# Sausage/Jerky Rack MES40 w step by step



## tropics

Sausage Rack MES40

      Materials

  2  2x24x1/2 1/2" oak

  10' 1/2 dowel rods oak hickory these are food safe
 I used (5) 1/2"x36"  

  1/2" Ell shape screw

       Tools

  Miter box and saw

  Cooping saw

  Drill with 1/2" speed bit

       Instructions

  Cut the 2x24x1/2 into 2 quill pieces 12 and 1/2 inches (12 1/2")

  cut your dowel rods into 5 pieces 20 and 1/4" inches (20 1/4")

The sides are cut to fit inside the side rack bracket

Picked up a hank of Sheep Casing today now to use it ( Can't Wait)

Thanks for looking and I hope this helps someone.


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## rgautheir20420

Thanks so much for posting this tropics. I've been meaning to put something together to begin hanging my stuff instead of sitting it on the racks and this should kick me in the bum to get it done.

Now...it looks lonely. Go hang something!


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## rgautheir20420

Tropics, do you secure the rods to the side pieces with anything? I'm literally going on lunch now to get the pieces for this and making it tonight.


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## tropics

rgautheir20420 said:


> Tropics, do you secure the rods to the side pieces with anything? I'm literally going on lunch now to get the pieces for this and making it tonight.


No need they fit in nicely, cut them to size leave 1/8"


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## driedstick

Tropics that looks great Nice job and thanks for the info. 

A full smoker is a happy smoker 

DS


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## crazymoon

Nice job , they look good ,time for some kabonosy with those sheep casing !


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## rgautheir20420

So I got this put together tonight. Very easy. Sorry I didn't do much measuring. 













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__ rgautheir20420
__ Dec 16, 2014


















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__ rgautheir20420
__ Dec 16, 2014


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## tropics

rgautheir20420 said:


> So I got this put together tonight. Very easy. Sorry I didn't do much measuring.
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Nice job *rgautheir20420*


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## rgautheir20420

No thank you sir. It really was very easy and cost a total of $6 plus 20 minutes of time. For this I was more aiming at function.

It's going to have 10 lbs of SS hanging from it within a few days!


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## c9belayer

Wow! My first post after joining the forum. My brand new Masterbuilt 40 is breaking in as I write this, and as I set it all up, I was thinking "Hmmm, how the heck am I gonna hang 20lbs of the Family Recipe kielbasa?" And boom! There's this list by Tropics!.Uncanny!

Thanks much, Tropics. I'll grab some scrap from the cutoff bin in my workshop and bang this out in no time. I'll also make a free-standing rack for drying the second batch as the first one is smoking. Cheers!


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## roller

Very nice..


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## Bearcarver

Nice Job, Richie!!!
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






And Rgautheir!!

I can't use it on my Unstuffed Sticks & Logs, but those racks look perfect !!

Great helpful Thread!!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





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Bear


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## dirtsailor2003

Nice little set up. IN my GOSM I can just hang the rods right from the grate supports, that's nice. Now only if I could control the temps easier. I can get the propane down to 130° consistently, but any lower takes a lot of fiddling. One of these days I'll get my electric smoke shack built! Here's a little wood working trick for making the rod supports. Take a board and mark the center line along the full length. drill your holes down that line at whatever spacing you see fit. Then cut the board in half along that line. You will then have two perfect rod supports.

Step 1: Layout













support.jpg



__ dirtsailor2003
__ Dec 23, 2014






Step 2: Drill holes:













support 2.jpg



__ dirtsailor2003
__ Dec 23, 2014






Step 3: Saw board in half along line:













support3.jpg



__ dirtsailor2003
__ Dec 23, 2014


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## tropics

Case that looks good, very close to the first one I laid out. I used 2 pieces of 1/2 x 3/4


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## bertman

I bought a couple of 1/4-inch diameter steel rods at the hardware store and chopped them to 14 5/8-inch lengths. I have used them once for summer sausage and they worked fine. The weight on them keeps them in place, and I can move them as needed depending on the sausage and space needed. They rest on the top rack holder with the racks removed.


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## BGKYSmoker

Hey Y'all

Just want to say a big THANK YOU to tropics. He made and sent me a sausage hanger. TYVM

I dont have access to my tools as they are up in PA.

Merry Christmas to all.

tropics

Again Thank You. As soon as we get dry weather here in W, GA i will get the rack seasoned and something hanging.













