Recent content by ringodad

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  1. ringodad

    Bologna mystery of the ages

    Thank you all for your replies. I have made a lot of sausage and always use back fat in 20-25% range when I can get it, and if I cannot I use trim from pork butt, fatty bacon, even firm salt pork with adjustments for salt content. A guy has to do what a guy has to do! Thank you for those who...
  2. ringodad

    Bologna mystery of the ages

    Hello all, I joined this site six years ago, and due to work and moving just haven't made it back. I've made a lot of progress in those years, but still have a major mystery on my hands and I'd appreciate your input - especially the old timers! I received a recipe from my late Father that he...
  3. ringodad

    Canoe Country Bacon - your advice requested

    Hi all, My first venture to the Bacon forum - I've seen some great things here and am excited to get into the swing of things. I've got a couple of years below my belt of sausage making, but bacon... none. I've been reading in old camping books about "double smoked slab bacon" that will keep...
  4. ringodad

    Sausage final cooking method----- Question

    I am guilty again of not being specific enough - My comments regarding smoker time were related to making sticks, usually 1.5" x 12" or 2.5" x 20". However, even with ring sausage I don't think I've hit the 153 degree mark in less that 6 hours. What do you like to do regarding your temp...
  5. ringodad

    MES 40 hanging sausage

    Baboy's got the bomb! I built something on the same principle, but not nearly as nice. I built a wood frame with 1x2 trim that would slide in on the top rack supports. Across that I used dowels that just sat on the frame - no slots. It worked great, and I picked up an extra couple of inches to...
  6. ringodad

    Brinkman temperature control

    My solution was a web site by Nate Elston, where he made a controller using a PID. If you google Nate Elston it should pop up. I think the blog is called "taming my Brinkman smoker"
  7. ringodad

    My solution for lack of smoke at low temps on my MES 30"

    I hear you buddy - I'm the same way. the AMNS sure has it's fans here, but I'm not one of them due to cheapskate mentality. That, and I personally cut all of my smoking wood except the hickory and mesquite that I use in my "special smoking mix" I sure didn't want to use those chunks in my wood...
  8. ringodad

    Sausage final cooking method----- Question

    I've been fooling around with this after getting tired of ten hour smokes to hit my temp for smoked sausage. What has worked for me  is to follow Rytek's instructions - an hour at 100-120 with no smoke to thoroughly dry the casings. Then I start smoke and let 'er rip, raising temps 20 degrees...
  9. ringodad

    2nd MES and still having temp problems

    I've had a lot of fun with mine watching the effect of the "heat surge" and the cooling cycle. The one thing I can say for sure is - it's different every time, based on weather conditions, mass in the smoker, etc. I do tend to see a pretty wide swing  as well from my set temp when the heat is on...
  10. ringodad

    2nd MES and still having temp problems

    I think you've received some good advice here already, but allow me to weigh in too. First of all, the MES smokers are unreliable in more ways than one! Unfortunately, they are the sow's ear that we can afford, so we all try to find ways to make a silk purse out of them. I've got two, and have...
  11. ringodad

    Rehabilitating my defective MES 40

    Thanks for your posts everyone. I have Todd's number and if Santa delivers me some extra cash I'm going to look into the AMS for use in cold smoking. Thanks also, Passing Thru - you speak wisdom. You're right - I'd rather keep the sausage in the proper heat zone according to the stage it's in at...
  12. ringodad

    Temp Controler

    I think that the way Nate Elston did it is the way to go. Get yourself an Aubers PID that controls a solid state relay. I bought the two together with a probe (K type thermocouple) for about $80. The SSR has more than enough power to switch your current element, and if someday you want to...
  13. ringodad

    Grinder Smear - How to Deal - 9 Pic Q-View -Good for Rookies

    Another good trick that works for me is to put the whole grinder head unit in the freezer between grinds. Especially when grinding bacon to use as fat for sausages. Really cold meat with frost crystals still in them and a grinder head straight from the freezer works well for me.
  14. ringodad

    Rehabilitating my defective MES 40

    I was looking for advice from someone who had built their own smoke generator using some form of combustion for heat rather than using another electrical heat source. I was concerend about the load I'd need to power both the MES element and a separate heating element like in a hot plate, as I...
  15. ringodad

    Rehabilitating my defective MES 40

    For the whole ten months it worked, I really enjoyed my MES 40. Then, something went electronically kaput. I isolated the problem to the solid state relay. For once, a Masterbuilt did not fail due to shoddy connections at the heating element! Unfortunately, I had owned the unit for over five...
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