Newbie from PA

[andy riley]

Hi my name is Andy Riley. I live near Hanover PA, close to Codorus State Park. This is South Central PA only a few miles from the Maryland border.

I love to hunt deer and have done well so far this season and am planning to smoke some venison dried and chipped and make some sausage and bologna as well.

My wife got me an electric smoker by Smoke Hollow from Home Depot as an early Christmas present, so I'm just starting out with this smoking thing. I have a lot to learn and this forum looks like the right place to do it at.

I work as a welder by trade, and play guitar in a band for fun on week ends, so between that and hunting and fishing I stay pretty busy. Plus I am married and am a Grandpa 8 times over now, as a new Grandson arrived last week. It's all good.

 

[GaryHibbert]

Hey Andy

Welcome welcome.  8 times a grampa??  pretty good.  you'll like it here

Gary

 

[gary s]

[h1]

Hello and welcome from East Texas. This is a great site, lots of information and great people that are willing to throw in their two cents worth on about anything   ......... [/h1][h1]  [/h1][h1]Gary[/h1]

 

[pc farmer]

Welcome from a fellow Pa guy.

Glad you found us.

You will like it here.

 

[seenred]

Welcome Andy! Glad you've joined our group You'll find that this is a great place to share ideas on smoking, grilling, etc. There are plenty of folks here who genuinely enjoy helping one another. Looking forward to your input, and just ask when you need anything...someone here will surely have the answer.

Red

 

[bdskelly]

Welcome to the forum! In no time at all you will find this place to be your go to place for making great foods your friends and family will love. The search tool at the top of the page will be your new best friend.

 

[themule69]

Andy

Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions Post it
and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is because their
are so many different ways to make great Q We all have our own taste.

Happy smoken.

David

 

[sfritz17327]

Hi neighbor, Sandy Fritz here! Our farm straddles the Mason/Dixon Line, near Lineboro, MD  Have you tried making the dried venison yet? We have a couple of hind quarters up at Godfreys right now being turned in to dried venison, they do an excellent job, but I want to start making it here at home.  If you have gotten yours finished I would love to hear how you did it and how it taste. We just got home from Miller's in Manchester from getting Tender Quick and some sausage casings so I'm ready to start with the deer he has haning (I think). Last year my husband got me an electric smoker from the Lowes in Hanover and I love it! If I can get the hang of this using that smoker, hubby's next construction project around here will be to build me a real house. I can already see the wheels turning in his mind.

 

[andy riley]

Sandy, Yes, I made the dried chipped venison. See my post in wild game titled" My first smoke". My wife and I had it for breakfast Sunday morning and she thought it was great. We had hinds done by Twin pines before which we thought were too salty but this was great. There's some pics in the post too.

I've had bologna from Godfreys before and it's good quality there.

I work in Hampstead and drive home(Codorus State Park area) by Lineboro every day. Real shame about that beautiful church burning.

I'm just getting ready to put some bologna in the smoker to ferment right now. I'm crossing my fingers.

BTW: look up dried venision in wild game there's a great thread from Bearcarver detailing the making of the dried venison. That's what I followed.

 

[gary s]

I'll bet being a welder, won't be long before you are posting pictures of your first smoker build.

Gary

 

[sfritz17327]

Andy,

I know, it's a shame that old church burned. I heard sirens coming from everywhere, but couldn't figure out where they were going, then later in the day I saw a post on my facebook page and it made me instantly sick to my stomach. I live maybe a mile from there on Hokes Rd.

I did see Bearcarvers post and that's what I plan on following. My husband and his buddy quartered the deer they had hanging yesterday, so after I feed our livestock I'm going to get busy with the venison. Good Luck with your bologna, let me know how it turns out. May I ask what recipe you're using for the bologna?

 

[andy riley]

Sandy, Yes , the bologna recipe is from a post by a member named Nepas titled venison sweet Lebanon bologna. It's recipe for a man named Len Poli with Sonoma sausages co. Looks and sounds real good.

I am having a big problem however. My smoker won't go low enough to ferment the bologna at the proper temp of 85 degrees. I have to constantly start it and stop it to play with the temp fluctuations by opening the door.  I even adjusted the door latches and put sticks in the door to try to let heat out. It's my own fault for not checking before getting ready to do the Lebanon bologna which uses a culture called F-RM-52 to ferment the dextrose and give it the tangy flavor. I couldn't babysit the smoker because of after work commitments and the temps went too high.(from my understanding it shouldn't be higher than 100 degrees. So I probably killed the culture and am now wondering if I can still save the meat at all.

Something to keep in mind in the future.

Gary, yes, I'm thinking I made a mistake buying this smoker and should have built my own. It's never too late though. I need to research a super controllable low heat source that doesn't need babysitting so much. That's why I went with an electric smoker so I could cold smoke bologna. Oh well live and learn.

Sometime I'd like to learn and live and avoid this dumb stuff, but at 60 years old in March, it's probably too late to hope for that lol.

 

[phillip p smith]

What brand and model  did you buy?

 

[phillip p smith]

 
Sandy, Yes , the bologna recipe is from a post by a member named Nepas titled venison sweet Lebanon bologna. It's recipe for a man named Len Poli with Sonoma sausages co. Looks and sounds real good.

I am having a big problem however. My smoker won't go low enough to ferment the bologna at the proper temp of 85 degrees. I have to constantly start it and stop it to play with the temp fluctuations by opening the door.  I even adjusted the door latches and put sticks in the door to try to let heat out. It's my own fault for not checking before getting ready to do the Lebanon bologna which uses a culture called F-RM-52 to ferment the dextrose and give it the tangy flavor. I couldn't babysit the smoker because of after work commitments and the temps went too high.(from my understanding it shouldn't be higher than 100 degrees. So I probably killed the culture and am now wondering if I can still save the meat at all.

Something to keep in mind in the future.

Gary, yes, I'm thinking I made a mistake buying this smoker and should have built my own. It's never too late though. I need to research a super controllable low heat source that doesn't need babysitting so much. That's why I went with an electric smoker so I could cold smoke bologna. Oh well live and learn.

Sometime I'd like to learn and live and avoid this dumb stuff, but at 60 years old in March, it's probably too late to hope for that lol.

What brand and model did you buy.  I too am looking for an electric smoker.

 

[andy riley]

Phillip, I bought a Smoke Hollow 30 inch electric smoker. It's a plane Jane smoker with two adjustable racks and one fixed. It's insulated and with a few mods (Drilling holes for better air flow vents) works well enough at normal temp in the 225 to 250 range. I did some dried chipped venison and it turned out great. I just need to figure out how to get the temp down to 85 -90 degree range for smoking Lebanon bologna.

After reading some old posts, I may just get an electric skillet to put in it for the heat source when doing bologna. Right now I have the door propped open.

 

[gary s]

The smokers we have built do require attention. You can't set and forget.  When it's cold and rainy you have to really keep an eye on the temp gauge. Our next build we are going to go with an insulated fire box, which will help overall efficiency. We only get a few months of cold weather so usually not a problem. Probably the low temp smoking you are doing, you made a good choice.

Gary