First sausage smoking

[300wbymag]

So my girlfriend bought me a Bradley digital smoker for my birthday, i mixed about 7 lbs venison and 4 lbs of pork loin fat on it. I mixed and ground all this with a hot andouville sausage kit stuffed it myself in natural hog casings. Smoked it today for about 1.5. Hours and then again for another hour, put smoker oven to 190 and let sit for atleast three hours if not more while rotating racks. The sausage turned out flavor wise excellent but is chewy on the out side and the IT never got to 160 before the out side got tough. I cooked it in a pan and its awesome but where did I go wrong with the smoking and cooking?

[BAM1]

You may have jumped your temp up to high to fast.  I usually start at 120 for an hour, bump to 140 for an hour or so, go to 160, than finish it at 175 until I get an IT of right around 152-155 than ice immediately.  That's what I do anyway, low and slow.

[300wbymag]

I understand the low and slow, but the IT temp never even got above 130, but when I pulled it out it looked dry and way over done. Maybe i should get a new thermometer mines pretty old. So my next question is should I just leave the hot smoke on till it gets hot inside or turn it off after two hours and turn the oven on low and work up slowly till it's cooked? Does it matter if it doesn't get to 155-160 since I will be reheating or cooking later?

[NePaSmoKer]

Been doing sausage for.....well long time

When you say IT never got above 130? Is that cabinet IT or Meat IT

90% Of the time your digital wont hold steady temps (for sausage) without a PID. Not saying you cant with just the smoker, the PID helps.

When smoking sausage you need the IT of the meat between 149-152, when you go higher in the IT of the meat you can fat-out which will make a dry sausage.

IMHO If the IT of the meat never got above 130, i would not eat it. Bacteria can set in fast.

Photos?

[Tenpoint5]

By your times you only smoked the sausage for about 5 hours. Mine usually takes about 8 hours for a 5 pound batch of brat sized sausages. I would say yours is undercooked.

[300wbymag]

I have a temp guage i set on one of the racks to check temp inside of the smoker it got to 160 degrees and a pocket thermometer to check IT of the meat. I cooked it before I ate it so i know i wouldnt get sick, but why would it dry out if it didnt get cooked all the way through? too much heat to fast? do you guys leave the smoker on the whole time you cook or only smoke for a few hours then leave the oven on to finish cooking it? does your sausage turn a red color when its fully smoked or just after you finish cooking it? Sorry I am very new at this.

[pikeman_95]

Take a look at this link and it might give you some ideas. also look at some of the other post of Kevin's.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=24390.0

KC

[drunknimortal]

Did you close your damper after you stoped smoking?