Is there a trick to snack sticks?

[okie sawbones]

It was very hard to push the meat out of my sausage stuffer into the casings through the small stuffer tube. Is there any trick, other than adding more water?

 

[bmudd14474]

Small batches and more moisture in the mix. I was not wanting to ad water when I did it the first time but after trying it I have no issues with it. It doesn't impact the flavor at all IMO.

 

[zwiller]

Yes, the trick is a jerky gun. 100x easier.

 

[JckDanls 07]

leave mix on counter for a couple of hours to come up to room temp... Then give a little mix to see if it's still stiff... If to stiff add water... You'll be surprised at how much more workable it is at room temp...

 

[oberst]

I let my batch warm up instead of trying to stuff nearly frozen like in the past.

 

[nomoreusmc]

The double barrel makes it way easier to get it out because there's more of an open space. Beef jerky gun is exactly right in my opinion. Have many miles on mine! Have a friend around.

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

I just did some with Jerky gun no casings and turned out really good.

 

[Winterrider]

As mentioned, little extra water. Have a hard time with 25# unit but very easy with the 5#, just less pressure. Jerky cannon works good but alot of loading. Rolling up balls to put in the cannon is easiest way to load that I have found.

 

[okie sawbones]

Thanks for all of the replies. The collective wisdom here is great.

 

[zwiller]

As mentioned, little extra water. Have a hard time with 25# unit but very easy with the 5#, just less pressure. Jerky cannon works good but alot of loading. Rolling up balls to put in the cannon is easiest way to load that I have found.

No way I would run 25# with a gun but 5# is not so bad. I use an ice cream scooper. My gun came with a tamper. Saw a video of a guy that made "logs" in wax paper to load. Was pretty slick.

 

[JckDanls 07]

We used a bigger tube on the stuffer and loaded the canon with the stuffer... easy peasy ...

 

[motolife313-2]

leave mix on counter for a couple of hours to come up to room temp... Then give a little mix to see if it's still stiff... If to stiff add water... You'll be surprised at how much more workable it is at room temp...

Not safe to do that will ground meat. Especially if cooking for others.

I have no problem stuffing at all. Are u adding cheese ? Maybe the chunks are getting stuck but u definitely need water!! I put a ton of peppers in my pepperoni which is like 92% water so I don’t need much water but I did used to before putting so much peppers. I also had teriyaki sauce which ads more moisture. If too moist let the mix sit for a few hours in the fridge to dry out. Also shredded cheese will absorb a lot of liquid if too moist. I can stuff 50 pounds and clean up in 1 hour

 

[chopsaw]

Not safe to do that will ground meat.

I usually mix then stuff , but if I fridge overnight I let it warm up on the counter for a couple hours . No issue with that at all . Properly salted and cure added .
I hang SS chubs overnight pre smoke , and again for several nights post smoke .

 

[motolife313-2]

Ok you have a point if u let the cure do it work for a few hours first

 

[LanceR]

Per the USDA, ground pork and beef are good at room temps for 2 hours and for 1 hour at or above 90* F. I wouldn't try that with a fish or poultry sausage, though.

And I strongly suspect that due to using salt and cure the time limit would increase a good bit although I couldn't say by how much.

Personally, for snack sticks, I limit the amount of mixing and add salt as late as possible as both salt and mixing increase the stiffness of the mixture. Snack sticks don't get as much benefit from the tightening of the mixture from mixing as larger sausages do and the snack sticks will firm up anyway due to cooking and from drying shrinkage.

I find that mixing the seasonings and any cure into the first addition of water helps distribute them more easily than sprinkling them in or dumping them in so I can mix it less.

I use no more water than needed and any water added after the initial water/spices/cure slurry is in the form of ice chips or crushed ice to keep things as cold as possible. I do this primarily to prevent fat smearing.

Lastly, I stuff as soon as the mixing is done so the salt has less time to stiffen the mixture.

As a general guideline, a 5-pound stuffer seems to be about the practical upper limit of how big a stuffer can be and still reliably stuff through a small tube. I lubricate the inside of the stuffer by rubbing it with a hunk of cold fat or a bit of vegetable shortening and find that makes stuffing the first load or two easier. Fat from the meat takes over from there.

And my experience is that a taller narrow stuffer has less issues stuffing through a small tube than a squat wide stuffer of the same size as the wider stuffer puts less PSIs of pressure on the meat mixture in the stuffer. Which means you need more cranking effort which, in turn, has led to the demise of many a larger stuffer..... just dig through our archives to see examples.

I hope some of this rambling helps and as always, your mileage may vary......

EDIT: one technique common in many sausage making plants, is to add the cure to the chunks of meat before grinding, mix it well and let the meat rest for the time indicated by the size of the chunks and then grinding. This works especially when when making sausage with larger lean or fat chunks like szynkowa.

Best regards to all,

 

[crazymoon]

OS, I use my 5 pound stuffer instead of a 15# for sticks as others have said. I also add plenty of water the day of stuffing. It adds to the drying/cooking time in the smoker but greatly helps in stuffing so it's worth it IMHO.

 

[smokertomkatt]

It was very hard to push the meat out of my sausage stuffer into the casings through the small stuffer tube. Is there any trick, other than adding more water?

Double the water add another 1.5 oz per lb just before stuffing

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Dont add any extra water.....come on man.

 

[JckDanls 07]

Double the water add another 1.5 oz per lb just before stuffing

Hope you don't mind... But I disagree with adding more water... Let the meat sit on the counter for a few hours so that it comes up to room temp... Then mix again before stuffing...

 

[dward51]

I usually add my ECA and more water right before stuffing. By the time I mix in the ECA (by hand of course), it's fairly loose. I've stuffed in a 13mm horn this way with no issues (manual stuffer).

I normally stuff with a 5lb stuffer (the good ole' Kitchener I've had for 20 years or more), but recently I bought the 10 pound LEM electric. I previously bought their patty extruder heat for my grinder, and it has a 4 stick plate. I recently ran a batch of 7 pounds of casingless sticks this way. 4 sticks wide on their paper backing sheet, cut to fit the dehydrator. After an hour or so and once the meat surface is starting to dry, take off the paper and flip. Dehydrate like normal afterwards. Came out wonderful and looked perfect with no rack marks on the sticks. This is my new method. Sorry no photos but next time I will make some and post. It's more cleanup due to the number of parts involved, but it's worth it on a large batch especially if you are working by yourself.