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__ BGKYSmoker
__ Dec 24, 2014


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## driedstick

Great job tropics!!!! This forum is great and alot of great people, willing to help out one another 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  

DS


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## tropics

nepas you are welcome and I am glad that I could do that for you. Thanks for the kind words guys. Merry X-Mas


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## BGKYSmoker

Finally some decent weather here in W, GA. Why not season the sausage hanger and some cheese at the same time.

I just cant thank tropics enough. Being without my tools is tough.













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__ BGKYSmoker
__ Dec 30, 2014


















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__ BGKYSmoker
__ Dec 30, 2014


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## tropics

nepas said:


> Finally some decent weather here in W, GA. Why not season the sausage hanger and some cheese at the same time.
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> __ BGKYSmoker
> __ Dec 30, 2014


I see it fit right, did you get it tender enough LOL


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## mr b

Need help with my measurement


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## tropics

Mr B said:


> Need help with my measurement


Mr B did my PM help any?


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## mr b

Tropics....
Thanks for the help.....how u add pic


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## tropics

Mr B said:


> Tropics....
> Thanks for the help.....how u add pic


To add a pic just click on reply and look for this symbol 













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__ tropics
__ Mar 5, 2015






Thanks for the point


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## foamheart

.


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## mummel

Looks great.  What was the final cost?  These go for $12 on Amazon.  My Cabelas smoker came with one that I'm using as a tray for my AMPS.













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__ mummel
__ Jan 21, 2016


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## tropics

I don't think it was $12.00 even

Richie


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## tropics

This can be used with the Smores sticks to hang Jerky,I have seen these sold in Dollar Stores as well as Super markets.

Richie













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__ tropics
__ Jan 29, 2016


















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__ Jan 29, 2016


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## WaterinHoleBrew

Awesome Richie, thanks for the great idea.  Thumbs Up


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## n4ynu

Tropics

That is a really nice MOD, I am going to do sausages one day and I too was wondering what would I hang them on, and that is really nice work there and very effective MOD !

I will save this, but I have Jerky and then Bacon in line ahead of the Sausage, wife is on board for all I have done thus far, that why I had a open PO for all of this, we are a team, we work together and she is as excited as I am hehehe, but if I were to go and get all the fixins for Sausage making right now, I know she would think I had lost my mind, I have it all on the back burner, already making lists hehehe

Good Job on that Wood Sausage Rack !


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## avidangler84

I'm going to do my first batch of snack sticks soon. I'm familiar with the process just never done a batch start to finish myself. Do you guys recommend making a hanging rack or tying stick length pieces to fit the racks, could etc ? How important is it that the meat doesn't touch eachother very much in the smoking process.  Seems like some guys have it touching while it's hanging? Also what mixture does everyone use 50/50? I'm going to be using goose to start then most likely pork but may add some beef as well. Any input would be awesome as I am not well versed in the snack  stick / summer sausage field. Thanks !! [emoji]127867[/emoji]


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## tropics

avidangler84 said:


> I'm going to do my first batch of snack sticks soon. I'm familiar with the process just never done a batch start to finish myself. Do you guys recommend making a hanging rack or tying stick length pieces to fit the racks, could etc ? How important is it that the meat doesn't touch eachother very much in the smoking process. Seems like some guys have it touching while it's hanging? Also what mixture does everyone use 50/50? I'm going to be using goose to start then most likely pork but may add some beef as well. Any input would be awesome as I am not well versed in the snack stick / summer sausage field. Thanks !! [emoji]127867[/emoji]


avid If the meat touches it will not get the same amount of smoke.Leaving it wit a look as if it was not cooked.I have draped them over the rods and I have also tied small loops to hang them straight



Hope this helps

Richie


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## browneyesvictim

I finally got a chance to whip some of Richie's fancy sausage racks.  Silly me... I decided to us up some plywood I had laying round. I will be making more out of solid wood. In fact I might have some cedar fence board that would work that is the right thickness. BTW this is in a 30" MB so I had to come up with my own dimensions. You will also notice if you look carefully this is in a Gen 2.0 that has a side vent on the left side. Notice the cutout?













