Summer sausage, Where did I go wrong?

[Bigun]

I started a batch of (6) summer sausages (3)Elk (3)Duck early Saturday morning. I started drying at 110* and brought temp up incrementally over (6) hours to 160* as well as starting the smoke along the way. At hour 20 i.t. was 137* at hour 30 i.t. was 142* at hour 40 i.t. 147*, I could not leave it any longer. While I have not made alot of these, and the last was a few years ago I'm certain it was nowhere near this amount of time. I did set the cabinet temp probe near the bottom of the sausages as to keep the bottom from overcooking. In doing this did I keep everthing from cooking to completion? I did not have additional Mavericks monitoring PID temps in the cabinet (as usual). This new Auber has never been more than a couple of degrees different than any other digital thermometers I have used.  We did have a storm dumping rain on us the entire time, smoker is inside my shop.
The sausage was made using a store bought kit with correct amounts of cure, so after 40 hours in the smoker are these safe, and what are your predictions on results? Dry?

[hvhunter]

Sounds like you tried a 10lb batch?  You're ending temp of 160 does not seem high enough, considering you need to get to 152-155. I would bump that up ending temperature.  My last batches, I set the cycles as follows: 100 for  3 hours (drying cycle), turn on smoke, 130 until IT 110, 150 until IT 130. 180 until IT 152, 152 for 30 min. Ice bath.

[Bigun]

Thanks, it seems everything I have read says anything over 170* and you run the risk of them "fatting out".

[hvhunter]

I use jowl for the fat, run through a coarse plate. I never had it melt out.  My batch last week was approximately 12 lbs, which turned out to be 8.5 sticks of 2" casing cut to 13.5". It took 15 hours in my Bradley original with a dual element mod.

[watchdog56]

I am in Minnesota and smoke sausage in the winter all the time. For summer sausage (1 1/2 in in diameter) it usually takes 7-9 hours using a 6 rack with dual element. I preheat at 150 for 1 hour then down to 130 for 1 hour then 140 for 2 hours of smoke. Then go to 150 for 1 hour, 165 until it hits 152. I do leave my vent wide open for all my smokes to get the moisture out.

My only guess is that maybe your vent is not wide open and the moist air keeps the temp down?

[pmmpete]

40 hours in the smoker! Wow!  Next time try smoking them for a couple of hours, and then put them in a hot water bath.  You can control the temperature of a hot water bath pretty precisely to prevent cooking the fat out of your sausages, the temperature will be pretty even throughout the water bath, and you can get them up to your target internal temperature quite quickly.  Hold them at your target internal temperature for half an hour, dump them in cold water to cool them off, and then dry them off.  This will all take a fraction of the time that it takes to get sausages to your target internal temperature in a smoker, and you don't have to worry about the big temperature differences which you can find from one area to another inside a smoker.

[Bigun]

I have been reading about the hot water bath method, and will definitely give it a try next time. I guess I will chalk this up to the PID cabinet probe being set too low in the cabinet(too close to heat elements) and not having the proper temps throughout.. I will try again soon and post the results. Thanks again to all. Merry Christmas

[Salmonsmoker]

If you're exploring the water bath method for your sausage and don't have a serviceable unit or a way to maintain the water temperature, check out Anova Culinary. I have one of these units to do Sous Vide cooking and it works perfectly for finishing sausage. It'll clamp on to almost any pot or container, and the units are sized for the amount water they will heat and maintain. The units have an internal impeller that circulates the water, so there aren't any cold or hot spots. https://anovaculinary.com/anova-precision-cooker/?gclid=CPnZ0uSQiNECFQ5EfgodK58KEw