So, we got some information from our application specialist who knows Excaliburs processes well. His response was “Large batches are well mixed for distribution and then immediately packaged so no settling occurs.” Now, we are going to have an Excaibur guy on the podcast soonish so we will make sure to bring this up!

smokinbubba I have a #25 LEM mixer. I have been running options through my head on how to do it. I got a couple ideas but haven’t really dove into it much yet. It has a stuffing speed that is slow and grinding speed that is faster. Need to check rpm on stuffing speed to see if it is slow enough for a direct drive.

processhead Thanks for the good info!

Like Will Roger said “I have never met a Sausage I didnt like” or something like that. Thank you.

As s.a.m stated above. bearded butchers have a pretty good recent video on it. I believe they have an older video on lamb aswell. .22lr should be fine for the harvest, and the rest is same. You could split it like a hog or beef but they are small enough I wouldnt bother. If you wanna practice your butcher skills nows the time to bust out the frenched rack of lamb and leg of lamb.

Grimpuppy thank you

twilliams

Finished up my experiment with a honey cured vs maple syrup cured. Both turned out pretty mild tasting. Maybe an extra day or curing would help. The next time I am going to use maple sugar instead of syrup. I used a pint of grade B, it darkened the pork a bit and was messy. I just didn’t want to use my limited supply of maple sugar until after sugar season. Smoked with hickory, should have the next belly ready in a couple of weeks.

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I grind 3/8 1st grind. Than decide what type of sausage I want. I like 1-1 pork beef. So what I may stuff 3/8 or bring to 1/8 for hotdogs Is my choice You’re the Chef. 🤗

processhead God will judge me by the people i befriend. Thank you Paul. I’m among friends!!!

If very tangy when the ECA is used in the recommended amounts, I always question if there was uneven mixing of ingredients or at least the ECA.

ECA melts and activates around 135F, you should be fine for a few hours

smokinbubba I got it off a program called guidefitter

Hawker saves on gas😊

Sdickey1960 Yeah, you can use something like bactoferm T-SPX and then let it dry cure. You need some specialized equipment to do this but it absolutely will “keep” longer. Some sort of cabinet that you can monitor and control both temp and humidity, a way to measure pH and temperature.

blackbetty61 you got it together sausage warrior. If it works for you that’s all that matters Thanks for the insight. Cheers😊

Tim Bailey Very common problem with these. I figure I will have my welder at work tig it back if/when it lets loose! There is only one option for the carnivore grinders and its the blue sky 50lber. I wish someone would come out with a 20lb model so I didnt have to do my small batches in the kitchen aid.

keend I couldn’t get a manufacturer to tint a knife orange and I tried hard, so I am not hopeful on that but it WOULD be interesting to have a stuffer like this…actually grinder would be cool too. I wonder if we could spray the outside of the container with something instead of having orange tinted in.

Tinting isn’t what I am trying to do though, this would be more helpful to the actual process than this.

Only use fresh for breakfast links. Slow heat, cold pan or simmer in a little water to bring the meat temp up and then brown. Depends on the mood :thinking_face:

Kentucky Fisherman Good Point.
In all of our Freezers essentially all cured products are the last to freeze and first to start to thaw Right along with fresh sausages.

Miket482000 i have an answer on this, I just can’t think of it right now. I am guessing it has something to do with the pH but dont quote me on that yet. I will find the answer tomorrow and update the post…darn, this is annoying, I can’t think of it and I know this was talked about in the last month. I’ll try more searching tomorrow.

twilliams said in Mixing sausage:

You just dropped big coin on items you may not have needed.

You’re right, but it as mostly a hobby and something I enjoy doing with friends and family so I’m not attempting to justify any ROI. Bought the grinder with credit card points through Paypal anyway. And now I bad want a chambered vacuum sealer, which is real coin! I am in construction so I like equipment…

chrispbrown27 That’s awesome! We love when people have a huge success with a product that they slightly modify! This is part of what meat processing is all about, trying new things and continuing until you get the result you want. One note, it seems like you did but taking good notes when you are trying new things is absolutely essential. Few things are more frustrating than finally hitting on what you wanted and then not knowing how to get there again!

