Cold water bath for Summer Sausage ??

Started by AkBillyBow, January 10, 2015, 10:37:01 AM

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AkBillyBow

Hello,

I currently have my first batch of smoked sausage in the BDS !!  I have been waiting to get my 900W element installed, and the PID hooked up and figured out.

I am cooking/smoking some Summer Sausage and want to know if I should be dunking them into a cold/ice water bath for cooling, once they reach temperature.  If not, do I just let them hang in the smoker to cool (30 degrees ambient right now), or remove them and lay them on cooling racks in the kitchen, or what?

For that matter, is a cold/ice water bath suggested for all smoked sausages for cooling and setting up the fat?  If not, when or for what sausages is a cold water bath recommended?

Thanks for the help!!

AkBillyBow

renoman

If you are bringing them up to temp in the smoker I would cold water bath all sausages. Don't let them get much past 155 or the fat will start dripping and you will have dry shriveled sausages.

manfromplaid


Bagman

Quote from: renoman on January 10, 2015, 01:52:58 PM
If you are bringing them up to temp in the smoker I would cold water bath all sausages. Don't let them get much past 155 or the fat will start dripping and you will have dry shriveled sausages.
I don't mean to nitpick here, but I read here on the forum to not ice bath collagen cased sausage as it will break down the proteins and separate the casings from the sausage.  I can't speak from experience because I only ice bath my summer sausage and trail bologna that I stuff into fibrous casings.  My snack sticks in collagen and kielbasa in hog casings, I hang to cool.  Hopefully one of the very knowledgable members will give us some more reliable info than my memory.
If women can't find you handsome they should at least find you handy!  Red Green

manfromplaid

if using a water bath to speed up the temp rise that can happen  but to cool down to 100 deg  I have had no problems with collagen casings drying out

cobra6223

here's my 2 cents for what's worth....I have always put my sausages, trail bologna and snack sticks in a cold bath to get them below 100* and stop the cooking then hang for an hour or so. I never had problems with casings. Just my thoughts and there's smarter people here than me though...good luck

Bagman

Quote from: manfromplaid on January 11, 2015, 07:12:39 AM
if using a water bath to speed up the temp rise that can happen  but to cool down to 100 deg  I have had no problems with collagen casings drying out

Well seems that I got my hot water and my ice water mixed up.  Thanks for clearing it up for me, I will try the ice bath on next batch of snack sticks.
If women can't find you handsome they should at least find you handy!  Red Green

AkBillyBow

All,

Thanks for your replies!!  I had to make a decision on what to do before anyone replied, so I read a couple more posts and did what I thought was right.  I cooked the Summer Sausage in the smoker until it had an IT of 135.  Then I put it into a hot water bath until the IT was 156/157.  I pull the sausage, and put it into a cold water bath until IT dropped to 100.

The sausage turned out great!!  It was much better than I expected!!  I only did a half batch (15#) and wished that I would have done the whole batch!!

Thanks for all of your help!!

Orion

We need pictures or the sausage doesn't exist.
It's going to take a lifetime to smoke all this.

AkBillyBow

 :)  I figured someone would ask to see pictures.  I do not see a way to upload directly from my computer and into my post.  So I am guessing I will need to start an online account for my photo storage, and link them to my posts.  Is this correct?  If so, what site do most users prefer?

Thanks....AkBillyBow

AkBillyBow

Or is it because I am a "Newbie", that I cannot upload pictures directly into my posts?

Thanks.....AkBillyBow

cobra6223

most people I believe use photo bucket. I have been here awhile and it still frustrates me getting pics into my post soooooooooooooo you don't see many posts from me any more. Good luck

ragweed

A lot of us use photo bucket.  Check out orion's post about 3 above this one.  He has a link to photo bucket and some directions on how to add pics.

Orion

Yes, pictures are great and make the threads so much more interesting to read. I know photobucket can be a little frustrating to use however once you get the hang of it you can have pictures in your post in a few seconds. It just takes a little practice. Don't give up!
It's going to take a lifetime to smoke all this.

AkBillyBow

Here are some pictures I posted on facebook.  Hopefully this will work.