sure how much of a difference it would make but figured anything to reduce friction might help.

 

[jkc64]

Put it on about 6PM yesterday @120 for an hour and a half then bumper 10 every hour to 160 and let it ride to 147 IT. Much better.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Excellerator = Dextrose, Sodium Erythorbate (22%), Sodium Citrate (22%)

22%? Is that real or a typo?

The site says to apply the mix at .125 pound to 100 pounds meat. That would convert to 56g per 100 pounds or .5g per pound.

Is this how you applied it?