Suggestions for birthday money, please?

[vagreys]

I have a little over $200 in birthday money to spend and would appreciate some suggestions, thoughts and opinions on next purchases to enhance my sausage making. I'm not a gear hound, but I will add equipment if it meets an identified need, and when I do, I try to get the best quality I can afford, at the time. I've been doing all fresh sausages for years. I haven't the room to really do cured meats any justice, nor do I have the money to invest in the base equipment necessary to do that.

Here's the sausage-specific equipment I have:
- #10 manual grinder
- #12 electric grinder
- nice variety of #10/12 grinder plates and knives
- 5 lb vertical stuffer
- stacking (cooling) racks for drying

Some stuff I've considered adding:
- Scales accurate to 0.1 g, for spices as I shift to percentage/metric based recipes. (digital or mechanical? I already have a good set of digital scales to measure up to 5 kg, accurate to 1 g.)
- 20 lb manual meat mixer (I think it is too easy to overmix in my Kitchenaid, and I think the paddle warms the mixture quickly.)
- Infrared thermometer for quickly reading meat batter temperatures while making emulsion sausages.
- What else? Or what should I consider as an alternative? My average batch size is increasing to 15-20 lbs (about two shoulders). This used to be a 'large' batch, but there is enough demand, now, that in order to spread a little around, I need to make this much now, regularly.

Books. I enjoy books and have what I think is a nice library on sausage and meat. I have very little dedicated to charcuterie, per se - just Grigson's "French Pork Cookery" and Victoria Wise's old "American Charcuterie" - and have thought about adding a volume or two on the subject, but the reviews of just about any serious book on charcuterie are disappointingly negative.

One alternative is to add/build a portable cold smoker of some sort, but the price of good commercially-made cold smokehouses has gone through the roof. So, I'm considering building my own, and am giving some serious consideration toward building a plywood one, if I can satisfy my concerns about glues/chemical vapor release at internal temperatures of 100-200°F.

What do you folk think? What would you add to a basic home setup to improve as your batch size grows from 5-10 lbs to 15-20 lbs?

[solaryellow]

Here are a couple of outstanding books to add to your library.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Making-Fermen ... 160&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Home-Production-Q ... y_b_text_c

As for the plywood smoker, once it is built get it up to 250*F and leave it there for 4 - 6 hours and that should take care of your concerns about glues and chemicals.

[vagreys]

Here are a couple of outstanding books to add to your library.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Making-Fermen ... 160&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Home-Production-Q ... y_b_text_c

As for the plywood smoker, once it is built get it up to 250*F and leave it there for 4 - 6 hours and that should take care of your concerns about glues and chemicals.

I agree those are excellent books, and already in my library, but always a great recommendation. I keep my original first printings (without indexes) as loaner copies.

It was your plywood smoker pics that inspired me to consider making my own out of plywood. I don't have a biscuit cutter or woodworking tools, but I'm sure someone I know must have what I don't.

[solaryellow]

Here are a couple of outstanding books to add to your library.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Making-Fermen ... 160&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Home-Production-Q ... y_b_text_c

As for the plywood smoker, once it is built get it up to 250*F and leave it there for 4 - 6 hours and that should take care of your concerns about glues and chemicals.

I agree those are excellent books, and already in my library, but always a great recommendation. I keep my original first printings (without indexes) as loaner copies.

It was your plywood smoker pics that inspired me to consider making my own out of plywood. I don't have a biscuit cutter or woodworking tools, but I'm sure someone I know must have what I don't.

I didn't have those tools either and borrowed them. I used hardwood plywood and the whole cost of the smoker was about $200. There goes your birthday money.