Smokin Question

[jsmokinwylie]

I have made my own sausage for years but never smoked it because I tend to make 200lbs at a time so I take it to my butcher. We are now going to make 25lb batches and I will smoke myself in my Bradley. Question of the day is which is better hot or cold and how? I think that to cold smoke I would smoke for about 4 hours at a low temp say 75f and then cold rinse. Hot smoke, I would smoke at 140f until dry and then raise temp to 180f, smoke until internal temp is around 160 - 170f. Then submerge in cold water to cool below 100f. Wrap and freeze. Am I on the right track?  ;D

[Tenpoint5]

I have not cold smoked my sausages yet. Not knowing what kind your making. I would go with the general rule of 1 hour at 120* to dry, then smoke for 1-2 hours at 140* then finish at 160-180* until 152* IT for 30 minutes or until it turns 153* Then do the ice water bath down to 100*. Let hang at room temp for 1-3 hours blooming and into the fridge for an over night before vac sealing and freezing. Long story short your on the right track.

[NePaSmoKer]

I have made my own sausage for years but never smoked it because I tend to make 200lbs at a time so I take it to my butcher. We are now going to make 25lb batches and I will smoke myself in my Bradley. Question of the day is which is better hot or cold and how? I think that to cold smoke I would smoke for about 4 hours at a low temp say 75f and then cold rinse. Hot smoke, I would smoke at 140f until dry and then raise temp to 180f, smoke until internal temp is around 160 - 170f. Then submerge in cold water to cool below 100f. Wrap and freeze. Am I on the right track?  ;D

I would start 100* for 2 hours, no smoke and no rinse. Smoke sticks better to dry tacky casings. 

Bump the heat to 130* add 3 hours of smoke. Bump to 140* for 3 more hours (no smoke) Check IT of sausage. Bump to 150* for 4 hours (add 1 hour of smoke in here) Check IT. You might run into a stall time here where your sausage will stay at a level IT for awhile. Its normal.

Bump to 160*, Check IT you might have another 2-5 hours here. Your looking for an IT of the sausage between 152-156* If you go over this your going to fat-out the sausage. If your close to this IT bump to 170* Try not to exceed 180*


Tips. Make sure you add cure #1 to your meat mix.

Doing 25 lbs will take longer to reach your IT of smoker and of the meat.