Rack.png



__ browneyesvictim
__ Mar 17, 2017


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## tropics

Browneyesvictim said:


> I finally got a chance to whip some of Richie's fancy sausage racks.  Silly me... I decided to us up some plywood I had laying round. I will be making more out of solid wood. In fact I might have some cedar fence board that would work that is the right thickness. BTW this is in a 30" MB so I had to come up with my own dimensions. You will also notice if you look carefully this is in a Gen 2.0 that has a side vent on the left side. Notice the cutout?
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> __ browneyesvictim
> __ Mar 17, 2017


My original was a gen 2,, MES40

Looks like it needs some sausage i made bacon once and use a piece of string to hang it,now I use a bacon hook.

Nice job

Richie


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## logicalron

Your wooden racks are a great idea, however it looks like you're just replacing the current racks that come with the smoker with wooden ones?  I would imagine it would be too easy to take your design and just make stacking racks so that they are closer to each other, that way you could fit more me in their.

I like to design however I'm not set up to make racks like that I'm sure you use the router to make the holes on the side rails dolls fit in.  I don't have a router so my holes would be all different sizes which would only cause problems.  If you design a freestanding multilayer rack that will fit in the Masterbuilt 30 " please let me know how to your it. As I type this holes instead of grooves for the side pieces.

Do you have to do anything to to the wood you use as racks so they don't get burned up. I am new to Smoking so excuse my dumb questions.


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## browneyesvictim

I'll take a crack at your questions if I may...

These wooden racks are NOT simply a replacement of the original racks. Furthermore they are NOT designed to be "Stacked" but rather allow sausage, bacon or other meats to HANG vertically rather than on racks horizontally. When you place rope sausage or links over the dowels, they just hang down in a loop fashion, then the dowel gets slid in and set in place in the notch, then repeat with the next dowel.

The ones I made I did not use a router. Just use a drill. An easy way to do it is like what Dirtsailor suggests in an earlier post is by placing them next to each other and drilling between them so each half gets a half hole.

You don't have to put any treatment on the wood nor is it advisable to put any varnish, shellac, paint, or any other type of sealer on it. It will "Season" naturally.

For smoking anything you would use the wooden rack for, I cant imagine the desired smoker temps would ever be very warm. But even at a maximum temperature of the Masterbuilt of 275' you will not spontaneously ignite a wooden rack placed near the top. There are a lot of whole smoke houses still around that are made of wood.


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## logicalron

Browneyesvictim said:


> I'll take a crack at your questions if I may...
> 
> These wooden racks are NOT simply a replacement of the original racks. Furthermore they are NOT designed to be "Stacked" but rather allow sausage, bacon or other meats to HANG vertically rather than on racks horizontally. When you place rope sausage or links over the dowels, they just hang down in a loop fashion, then the dowel gets slid in and set in place in the notch, then repeat with the next dowel.
> 
> The ones I made I did not use a router. Just use a drill. An easy way to do it is like what Dirtsailor suggests in an earlier post is by placing them next to each other and drilling between them so each half gets a half hole.
> 
> You don't have to put any treatment on the wood nor is it advisable to put any varnish, shellac, paint, or any other type of sealer on it. It will "Season" naturally.
> 
> For smoking anything you would use the wooden rack for, I cant imagine the desired smoker temps would ever be very warm. But even at a maximum temperature of the Masterbuilt of 275' you will not spontaneously ignite a wooden rack placed near the top. There are a lot of whole smoke houses still around that are made of wood.


Thank you for your reply, after I read further down the thread I saw more detailed description of your wooden racks that you built.  What I'm trying to accomplish is to design something that I can make jerky on rather than the four racks that come with my Masterbill 30 inch electric smoker.  When I saw your wooden racks I thought I could do the same thing with thinner dowels creating my own racks that can be stacked in replacement of the grills that are in the smoker.

The reason I want to do this is so that I can have more racks to dry my jerky on.  I looked at buying other types of cookie coolers, wire racks, but they're all too big to fit in the smoker.  That is why your design is an interest to me.  I would imagine I could take out the existing racks and the wall brackets that the racks go into maybe leaving the bottom rack, then building my own set of racks using your design altered.  The reason I would alter your design is so that I can make my racks just a bit wider and with narrower dowels, then I could put whatever spacers I need between each rack so that at the end I have a standing rack structure of several racks to dry my jerky on.

