Matt, I have given what you are wanting to do a lot of thought over the last few years. I actually have been wanting to do the same thing myself for a while. Here is what I came up with, 1[sup]st[/sup] before you buy any equipment or spend a dime…..Check with your local board of health department, ask them what you need to do to get started…what are their requirements. I have been working with mine for the last few months, designing a plan for mine….They have been extremely helpful and have made suggestions that I would have never thought about......They are the people that are going to be inspecting your facility, so why not build it around their requirements…2[sup]nd[/sup] your facility will probably need to be inspected by the USDA also, so you may want to do the same thing with them too…It is not a fast pace process, so don’t get in a rush…it takes a long time to get help some times, be patient and take notes every time !!! The smallest details can cause the most costly problems if you have to do them over … and the 3[sup]rd[/sup] thing, I have done was ( I work at a local college) I contacted the Animal Science dept. at the local college and asked for help…they are a very valuable resource. As far as it goes, the collage is the one that produces most of the inspectors, helped establish some of their rules and are the inspectors go to resource in many cases…I by far am not going to tell you how to handle your business or how to deal with people, but from experience, I have learned that if you just listen and ask questions the people that work within these feilds are extremely helpful and if treated with respect are willing to bend over backwards to help…..I actually took a class at the collage ( Animal Science 3900), I learned how the process works on the industrial level, when I had questions or problems he was their to help. Now, since we have a pretty good relationship, he is more willing to go the extra effort for me when I need his help… but it is a double edge sword too, he will tell me that I should investigate this more before I ask questions or for help also…..but that is my fault too ….He is a great teacher, but tough….As far as equipment goes these people are the ones that are in the field and know the requirements and in my opinion will have the best knowledge of what you need to start off with….My question about the single truck smoker, how much will it hold ? I understand that your intent is to only make and smoke sausage, but these days you may want to look into something more versatile, something that you can smoke other things with too…..Just my thoughts…Hope this helps ShoneyBoy
