hanging sausage

[randy1]

I have always laid my sausage sticks on a rack for smoking  is there any reason to hang sausage sticks do you check the temp on the top or bottom seems like the bottom would get do sooner than the top. just wondering. Randy

[tskeeter]

I hang sausage for a couple of reasons.  Appearance.  You get a nice smoke all over the sausage.  And space.  You can hang more of some types of sausage, such as summer sausage, than you can fit on racks.

In my experience with a six rack,  evenness of heat distribution generally isn't an issue when you hang sausage.  The only complication I've experienced was when I loaded 20 pounds of summer sausage into my smoker.  One of the sausages was in contact with the temp sensor, so my heat ran a little high and I got a bit of fat out.  All my fault.  I over loaded the smoker.

[Habanero Smoker]

If you are making link sausage, or sticks; I find laying then on racks all sausages cook more evenly, since you can rotate the racks throughout the cook time. The down side is you may not be able to cook as many link sausages, but I feel with stick you can get more by using the racks than by hanging. You will have grid marks on the bottom of the sausages, though generally when making sticks, those marks are not noticeable. When I hang sausages the end or links nearest the element cook faster than the ones near the top of the cabinet.

[watchdog56]

I have to agree with Hab's. I can get more by putting them on racks then hanging. I like to get the 1 1/2 inch diameter casings so when I cut them they fit nicely on a cracker but I can get 4 of those on 1 rack and with a 6 rack smoker I can fill the smoker up. I usually leave the bottom rack empty so to much heat does not hit the sticks. When I hang them I only get 8 sticks.

[randy1]

We do a 5# batch 5 1lb sticks I use 2 of my racks works out well  would make more at a time but it takes a while for us to use 5 sticks. I do like the control of the Bradley smoker. Randy