Do you guys cook your sausage by time or temp? When's it done?

[TheBoz]

Hello Everyone,  I just finished my first attempt at snack sticks using my auber dual control PID.  Help me out, how do you know when cooked?

PID settings:
-2 hours at 150deg and the jump to 180 deg until the internal temp reached 155deg.

Meat:
2 lbs of 75% lean HB and 25% ground pork, one two pound pack od Lems snack stick mix.

I started at 7pm and gave up at 4am.  9 hours for 2 pounds?  It only reached 151deg, and was wrinkled and brown, not the pretty read it should have been.  Taste?  actually it's really good.  It looks like a dried terd but the inside it pink, lol!  So what should I do next time?
Thanks,
Phil

[Habanero Smoker]

151°F is a good temperature to stop at. Most of us don't go beyond 152°F when making sausage. Nine hours is a long time for 2 pounds of sausage, I would question the accuracy of the probe that was used to take the internal temperature.

Here is a helpful site that explain how to check your probe. Make sure you also click on the link for "Boiling Water Calculator."
Testing Thermometers For Accuracy

[pensrock]

Take them out at 152 like Habs mentioned. I do not normally go to 180, it could cause 'fat out'. I measure the internal temp with my Maverick ET7. I also rotate the racks top to bottom and front to back every 1-1/2 hours or so. Nine hours is a long time for two pounds of sticks, not sure what the problem was.

[TheBoz]

Thank you for the responses, from what I'm seeing today on my salmon smoke, is the auber temp probe is showing 30 deg higher than the door thermometer, Auber probe is under the second rack, makes since last night, the auber was set to 180 and the meat only got to 151, even after I fell a sleep and left it at 180 for an extra 3 hours. 

So I guess my question now is where do you put you temp probes?  And, yes the first thing I'll do tomorrow is test the probes for accuracy.  What does it mean if they are accurate?  How can the cabinet be 30 deg cooler one rack up, I find that hard to believe,

[Habanero Smoker]

I place my cabinet probe underneath the bottom tray. Locating it between trays you will get a lower temperature then what the bottom tray is exposed to.

Most digital's cannot be calibrated but can be checked for accuracy. If the probe is not reading correctly, such as displaying a temperature too high or too low then what the meat actually is, then you are either under cooking or over cooking your product. As long as your probe is within plus/minus 4°F that is considered accurate for testing the internal temperature of meat. If it is way off, such as 10°F or more then when the probe is reading 151°F, the meat temperature is actually 161°F.

Temperature variations in the cabinet are cause by a few things. Such as location; the back of the smoker the temperature is higher then towards the front, and the top may be a few degrees cooler. That is why many of use rotate the racks, front to back and top to bottom. A circulation fan modification helps distribute the heat better.

With larger loads heat may be block causing some "cool" spots. Also moisture evaporating from the meat will have the greatest effect on where you place your probe. If your probe is too close to the meat or between the trays, evaporation will cool those areas up to 40°F at the beginning of the cook. As less moisture evaporates the temperature change will be less.

So the door cabinet is effected by it's location; being that it is in the front of the cabinet and towards the top. Also it's location often puts the probe into close proximity to the meat. When you check the door cabinet with an empty cabinet, it will be very close the temperature of your PID.