If you have any, please submit pics and I will have Londyn post this to our social media accounts.

I am waiting gyro to arrive looks like Thursday being making those… lots of elk this year to play with lol…

smokinbubba Thank You!

bcompton53 if the entire face looks uniform and even with no scratches or knicks i would think so. Also depends how fine you got it to with the paper

rich_green also if you do use cure and cook low and slow in smoker you must hold in fridge for 12 hours before putting in smoker, with or without smoke unless you use a cure accelerator

I have tried a 50/50 mix but the 40/60 is a much more moist sausage

Mke Dildwr if you follow Jonathon link, you have to scroll up 2 post to get my recipe. I have done it with chunks of beef, but I do find the flavor is a little different then if you use venison, but is still good. An important part is to slice it thin, I dont know why, but it seems to taste better.

Hawkeye I’d like to see your recipe for your snack sticks with the pineapple and venison. Would like to give it a try.

Elsos Yeah, what you are describing in your initial post sounds like the vinegar from something in that can. The lowered pH is going to denature the proteins and prevent them from effectively binding together. I added some pickled jalapenos to a batch of willies once and to prevent what happened to you I laid them all out on a screen and let them air dry for 2 hours. That seems to be long enough to dry the outside of the jalapeno slices but it still maintains some of the taste.

Jonathon yup, listening to my wife and father in-law tell the story it was hilarious after the fact, not then. It cost him a new kitchen to mom in-law.

smokinbubba Thanks bubba. Everyone makes do with the resources they have. I personally find it helpful to know my audience before I lather advice. Generates more smiles then frowns😎

OK, now I’m really confused. I understand that belly’s are cold smoked. Been there, done that, years ago. I thought imitation bacon was hot smoked to 160f with a smoker temp of 175.
That’s why I thought a sous vide at 175 would not render.

wmjacksoniii said in BBday Grinder stuffing funnel size?:

Forgive me if this is a stupid question that should have been a no-brainer to figure out. Has anybody have any idea how I can figure out what size sausage tube will fit a BBday cheapo grinder/ stuffer? There is no markings on the machine, the funnel that came with it, or any of the grinding plates. I tried Google for a customer service number and discovered that it always refers the customer back to customer service of the store it was purchased at.

Agreed, we need clarification on what your question is. Lots of experience on this site and awesome customer support from Waltons. I think a few of us read your original post differently. Are you looking for additional stuffing tubes for your grinder?

smokinbubba
Thankfully I have a spare room. Yep, Harbor Freight, can’t beat it.

What I like the most about the suos vide is how it has expanded my sausage portfolio. I would never think about making sausage larger than 1.5" before due to the extremely loooong smoke times. Now, I have a plan for 4" bologna maybe this weekend. My Waltons order should be here by then. (Don’t tell my wife I made a second Waltons order this month plz) The super short cook times in the sous vide has made these before unreachable goals now very reachable.
3hrs in water vs 30hrs (estimated) in a smokehouse. Big difference. Plus we seem to be cooking dinner with it a couple times a week! A very handy tool.

Laura 'Date' Attenberger I would recommend you dont do the powder, but instead roast garlic cloves and then grind those with the meat. This is what we did with some snack sticks and it was very good. I would recommend 2 medium-sized cloves (not the entire thing which is called a bulb) per 10 lb of meat.

If you need to use powdered garlic I would suggest making small batches with different amounts and just frying that in a pan to see what strength. It wouldn’t be exact as smoking and pan frying are going to produce different products but it will at least be in the range.

tarp You now have an idea on how sous vide and vacuum packing the product enhances the marinate/seasonings used. It’s all about trial and error. Just adjust according to your taste buds. Keep that learning happening. Good luck.

I did the snow trick a couple weeks ago. The roads were too nasty to go get a bag of ice. I over filled a meat lug with fresh powder and layered sausage in. Then ran cold water over to make a slurry. Worked GREAT!

Jonathon You’re spot on. I always taste by grabbling a fist full, and make a patty. Paper plate in the microwave and test the temp for done. Saved a few disasters … joe

Thank you for your input that sounds good to me…

Sounds like its a keeper.

