Creating a group for every brand of smoker, would be awesome, but not sure that you want to really have that many groups. Rather than being brand or model specific, what do you think about grouping the smokers into similar categories because the methods for smoking in each can be very different and some methods are tailored to specific styles of smoker.

I could see leaving the PK-100 and other smokers that Walton’s sells in a separate group, but for the rest of the smokers grouping by smoker type might be a little more valuable.

just a rough draft of what the groups could look like:

High-End Electric (Pro Smoker, CookShack, Smokin-It, SmokinTex, etc.)
Bargain Electric - (Masterbuilt, Smoke Chef, Smoke Hollow, Big Chief, etc.)
Wood/Charcoal (Oklahoma Joe, Weber, Pit Barrel, etc.)
Ceramic (Big Green Egg, Kamado Joe, Broil King, etc.)
Pellet (Traeger, Green Mountain, Pit-Boss, Grilla, etc.)

No offense intended to the bargain electrics, but the higher end electric smokers are definitely different beasts from the bargain smokers.

Snack stick seasoned meat gets really sticky the longer that it sets and could be really tough on your stuffer to push that stuff through the smoker the next day. As others have said, the fresh sausage or even summer sausage would probably be OK. But, trying to push that sticky mix into snack stick casings would be a bear.

I really like to stuff all of my sticks and sausage right after grinding/mixing and then let hang overnight which allows the casings to dry out a bit prior to going in the smoker.

Obviously if you use the encapsulated citric acid, you need to stuff and smoke pretty quickly or the ECA will burst and mess up your batch.

Last weekend, we did grind up 250 lbs of meat on Friday night and let it set (covered) in our garage (nice and cool in ND), then mixed and stuffed the next day.

You could mix in some Boston Butt with the wild hog, say 30-50%.

KnucklHed BBQ

KnucklHed BBQ said in breakfast sausage:

doc_craig I’ve used the Holly Regular breakfast sausage seasoning and friends & family love it in links or patties.
I’d recommend mixing up a 1lb batch per the directions and fry up a patty and then adjust up or down from there.

I’ve got written down in my notes that I liked the flavor at 10 grams of seasoning per lb, that would make the 1/2lb pkg that it comes in season 22.4lbs of meat (the directions would be 8.96 grams per lb)

FYI - I thinks it’s always a good idea to fry up a test patty before you commit to stuffing or packaging, and for some reason I find that you always want the patty to taste a slight bit saltier than you really want if you’re making links, I find that the perfect patty usually makes kind of a boring link, dunno why tho…

Best of luck!

+1 Knucklehead

I too have found that when I make patties they should taste a little too salty. After stuffing them in hot casings and smoking they always taste perfect. If the pre-stuffed patty tastes just right, then I know the stuffed/smoked sausage will be too light on the sausage.

I don’t have an explanation either. Maybe Austin or John will have an explanation unless it is just you and I that experience this

This Fall, I bought some Sauerkraut Sausage in a small hometown grocery store meat market that was delicious.

My family has been making our homemade smoked German ring sausage for several generations now with just some very basic ingredients (Salt, Pepper, Garlic). But, after trying this Sauerkraut Sausage, we would like to try replicating this in our sausage (We still make plenty of sausage and stix with Walton’s Seasonings as well ).

I did some searching and found a few posts about adding sauerkraut to Reuben Brats. But, none where the sauerkraut was more of a main ingredient.

• So, I am looking for some advice on how much sauerkraut to add per pound? We usually make 35lb batches, but I can covert the amounts for whatever ratio you can suggest. I am just looking for a guideline to start with.

• Also, since sauerkraut can be somewhat salty, do you think that I should be adjusting the recipe’s salt amounts down at all?

• Are there any recommendations for the prepping of the sauerkraut other than draining the liquid I am assuming?

I think I would like to try the Reuben Brats some time too as the comments/reviews seem to be pretty positive. But, we want to start with the addition to our regular sausage first.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions that you can provide.

NDKoze

Just a quick follow-up here. We had a very successful sausage weekend and the Krautwurse turned out excellent!

We ended up using 6lbs of kraut to a 35lb meat block. We did saute the kraut as suggested in this thread and that seemed to be effective. I did also reduce the Tender Quick amount from 9.8 ounces to 8.8 and it turned out really well. We will definitely be making this again with a few small changes:

1. I will use more kraut. There was good kraut flavor, but it could have had more. I will use at leave 1 pound per every 5 pounds if not slightly more.
2. I might reduce the salt just a little bit more. This wasn’t bad, but I might cut it down another .5-1.0 ounce.

The one thing that I will caution anyone who tries this is that you should expect the smoking time to be a little longer (or at least it was in my experience). I had some regular sausage in the smoker with the Krautwurst batch (same recipe except no kraut) and the Krautwurst took quite a bit longer to get the temp and color that we like to get because of the inherent extra moisture that these rings had versus our traditional sausage.

But, in general, it turned out AWESOME!

I don’t think you would need to break down the high temp cheese. I use this quite frequently and have never had a problem expecially with 21mm casings. Cheese does make the stuffing a little harder, so if you ever decide to try the smaller 17MM or less casings, I would not use cheese on those.

I use 22mm casings (because that is what my local meat market sells/uses) for most of our snack sticks or 21mm if I order them from Walton’s and they are a pretty standard size. My guess is that the 21s are probably the most frequently purchased size, but I could be wrong.

I tried some 17’s one time just for the heck of it and they were a lot closer to a slim jim after they were smoked. I don’t really like them that small. But, this is obviously a subjective preference.

blackjac We did keep and cook up a couple of rings of the non-smoked Krautwurst and they were VERY good. I might even say that the sauerkraut taste was a little more pronounced in the fresh non-smoked sausage.

