I made some elk snack stix and tried to use my Cabela's 20# stuffer and ended up just making a huge mess. The meat flowed around the piston and did not go into the 3/8" tube. I ended up using my Jerky Cannon and made due. I really like the stix and want to find a better method.
I did some research on some of the sausage sites and saw folks recommended the 5# verticle stuffers for snack stix. On Black Friday, Grizzly (the machine company) had a 5# stuffer on sale for $65. I shopped around and others are running ~$125 range. The more expensive ones have metal gears where the Grizzly has nylon gears. I looked at LEM and found they had metal replacement gears for ~$25. Oh yeah. I ordered the Grizzly and LEM gear set.
I used them today to make a small batch of stix. Wow, using the right tools makes a huge difference! I did my small batch and the little stuffer worked perfectly. They are in the smoker now getting a dose of pecan smoke. I will post a pic when they are done.
I did some research on some of the sausage sites and saw folks recommended the 5# verticle stuffers for snack stix. On Black Friday, Grizzly (the machine company) had a 5# stuffer on sale for $65. I shopped around and others are running ~$125 range. The more expensive ones have metal gears where the Grizzly has nylon gears. I looked at LEM and found they had metal replacement gears for ~$25. Oh yeah. I ordered the Grizzly and LEM gear set.
I used them today to make a small batch of stix. Wow, using the right tools makes a huge difference! I did my small batch and the little stuffer worked perfectly. They are in the smoker now getting a dose of pecan smoke. I will post a pic when they are done.