Jonathon , it’s a Hakka brothers stuffer. According to their website. It does say sticks in the description. They are saying 16mm is a 1/2 in tube. The deer sticks the processors here in north central illinois make. Basically are as big around as a hot dog. These are the size I’m wanting to make. . I’m just hoping I’m not confusing myself others saying deer sticks. But that’s what we call them here. I’m not wanting to make slim Jim style sticks. But bigger ones the size of hot dogs.

processhead curing process is identical, however the spices and cooking process are different.

Every other is my standard, if smoking it depends on the sausage

smokinbubba my kitchen aid is the artisan and 5 lb tends to ride up past the top of the bowl , hand mixing at my age and other considerations added is at times difficult

deweymeats No worries, this is exactly what we were talking about on this. I am asking our commercial sales people what their commercial customers do here. I’ve only ever made Dill Pickle and Pizza ground and formed jerky and those both are snack and jerky seasonings, so they are formulated either as a topical or to be mixed into the center of the meat.

Ozgrams Thanks for clarifying, that is good to know!

The problem here is two-fold. 1st and biggest is that they are all formulated differently. Look at Habanero Lime, Dill Pickle or Pizza Jerky. All of those are formulated for both a stick and a jerky, which in my mind means they are going to be fine in either. Then look at the jalapeno jerky, that is .625 lb where jalapeno snack stick is 1.5 lb so is using that on a restructured jerky going to impart the level of flavor you want? Basically, yes, it is going to be fine to use as a restructured, it just might not have as strong of a flavor. I would argue that Dill, Hab Lime or Pizza should not be changed at all, just use it at the normal rate. For any others IF you want a stronger flavor I’d bump it by 10% more seasoning per lb and do a smaller test batch to see if that gives you what you want.

The 2nd issue is that taste is so subjective. We have a few seasonings like Honey BBQ that I hate but other people say they love it. Then I have made things that I’ve loved and others thought had too little or too much taste. We need a scovile unit for taste. Tremblays. “That burger had 5 Tremblays of flavor.”

@samspade2519 Yeah, length of time frozen (as long as correctly packaged) shouldn’t be too big of a deal (unless we are talking years) and 7 days is certainly fine!

Sdickey1960 The main person you need to talk to is your inspector. You want to hear what people say here but make 100% sure your inspector is okay with your plan before you do ANYTHING. Different inspectors have different levels of rules. We had one in Texas that wouldn’t let a customer use our safe handling bags because it either was missing a comma, or it had a comma where he didn’t think there should be one. So, before you make any investments talk to them.

Sdickey1960 All things being equal use meat you just ground. If that isn’t possible then buying ground beef with the correct fat content is fine but it is never going to be as good as meat you just ground. Also, for sticks, I highly recommend pork or at least pork fat. It is creamier, lighter in color and has less of a taste than any other fat that is readily available.

gotguns I dont talk to commercial processors all that often but if you want an opinion/information on them you can call 800-835-2832 and they will get you in touch with the commercial salesmen for you area. They will be able to tell you (honestly, they don’t work on commission) if it will do what you need it to.

cheese should be considered a flavoring as any thing else and it is subject to your taste

these are for 1 lb measure for the 1/4 teaspoon

Ozgrams Yeah, as long as they are properly taken care of and vac sealed before freezing it shouldn’t be an issue. Certainly, don’t add a cure accelerator of any kind though. If you skip the cure then you need to cook them as a fresh sausage, cant use the same smoked schedule, you’d be in the danger zone for too long.

skibumben said in New Grinder:

d. Dumb luck.
true I wished they carried the #22 but who ever said I wished I had less power… lol My only miss was once order was placed a friend called and she had a couple of $100 off coupons!

Ozgrams said in Venison Whole Muscle Jerky:

hell of an operation… never seen that brand of smoker… and you must have some great recipes in that safe…

Whats the benefit of dusting the seasoning and stacking vs adding water and marinating in Fridge

The short answer on dusting is, that’s how the instructions say to do it. The stacking just makes it easier to get them apart again when they are ready to go on the rack and also ensures that the un-dusted side is in contact with a dusted piece underneath it.
With a marinate, the amount of cure and seasoning to use gets a little iffy. With some trial and error, you could probably figure out a system that would work with a marinade, but ultimately, not all the dry ingredients in the marinade are going to stick to the meat, and some drips off somewhere you don’t want it to go. I like the meat to have the minimum amount of moisture to shorten dry time and just minimize the mess while preparing. Its just my method and I am sure other methods work just as well for others.

