Need some quick advice on snack sticks, doing them today

1. I tie the ends with cotton string
2. I use wood dowels bought from Home Depot
3. I start out at 100 degrees with no smoke for about 1 hour, you want the casings to dry prior to introducing smoke. I then ramp the temp up every hour or so not to exceed about 170. I finish my sticks off in the dehydrator, but you can certainly get them done in the smoker. You should reach a meat temp of 156 for your sticks to be done.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks. I think after trying the casings I will go get a couple more seafood racks and do them without. I can bang out the double shot jerky gun sticks on the rack, which didn't fit in after hanging the cased ones in the smokette. I am taking your advice and doing 100 for an hour then adding wood to the box.

The casings just were a hassle using the jerky gun. The gun may be the poor mans way of doing it but sheesh it takes forever to pack the cylinder and get the air out, then have to thread the casing onto the nozzle, heck with that, I can do three racks with the double nozzle in a quarter the time.

I'll let ya know how she turns out, they are almost going to get their smoke here in ten minutes.

OK thanks for the advice on the casings. They turned out great. Took a little longer than I anticipated but the end result was fantastic.

I had them at 100 for an hour, then added hickory to the box, turned it up to 150 for an hour then 170 for three more hours, probably left them in there for an additional hour in total after checking temps.

I used the Cabelas Smokehouse Butcher Shop Pepperoni pack and collagen casings. Perfection.

I am going to make some bigger 35mm sausages this week and try out some jalapeno cheddar additions. I love em hot. Anyone have a good recipe for jalapeno sausages they can share?

I'm glad to hear that your sticks turned out good. I use a stuffer which makes filling the casings a snap.

I've been using a pepper stick recipe from a local shop but heard good things about the Cabelas Butcher Shop kits and will be trying them this week. I like adding pepper jack chesse, it gives the sticks a nice kick!

I've been using these people for a couple years. I mix their country beef stick and hot beef stick for a tasty "slim jim" and for summersausage. Good prices and reasonable shipping.
http://stores.pghspice.com/StoreFront.bok