'Nother lesson learned...

[Patience]

Oops.  I stuffed my summer sausages like I have for the past 10 years and I am ready to smoke.  However, since this is my first Bradley batch, we have a problem.  My 3lb sausages are a little too long so I need advice.  Even with the Chez Bubba sausage rack and modified hooks I still had a sausage that was too long.  ::)

Anyhow, I have read posts about the heat in the bottom and I didn't want the suasage right on top the drip pan, so I put the lower rack in, and now they are laying diagonal.  I could only fit 5 in this way.  If you were to open the door and look straight in, they form a "V" int he cooker.  I thought it would be best to get them higher off the drip pan and higher heat since I do not have a fan.

My question is, since the tops are only about an inch or two from the top of the BS, will I need to rotate/flip more often?  Say, every 2 hours over my anticipated 8 hour cook?  Since this is a "Live Feed" or a "work in progress" any response from anybody with any level of smoking experience would be appreciated.  The sooner the better, they went in an hour ago. 

Thank You

[robs]

IMO You're going to want to rotate those things every hour.

When you're done adding smoke, if you have a table top fan - you could take the smoke gen off and let a fan blow into the opening for air circulation. I do this with jerky and beef sticks.

good luck

[Patience]

Its only 30 degrees here today, I opted for no fan, but am rotating them every hour.  I was able to shut the SG off after the smoke and with the slider 90% over it is holding at 170.  I figure another hour and they'll be done.

Next batch, definitly going for three quarter size, those will be about 2" above drip pan.  Should I go even shorter and just have twice as many 1.5 lbers?  That would put them at level with bottom rack, not drip pan.  With no fan, this may be the best bet.  Any thoughts?

[coyote]

Hey Patience,
     Had the same problem last sausage (deer) season.This year I have extra casings. Instead of three pounders I'm gonna do two to two and a half pds.

    Trust me on this, rotate your rolls and keep your temps down. It'll take
a little longer but you won't render the fat and it will be well worth it!

          Trial and error taught me a lot,
                                            Coyote

[MRH]

Coyote what temp did you use for the bradly when you did the sausage?  I might have to try making some this season.  Will do some hot dogs, my brother just made some awsome ones out of deer and pork.  I am waiting on him to give me the recipe.

Mark

[Patience]

The big 3 pounders came out well.  I started at 130 deg.for first 2-3 hours, until the sausage temp was 90 deg. and turned smoke on at this point and continued another 2 hours.  Increased to 150 deg. for about 2 hours with smoke still going.  After 4 hours of total smoke, I turned SG off and bumped cabinet temp to 170 and held for about 3 hours or until the internals were 152 deg.  I did rotate every hour on the hour and changed water once.  I bet those smaller 2 pound rolls will be easier to manage, and won't take as long.

My only complaint was there was a very thin layer of hard crust on the sausages that I have been able to avoid with the old oven.  They are still awesome, but you cannot "tear" a piece in half without the crust peeling off from around the peice if you know what I mean.  I'm assuming from cooking at 170 for almost 3 hours.  I should have held 150 longer maybe?  Or the other thought was maybe I didn't get enough water inside the casings during the soak? 

Patience