You have never seen a smoker like that one because it was a limited edition of one. In it’s previous life, it was a hospital blanket warmer.

After adding vents, a larger heating element, home-made pellet auger/smoke generator, and temperature controls, it is now a smoker.
Originally, I built electric smokers for my friends, mostly made from vintage refrigerators, the kind with the latching handles that kids would play in and…you know.
A buddy coined the name, cooked up a logo, and built some badges for the smokers I was making. Yes, kind of sick/dark. But easy to remember.

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Jonathon Thank you

twilliams Thank you.

Elsos I dont see a pic, it seems like you posted one? Recently I haven’t been as available to help as I would like to be, other things are needing my time but in general I try to be online and helpful! Right now I am working from home for a while so I should be online more!

So, you used non hightemp and some didn’t melt? That is interesting, Id assume all the nom-high temp cheese would melt in a snack stick. It certainly did on the test batches I made with regular cheese. Next time consider toasting your garlic first. I did that with some Willies once and it was pretty excellent in my mind!

Thank for info. In smoker an waiting. For finish time.

Jonathon awesome. I will try that next time. Thx

Thank you Paul. I’m extremely happy with it. Have 15 lb of willies sticks in it now!

Pulled trigger too quick. Friend had $100 off coupons!!!

if you want to go back farther the pharos from the middle east distilled spirits

Hudson2020 No, they are excalibur seasonings so the ingredients are available but proprietary. You can look at the ingredients in order of predominance by scrolling down any page and clicking the additional info button but it wont show a % on anything.

Lots of factors, casing size, collagen or natural casing, average humidity and temperature, air movement
32 mm may be a week or two, large diameters may take 4-6 weeks
I would weigh weekly
Lots of info on the web under salami or salumi

brian scheider okay, that is going to have to wait a week or so but I will make sure I get the hard reset and check it

@Tim Zenner Well, I dont really recommend carrot fiber for smoked sausage. Use Sure Gel for smoked and carrot fiber for fresh sausage. But, if you are goiing to use carrot fiber then just use the same amount.

smokinbubba Yup, and that’s why we did that. Personally, I love the stuff but it is pretty simple to get rid of in seasonings so why not?

lsaule I guess how accurate do you want to be in your protein/fat ratio? You can break down your animal muscles into lean and fat and mix back together to get the protein/fat ratio you want. E.g. 5lb meat block with 30% fat is 3.5lbs lean and 1.5 lbs fat (5 X .30 = 1.5). This will get you in the ballpark. If you are looking for dead nuts accurate you are going to buy some really expensive equipment. I like to keep it simple and in the ballpark is good for most of my sausages, seasoning percentages are more of a focus for me. Hope this helps.:orangehat:

I recommend smoked meat stabilizer. Stuff and immediately smoke. It’s a cure accelerator. Good stuff.

One good thing about making your own sausage is you have some latitude to do your own thing.
Snack sticks are usually smaller diameter, sheep casings casing are a good choice if you are wanting a natural casing.
Brats and landsjaeger would be about right in a hog casing.
Bologna can go in a fibrous casing, but is not a natural casing.
Hog casings and sheep casings will vary a bit in size. A lot of casing suppliers will gauge them so you know what the size you are buying. Casing size consistency is probably more important for commercial processors looking for uniform weight and size for their product packaging.

:+1: Yep I think you got it, even go a bit shorter then go from there!

Placed my order this morning. I went with the dry rub, sweeter than sweet, bacon taste booster and some California ham spice, along with Suregel, sodium erythorbate, and finally cold phosphate. Thank you all for the help.

smokinbubba Yup, pretty sure ours are exactly the same as that. However I can’t guarantee it. Our Mixers are on their way and should be here soon.

Roe Bear Yeah, it is all about the size of the container you are planning on using. If you use a small one then the little weston is fine. If you want to do a meat-lug or something then you need the Vacmaster SV1, the HBC or something like that. I have done larger batches with 2 small Westons and it seems to work.