Using your design and altering it so that it fits my application, I'm wondering what you think about it and you think it's possible to do going with the smaller dowels.  I was thinking quarter-inch rather than a half inch and I'd be placing him a little bit closer together still leaving enough space to let air circulate.  I guess my question is as if I go smaller, and I don't use the side rails to put the wood pieces into I remove them and have a freestanding set of wooden racks, would that work?


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## browneyesvictim

I cant take credit for the sausage dowel design... that would be "Tropics" who is the OP. Anyway, I don't think this is going to work for what you are trying to do.

Depending on your version/revision of MES30 the side racks are installed differently. Some are screwed in in a permanent fashion (but can still be removed), and some are rapidly removable that hang on screws kind of like a picture frame. You can get as creative as you would like to install racks as you describe. I imagine you can make your own side racks to accommodate as many racks as you want out of sheet metal or wood to hang or screw in each side (Just use the existing side racks as a template for the hole pattern) Then buy more Masterbuilt racks or make your own. I do know the rack dimensions on MES30 are 14 5/8 W x 12 3/8 D. In a thread somewhere, somebody posted a link to another drying rack that would fit.

My only comment to adding more racks is that it is important to have a lot of space for airflow to allow adequate drying, and stacking them too close could cause issues between the racks.

Hope this helps.


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## logicalron

Browneyesvictim said:


> I cant take credit for the sausage dowel design... that would be "Tropics" who is the OP. Anyway, I don't think this is going to work for what you are trying to do.
> 
> Depending on your version/revision of MES30 the side racks are installed differently. Some are screwed in in a permanent fashion (but can still be removed), and some are rapidly removable that hang on screws kind of like a picture frame. You can get as creative as you would like to install racks as you describe. I imagine you can make your own side racks to accommodate as many racks as you want out of sheet metal or wood to hang or screw in each side (Just use the existing side racks as a template for the hole pattern) Then buy more Masterbuilt racks or make your own. I do know the rack dimensions on MES30 are 14 5/8 W x 12 3/8 D. In a thread somewhere, somebody posted a link to another drying rack that would fit.
> 
> My only comment to adding more racks is that it is important to have a lot of space for airflow to allow adequate drying, and stacking them too close could cause issues between the racks.
> 
> Hope this helps.


The mounting side brackets then my racks slide into our are simply hung over some pins and then it slides into a slot so they can all be taken off.  My racks are only 13 x 12 so buying more racks is not an option because I'd have no hardware to slide them into.  That's why I'm trying to come up with my own way of building some stacking racks using the OP design.

Hopefully the original poster of the wooden racks will read this and reply.  I don't hear back I will go in post a reply to his post.  Thanks for your reply


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## tropics

tropics said:


> Browneyesvictim said:
> 
> 
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> 
> I finally got a chance to whip some of Richie's fancy sausage racks.  Silly me... I decided to us up some plywood I had laying round. I will be making more out of solid wood. In fact I might have some cedar fence board that would work that is the right thickness. BTW this is in a 30" MB so I had to come up with my own dimensions. You will also notice if you look carefully this is in a Gen 2.0 that has a side vent on the left side. Notice the cutout?
> 
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> __ browneyesvictim
> __ Mar 17, 2017
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> Looks like it needs some sausage i made bacon once and use a piece of string to hang it,now I use a bacon hook.
> 
> Nice job
> 
> Richie
Click to expand...

Erik nice job on the rack,get some sausage hanging

Richie


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## BGKYSmoker

These work great. When i had my Mess, Richie was so kind to make one for me. Follow his directions and you cant go wrong.


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## tropics

logicalron said:


> Your wooden racks are a great idea, however it looks like you're just replacing the current racks that come with the smoker with wooden ones?  I would imagine it would be too easy to take your design and just make stacking racks so that they are closer to each other, that way you could fit more me in their.
> 
> I like to design however I'm not set up to make racks like that I'm sure you use the router to make the holes on the side rails dolls fit in.  I don't have a router so my holes would be all different sizes which would only cause problems.  If you design a freestanding multilayer rack that will fit in the Masterbuilt 30 " please let me know how to your it. As I type this holes instead of grooves for the side pieces.
> 
> Do you have to do anything to to the wood you use as racks so they don't get burned up. I am new to Smoking so excuse my dumb questions.


Ron I use the original racks to hold mine,I used a drill to make the holes.

You can use the Smores sticks they sell in the dollar store to hang the jerky.

