Processing Week 2022...

[pineywoods]

Are you done smoking it all? What do you have left to do? Might have to change the title from Processing Day to Processing Week

 

[indaswamp]

Are you done smoking it all? What do you have left to do? Might have to change the title from Processing Day to Processing Week

All we have left to do is package smoke sausages today and tomorrow. I have new seals for my vacmaster pro360 thanks to Lisa, so it should go fairly quickly. And I would have changed the title already.....but I can't edit posts! LOL!!

 

[indaswamp]

OK...when I pulled the sausage off the smoke yesterday, I noticed that the jalapeno and cheese sausage that I hung right near the door had not cooked all the way. I had the door cracked open for low temp smoking, and we had a hell of a SW wind yesterday gusting to 30-35 MPH. It was blowing right into the open door and cooling the sausages in the front. I did not want to chance it and decided this morning to just go ahead and double smoke the J&C sausage. Did not take all that long with only 38# and I was packaging sausages anyways so I had the inkbird monitor on the packaging table to keep an eye on them. I was concerned that I might melt out the cheese double smoking, but that was not the case at all and they turned out GREAT!

Double smoked...

slice (and taste test) after quenching in ice water for about 20 minutes...

I knocked out about 100# packaged today. Will finish the rest tomorrow.

 

[Fueling Around]

That could be it Fueling Around... the salt sitting on it for a day had to pull out some proteins and when I added the cure and remixed, I developed them even more. Then that coarse grind went thru second grind thru 6mm plate denaturing the proteins even more. With the phosphates in there grabbing on to them tightly....and trapping water too. This sausage is moist and has a GREAT bind!

Well, we know that overworking meat makes a tough chewy meatball or meatloaf.
They tend to be lower fat and no phosphates (did you use milk powder) than your sausage plus well-cooked into submission.
I don't know if it was the second grind or the second day nitrite. I suspect the second day grind.

OK...when I pulled the sausage off the smoke yesterday, I noticed that the jalapeno and cheese sausage that I hung right near the door had not cooked all the way.
...

How did you hold them overnight before the second cook/smoke?

 

[indaswamp]

How did you hold them overnight before the second cook/smoke?

Back on ice. Quenched in an ice water bath for rapid cool down.

 

[BXMurphy]

Got the call @ 7p.m. tonight from my buddy..."Hey man, you want (2) 100# hogs?"

My answer- "Well Hell Yeah!"

WOOOHOOO!!!!!

Buddy- "Meet me at my house in 25 minutes. We gotta drive to the launch to pick them up."

So we did...
View attachment 515017
Hogs were MUUUUDDDDDY! Dragged through the swamp to the boat. Shot right at the end of legal light for deer. Hogs had not been dead an hour yet when we picked them up.

After a stop by the Carwash, $3.50 later they were clean from a nice power shower...
View attachment 515018
Old man my buddy knows had his niece in the deer stand with him today. The hogs came out at 5:30p.m. and she wanted to shoot them then. Grandpa said, "lets wait and see if a deer steps out. But if not, and they return, then you can shoot them." Well, deer never showed and hogs step out. She shot them both right at the base of the skull and spine. Awesome! No bullet hole in the meat...and no bone fragments to deal with!

I got them gutted then drove to the firehouse....got them packed in Louisiana snow in the bed of the truck....
View attachment 515019
...will skin and quarter out into primals with the sunrise tomorrow. It'll be 45*F here for the low so they'll be good till morning.
And THAT my friends....is a Louisiana Saturday Night!!! LOL!!!

Hey, man... thanks for sharing some Louisiana hunting. It's far removed from me in Massachusetts and very fascinating. I know zero hunters but love hearing of the excitement. So cool.

Murph

 

[BXMurphy]

Here in TX, feral hogs are considered a pest so we can hunt them day/night and with basically anything (spears, knives, firearms, archery, your car, etc.).

"Hunt them with ... your car, etc"

HA! I almost died! That was great! Thanks for that laugh, tallbm!!

Hunt them with your car, etc... HAHA! Classic! DAMN, I loves me some Texas!