IndianaJohn Yeah, a 15 mm horn would definitely be too big for 21mm casings to slide on without unraveling.

This is a table that I copied from a Walton’s Collagen casing page:

I think you have documented some pretty good suggestions for if you have to leave your mixed meat in the fridge overnight.

I would much prefer to stuff into the casings and then hang them overnight. I smoke all of my sausages during the winter or early Spring or late Fall time periods so that I can hang my sticks in my garage over night. I prefer this to putting in the fridge because this allows the stuffed sausage/stix to be separated from each other to start drying the outside of the casings prior to adding to the smoker.

This is what I call my Sausage Rack 1000 :face_with_stuck-out_tongue_winking_eye:

IndianaJohn Yeah, a 15 mm horn would definitely be too big for 21mm casings to slide on without unraveling.

This is a table that I copied from a Walton’s Collagen casing page:

I think you have documented some pretty good suggestions for if you have to leave your mixed meat in the fridge overnight.

I would much prefer to stuff into the casings and then hang them overnight. I smoke all of my sausages during the winter or early Spring or late Fall time periods so that I can hang my sticks in my garage over night. I prefer this to putting in the fridge because this allows the stuffed sausage/stix to be separated from each other to start drying the outside of the casings prior to adding to the smoker.

This is what I call my Sausage Rack 1000 :face_with_stuck-out_tongue_winking_eye:

omega50 I made a Sauerkraut and Country Style Rib meal in my Instant Pot one day that had Caraway in it and I did not like the Caraway taste in the meal. I know it is a traditional spice that goes with kraut, but it was not for me.

Joe Hell I love the BBQ that comes off of a stick burner, but I hate having to manage them. I know to some people that is part of the fun, but I practice Lazy-Q. I prep my food, put it in the smoker set the temp, and then typically walk away until it is done, or if it is nice enough I’ll just sit next to the smoker with a beer and smell the wonderfulness.

Typically on long smokes like butts/briskets, I’ll start them at Midnight the night before and then go to bed knowing that everything will be good to go until the next day when they are done.

The one thing that I found different about the electric versus the propane and offset that I also have is that I can taste the nuances of the different woods that I use better than I can with my propane/offset. If I use cherry, I can really taste the cherry flavors, but when I use the propane and the offset it is more of a generic smoke smell although still really good.

Joe Hell It is time to come over to the Smokin-It side Joe. I used to have a couple of Masterbuilts and some others before finding the SI’s. Heck, I still have a propane Masterbuilt, but it hasn’t come out for several years. I probably should sell it.

I have had my Smokin-It smoker since 2014 and haven’t had a single problem with it.

I use it in all kinds of weather and it never fails me. I smoked a pork butt on time in -20F weather and it maintained temp easily and I didn’t even have to check on anything until it was done.

IndianaJohn Technically, the 15’s or 16’s are probably more of the Slim Jim size, but the 17’s are pretty small too and will task your stuffer.

I would only try the smaller 15’s/16’s if I had a 5lb stuffer, or maybe my 11lb. But, anything bigger than an 11lb stuffer, I am guessing the Walton’s guys would discourage.

And for anyone trying to stuff with a grinder, the smaller you go the harder it will be to push the meat through a grinder stuffing tube.

Parksider I have done some 19’s too and like them. I think I gravitated to the 21’s because with the 19’s it took up a lot more space in my smoker that is pretty maxed out with the 21’s. When I have used 17’s and 19’s in the past I have only done half batches (12.5lbs).

I think I have some 17’s at home right now that I want to use, but haven’t decided on a mix yet.

I don’t think you would need to break down the high temp cheese. I use this quite frequently and have never had a problem expecially with 21mm casings. Cheese does make the stuffing a little harder, so if you ever decide to try the smaller 17MM or less casings, I would not use cheese on those.

I use 22mm casings (because that is what my local meat market sells/uses) for most of our snack sticks or 21mm if I order them from Walton’s and they are a pretty standard size. My guess is that the 21s are probably the most frequently purchased size, but I could be wrong.

I tried some 17’s one time just for the heck of it and they were a lot closer to a slim jim after they were smoked. I don’t really like them that small. But, this is obviously a subjective preference.

Jonathon If yours is working fine, I agree that i wouldn’t mess with it. Mine has had bad connectivity since I have had it, so I was hoping that the firmware update would make it better. But, alas I still get regular disconnects.

Jonathon Yeah, I think that is why they show 165 ft for the Meater Block and Meater+ externally, but only 10 ft from inside a ceramic grill or smoker.

My standard Meater is pretty much regulated to oven or other low wall thickness cooking vessels. I would think it would work in my Weber Kettle, but haven’t tried it yet.

FYI, the version on my Meater Block is 2.0.1.3.

Jonathon said in Wireless Meat Thermometer for Grilling:

NDKoze Not sure if this is a difference between plus and regular? What about firmware? I’m pretty sure it is same for reg and plus and I am on v1.0.4_0 do you know what you are on?

Hi Jonathan, I will have to check the version later tonight.

But, from what I can tell there is a bit of a difference between the Standard Meater and the Meater+ in that it has a “Bluetooth Repeater” that is “supposed” to extend the range up to 165’. I would be happy if it would extend it to 1-2 feet.

It is essentially the same thing with the Meater Block in that the block itself includes the repeater.

The other advantage is that the Meater+ or Meater Block can take the place of the second device that is needed if you have the standard Meater. So, you could put the Meater+ charging block or the Meater Block near the smoker/grill instead of having to use another Android/Apple device.

I have tried submitting support requests to The Meater guys in the past, but sent another one tonight to see if they have any new suggestions that could help. If I get anything helpful, I will forward it on.

Here are a few pictures from their support pages:

Range of Meater Block