As for were the holes are drilled just cut V notches with a saw and lay the sticks in there

Richie


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## logicalron

tropics said:


> Ron I use the original racks to hold mine,I used a drill to make the holes.
> 
> You can use the Smores sticks they sell in the dollar store to hang the jerky.
> 
> As for were the holes are drilled just cut V notches with a saw and lay the sticks in there
> 
> Richie


Yes I understand how you attached your wooden racks for hanging stuff I want to use the same method to make several jerky racks. I would like to take out the racks of my smoker and use stackable wooden racks, I need more square inches of racking to make as much jerky as possible.

Could your design modified to not use the original racks to hold anything, in fact I want to take out my racks and replace with home made wooden racks using 1/4 dowels instead of the 1/2"

Do you think if i use your design and modify so I can stack the wooden racks on each other??

Thanks

Ron


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## tropics

logicalron said:


> tropics said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ron I use the original racks to hold mine,I used a drill to make the holes.
> 
> You can use the Smores sticks they sell in the dollar store to hang the jerky.
> 
> As for were the holes are drilled just cut V notches with a saw and lay the sticks in there
> 
> Richie
> 
> 
> 
> Yes I understand how you attached your wooden racks for hanging stuff I want to use the same method to make several jerky racks. I would like to take out the racks of my smoker and use stackable wooden racks, I need more square inches of racking to make as much jerky as possible.
> 
> Could your design modified to not use the original racks to hold anything, in fact I want to take out my racks and replace with home made wooden racks using 1/4 dowels instead of the 1/2"
> 
> Do you think if i use your design and modify so I can stack the wooden racks on each other??
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Ron
Click to expand...

You may be able to use expanded metal to make racks

Richie


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## logicalron

tropics said:


> You may be able to use expanded metal to make racks
> 
> Richie


when you say expanded metal, can you expand on your explanation.  If you have any kind of pictures to show me what you talking about that would be great to.  It seems like everyone is trying to talk me out of doing wood, I don't understand it since you were able to make wooden racks, what difference would it make whether I'm making wooden racks for jerky compared to your wooden racks for hanging sausage or meat snacks?

I'm just very confused


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## tropics

logicalron said:


> tropics said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You may be able to use expanded metal to make racks
> 
> Richie
> 
> 
> 
> when you say expanded metal, can you expand on your explanation.  If you have any kind of pictures to show me what you talking about that would be great to.  It seems like everyone is trying to talk me out of doing wood, I don't understand it since you were able to make wooden racks, what difference would it make whether I'm making wooden racks for jerky compared to your wooden racks for hanging sausage or meat snacks?
> 
> I'm just very confused
Click to expand...

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...n-Plain-Expanded-Metal-Sheet-801427/204225784

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...n-Plain-Expanded-Metal-Sheet-801417/204225783

Richie


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## logicalron

tropics said:


> http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...n-Plain-Expanded-Metal-Sheet-801427/204225784
> 
> http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...n-Plain-Expanded-Metal-Sheet-801417/204225783
> 
> Richie


okay Richie, now I get what you're talking about.  If I'm going to go with metal I would be better off to go with these.


They are less expensive and made of Stainless Steel which I can cut to size and they still give me those bottom feet to use them as stackable trays rather than the trays that come with the smoker.

I appreciate you showing me what you're talking about but I think the links you sent me are not gonna work for what I need, but since I did see what you are talking about, now I can just go with the ones from Amazon.com.  My thinking is I can cut them and not have to worry about them because are made of stainless steel and then stack as many as I want.


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## tropics

logicalron said:


> tropics said:
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> 
> 
> 
> http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...n-Plain-Expanded-Metal-Sheet-801427/204225784
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> http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...n-Plain-Expanded-Metal-Sheet-801417/204225783
> 
> Richie
> 
> 
> 
> okay Richie, now I get what you're talking about.  If I'm going to go with metal I would be better off to go with these.
> 
> 
> They are less expensive and made of Stainless Steel which I can cut to size and they still give me those bottom feet to use them as stackable trays rather than the trays that come with the smoker.
> 
> I appreciate you showing me what you're talking about but I think the links you sent me are not gonna work for what I need, but since I did see what you are talking about, now I can just go with the ones from Amazon.com.  My thinking is I can cut them and not have to worry about them because are made of stainless steel and then stack as many as I want.
Click to expand...

Ron That will work and good luck with your project 

Richie


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