75lbs of Venison Snack Stix

[NDKoze]

I have done this many times, so didn't bother starting a new thread in the Sausage section, but thought I would share here.

We finished processing the last of our meat from our 2014 deer hunt by smoking 75lbs of snack stix.

We typically use my #3 and my Dad's Masterbuilt Propane smoker. But, my smoker does a much better job and we didn't feel like digging his out of his garage.

I have gone back and forth with different stepped up temperature adjustments, but since we were doing all three 25lb batches in my smoker with limited time, I smoked these batches a little faster than I normally would and I think they actually turned out as good if not better than when I step up the heat. I smoked at 150 for 30 minutes, then upped the temp to 200 until they were done. I tried temping them with my Maverick, but it wasn't reading accurately because of the size of the sticks and was kind of a pain to deal with while rotating trays. I think it was similar to trying to temp ribs. Just too small of a piece of meat to temp accurately.

I almost forgot to add that I added the Jerky Dryer at the 2 hour mark. This is a VITAL step if you are going to smoke snack stix or jerky in a Smokin-It smoker.

I had to use 6 trays and rotated top to bottom and front to back a couple of times during the smoke. It took about 7 hours per batch to smoke. I definitely have a hot spot toward the back of my smoker, so rotating and turning was necessary.

I think these were some of the best batches that we have made since buying my #3.

We usually mix about 50/50 venison/pork and we used the following mixes:
BBQ (my new favorite) - https://www.waltonsinc.com/bbq-smoked-stick
Pepper Stick - https://www.waltonsinc.com/pepper-stick-seasoning

The picture below of my homemade sausage rack invention affectionately called the "Sausage Rack 1000" was holding 50lbs of stuffed sticks. The remaining 25lbs were already in the smoker when I took this pic.

The other pic is of one of the batches of finished sticks that were fresh from the smoker. We later split them into multiple tubs to cool off. It was in the upper 30's so we skipped the ice bath.

Two more weeks until deer season opens in ND, and we start this fun all over again.

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[allmann]

Looks good what size casings?  With the 50% pork how do you decide when finished? I normally just do ground venison (no fat) with a High Mtn mix kit. Easy to tell when completed.

[DivotMaker]

Nice job, again, Gregg!

[NDKoze]

21mm collagen casings.

Our mix varies depending on how much venison to pork that we have to use. This last year we butchered a 600+ lb hog. So, we had more pork to use than we normally do. We also made 100lbs of country style ring sausage, 50lbs of summer sausage, and 25lbs of ground venison bacon in addition to the 275lbs of snack sticks. I can't remember how many deer we had, but I am guessing 3-4 from what I can remember.

This is a combined effort between my Dad, Brother, and Brother-in-Law. We pool our venison together and my Dad graciously buys the hog/s every year. My brother, brother-in-law and I buy all of the casings and seasonings.

Normally we probably use more of a 2/3 venison to 1/3 pork mixture. But like I said, this last year we had more pork to use. Sometimes if we are short on venison or pork, we'll do 1/3 venison, 1/3 pork, and 1/3 ground beef. We do like at least 1/3 pork in there though to keep it from making too dry of sticks. It also changes the texture a little bit to our liking.

As far as when it is done, like I said in my original post, we just go by eye and after 10+ years of doing this we know when they are done. For a new sausage smoker, I would tell you to smoke until the internal temp is 160 whether it is all venison or a combination of venison, burger, or pork.

[allmann]

thank you