Free: Contests & Raffles.
This is how I do mine and I have done a ton of the stuff. After you stuff in casings, (I prefer Mahogany) I hang them on my smoke sticks and let them dry at room temperature for 4 to 5 hours. I preheat my smoker to 170 degrees with hickory. I would suggest staying away from Mesquite for summer sausage because it's a very strong smoke and it bitters easy. Smoke/Cook until your internal temp. reaches 160 degrees.Remove from your smoker and immediately put in ice bath to stop the cooking. Lay your sausage out on a platter and let air dry at room temp for at least 2 hours. Put in refrigerator over night then package it up. That should make you a pretty good sausage. Let us know how it turns out and have fun with it. John
Quote from: WCTaxidermy on March 02, 2013, 08:12:17 PMThis is how I do mine and I have done a ton of the stuff. After you stuff in casings, (I prefer Mahogany) I hang them on my smoke sticks and let them dry at room temperature for 4 to 5 hours. I preheat my smoker to 170 degrees with hickory. I would suggest staying away from Mesquite for summer sausage because it's a very strong smoke and it bitters easy. Smoke/Cook until your internal temp. reaches 160 degrees.Remove from your smoker and immediately put in ice bath to stop the cooking. Lay your sausage out on a platter and let air dry at room temp for at least 2 hours. Put in refrigerator over night then package it up. That should make you a pretty good sausage. Let us know how it turns out and have fun with it. John. This sounds like what I will do on my next recipe. How long after the internal temp hits 160 do you pull it?
I start my Sausage at 120 for an hour no smoke then add a pan of chips let smoke for another hour at 120 then bump temp up to 140 for an hour then up to 160 for an hour then finish at 175 when sausage temp is 152 remove from smoker and into an ice water bath Do not go above 180 on your smoker temps the fat melts at 180 if the fat melts your sausage will crumble and lose flavor Good Luck
Do not go above 180 on your smoker temps the fat melts at 180 if the fat melts your sausage will crumble and lose flavor Good Luck
Quote from: dogtuk on March 02, 2013, 08:15:47 PMI start my Sausage at 120 for an hour no smoke then add a pan of chips let smoke for another hour at 120 then bump temp up to 140 for an hour then up to 160 for an hour then finish at 175 when sausage temp is 152 remove from smoker and into an ice water bath Do not go above 180 on your smoker temps the fat melts at 180 if the fat melts your sausage will crumble and lose flavor Good LuckDog- I do mine fairly lean so don't have issues with fat melting and sausage crumbling. I do use a little higher temp, successfully in an effort to kill any bacteria that might make others sick. That's the reason I use a little higher temp. I end up sharing a lot, so it must be good since they ask for it if they know I'm making it.Anyway, I think I will try a lower temp though. What kind of thermometer do you use?
It is in the smoker. Now hope the snow and cold don't flux my temp to much. Woke up this morning with a 1/2" on the on the ground.
I hope yours turns out better than mine. I cut about 1" off my left ring finger with my grinder while I was stuffing the summer sausage 2 weeks ago. You don't get that inch back from a meat grinder: always use a push stick!
Yes, you have to be patient. It's usually 6-7 hours (total time) for me to get to 152 F but the final product is great.Now you have to start experimenting with jalepeno, cayenne, peppercorns, and high-temp cheeses.