 

[daveomak]

Inda, morning... I'm following this epic adventure... Thanks for sharing.. If Washington State gets any more blue, you got room for 1 more neighbor ???

 

[indaswamp]

Just finished up packaging all the smoke sausages.

300# (less 45# from the half full one) of smoke sausage in 3 ice chests

 

[corybrown50]

WOW!!! I've been so impressed by all of this. I'm slowly upgrading my set up for processing, but just WOW!! You inspired me to go ahead and upgrade my stuffer to a 25# electric after upgrading my grinder and a chamber vac last year......My wife says "Thank you" hehehehe. Great job! I usually process about 6-10 deer a year, keeping my grind for a "grind party", but this is more than next level. So many great ideas and execution.

 

[indaswamp]

Just bought a 2" stuffer horn for stuffing the 1# meat bags faster...
Stainless Steel Tube Horn Funnel for Meat Grinder (#12)

Also bought 3 more colors of tape for product in bags...yellow, orange, and black.....color coding is a big plus!!
T.R.U. UPVC-24BS Yellow Poly Bag Sealing Tape: 3/8 in. x 180 yds. (Pack of 1)

 

[BC Buck]

Just bought a 2" stuffer horn for stuffing the 1# meat bags faster...
Stainless Steel Tube Horn Funnel for Meat Grinder (#12)

Also bought 3 more colors of tape for product in bags...yellow, orange, and black.....color coding is a big plus!!
T.R.U. UPVC-24BS Yellow Poly Bag Sealing Tape: 3/8 in. x 180 yds. (Pack of 1)

Been thinking about getting one of those 2" stiffing horns for my #22. Would like to talk to someone who has used one to see how much faster it works directly off the grinder during second grind.

 

[pineywoods]

Been thinking about getting one of those 2" stiffing horns for my #22. Would like to talk to someone who has used one to see how much faster it works directly off the grinder during second grind.

It works faster for sure I have one and have used it with my #32 grinder. I have not processed enough to use it in the last several years.

For a few years we'd use different bags for different grinds and different animals. We mostly ground venison and pork.

 

[tallbm]

Just bought a 2" stuffer horn for stuffing the 1# meat bags faster...
Stainless Steel Tube Horn Funnel for Meat Grinder (#12)

Also bought 3 more colors of tape for product in bags...yellow, orange, and black.....color coding is a big plus!!
T.R.U. UPVC-24BS Yellow Poly Bag Sealing Tape: 3/8 in. x 180 yds. (Pack of 1)

Yeah indaswamp you inspired me to get clear/white poly bags I found on the cheap at Ebay and then I bought this variety pack of tape so I could be like you with the bagging and avoid having to buy different bag colors/patterns:

That seems like a lot for colored poly bag tape but buying 1,000 different colored bags (3x for 3 different color bags) for the same price or more was more expensive. I scored like 2,000 clear poly bags for like $32 a while back so it was a no brainer decision for me :D

Now I just need to get back into hunting and filling bags :D

 

[indaswamp]

Yeah indaswamp you inspired me to get clear/white poly bags I found on the cheap at Ebay and then I bought this variety pack of tape so I could be like you with the bagging and avoid having to buy different bag colors/patterns:

I'm going to buy that multi pack for next season....cheaper to go that route. Thanks for the link.

 

[tallbm]

I'm going to buy that multi pack for next season....cheaper to go that route. Thanks for the link.

Glad to help!
Once I saw the variety pack for that cost and individual tapes for like $8+ I knew it was a no brainer as well. Glad I could help ya out with it :)

 

[indaswamp]

Thought you guys might like to see to mount of the buck my nephew shot this season...

The euro mounts- first buck he ever killed is not he right, his second on the left.

 

[pineywoods]

Very nice a big boy for sure

 

[tallbm]

Thought you guys might like to see to mount of the buck my nephew shot this season...
View attachment 527300
The euro mounts- first buck he ever killed is not he right, his second on the left.

I love it!!! I bet he is excited about it :)