Kentucky Fisherman I’ve absolutely noticed that flavor will develop overnight after cooking but I rarely hold before I cook. Now, those are with cured products, with fresh products I don’t think the same thing necessarily applies to fresh sausage. I have made brats and held them for a long time before I cooked them and don’t think they continue to develop. Maybe that is because it is frozen?

Fractured Fitness If you are doing a larger cut like a pork but, bacon or ham you want to inject and then tumble in a 50% strength solution. This is what a lot of the big boys do and it gets better and quicker penetration and more even cover. If you’re doing chicken breasts wings or something smaller reversing that like Tex_77 is talking about is fine as well. I have never done a color penetration test but maybe we should?

Rnb, you need to use cure on any sausage that is smoked. Since your sausage spends a long time in the food safety danger zone 40-140degf. It is a must. If i understand correctly the eca lowers the ph of the meat and gives summer sausage the tang. I personally dont like the tang so i do my trail bologna without it. Hope this helps. Bubba

twilliams Interestingly enough they dont put the weight on the package. I’d put 1 pack of 8 bones that are about 2-2-3/4" in a 10 lb batch of hot dogs. Sorry, I can’t be more specific than that! Treat it as pork fat basically, don’t let it push you over 30% by much or you might have the fat render out during the cooking process.

Pickled, I will have to try that.

Not at all just what I wanted to know, and right in time! Thanks!

Glad you had a great time with the family, America needs more of that!

twilliams Cuisinart digital, will weigh up to 11 lbs. Does lbs. and ounces as well as grams. It has a tare feature as well. It would be a whole lot better for smaller measurements if the upper weight level was lower. The digital jumps pretty fast due to the large capacity range.

Bhouin1086 I grew ghost peppers and Chile peppers, dried them and ground them up in the wifes coffee grinder( not recommended if your going to grind coffee again I found out later the hard way). Anyway, I add a table spoon to 25# of meat. i find it much easier to do it that way. It mixes in better and more even flavor

Thanks everyone. Cooler idea is great

1oldfart (same response in another post) When you say listed, I assume you mean basically anything on waltonsinc.com? Anything CAN be used but I’d not say everything SHOULD be used. For example, a bratwurst seasoning or breakfast sausage is formulated for fresh products, they might not have the salt content necessary to properly aid in protein extraction. That can be gotten around though by using more seasoning per lb of meat. However, there isn’t a standard equation for converting fresh to cured because the salt content is different for each seasoning, so all basically have to be figured out by making small test batches.

jypuckett buy the sure gel. label has the ratio for 25 lbs of meat…get your smart phone out, open calculator, and measurements can be figured out in about a minute…Good Luck Brother!

thank you so much

Thanks, that is good to know about Choice Meats. I do have a couple local butchers here but lately I process most things by myself when I can.

jjischke I personally have not experienced trapped air in my cast iron stuffers.

I generally just fill the cylinder with sausage mix and as I compress the mix during the first couple of cranks, I hear any trapped air vent out past the piston.

Tex_77 Somewhere I imagine you have a text file that says “Jon’s answers” and they are just copied and pasted into the answers! Nicely answered BUT YOU"LL never catch me!

Whole muscle pork jerky is what I make the most of, started doing it a few years ago when beef went way up in price!

jonathon and glen…thank you both for the info on ECA

Labradorbob I have posted this a few times but the Honey BBQ is one I don’t actually care for but everyone else really liked. I used ECA both times I made it (2nd time just to see if I was crazy) I felt the same both times but everyone else liked it again, so I am the odd one. I’d be interested in your thoughts though

Jonathon I’d agree…the cure just didn’t penetrate far enough. So long as you followed basic safety guidelines I’d think it’s probably fine to consume now or freeze for later but it may not be something you want to take selfie’s with.

I’ve cured a venison leg round as a pastrami because I prefer my ham to have fat. It’s certainly worth a try, though. Try a maple smoke.

txoutdoorsman I can get you an LOP for the seasoning. It will not be exact as that is proprietary information but it will be a reasonable range. Let me know!