First time making sausage, first post

[jackb1]

Hello, this is my first time on the forum and I've been reading for a few hours.  There is a bunch of great info here and I wish I'd found this a few years ago to help with my first experiences with my Bradley.

I've been smoking for a few years, not advanced, but I've never made sausage.  My wife bought me the stuff for christmas this year with the help of some on this board. 

I'm planning on giving my first sausage stuffing attempt this weekend and here is what I'm planning on doing.  Please speak up with anything I'm missing or you think I'm doing wrong.  One big question I have and should be glaringly obvious, is why do I keep seeing 152 as the optimal internal temperature?  I've always thought pork was supposed to reach 180?  Or is this smoking process really only a partial cook and it is necessary to grill, etc. prior to serving?

Going to pick up a boston butt or shoulder tomorrow morning (depending on what looks better at the butcher's).  I'm hoping for a 5-7# piece of meat for my first try.

Day 1:
Cube the meat into 1" pieces, keep cool.

Season cubes (Using Hi Mountain Polish)

Grind cubes with 3/8, fatty pieces with 1/4.

Stuff on 2nd time through maching (no grinding this time).

Rinse, dry, place in fridge overnight.

Day 2:
Hang sausage from racks in my Bradley.

Let sit 1 hour @ 100 to dry casings

Slowly increase heat in smoker over 3 hours to 180 using smoke (no water bowl).

When links internal temperature reaches 140, turn off smoke and put in water bowl.

Smoke to 152 internal temperature.

Remove from smoker and rinse in sink with cold water until temp is down to 100ish

Dry thoroughly and freeze/refridgerate.

Thanks!

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

jackb1,

Welcome to the forum. You see 152 because anything hotter starts to render out the fat. In this case, these are cured sausages.

You could make fresh sausages and cook them to a higher temperature, but putting them in the smoker would put them in the danger zone for too long.

Arcs_n_Sparks

[Habanero Smoker]

jackb1;

Welcome to the forum.

Smoke time is a personal preference, but for sausage I now only apply about 2 hours of smoke. When I smoke sausage I usually use a cold smoke setup or else the cabinet will get much hotter then the temperature I want to smoke/cook at. I generally have water in the bowl while smoking to extinguish the bisquettes, but since my generator is not attached to the cabinet moisture is not a problem; and I don't think it would be a problem even if the bowl was in the cabinet. I generally use 3 stages; 110°F - 120°F to dry (if I dry in the smoker); 140°F while applying smoke; 170°F to finish. Also you may find shocking in ice water much easier and quicker then using a cold rinse.

Here is an example of a cold smoke setup. Most of us use a cardboard box for this setup.
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?t=32

[pensrock]

Habs, once again your right on with your comments.

All I can add is to make sure you rinse your hog casings well before trying to stuff the sausage into them. I know this sounds obvious but people have actually tried to use them right out of the package. Also I normally add a little water to the mixture just prior to stuffing. If you have 5-10 pounds I would think a cup of water/broth would be plenty.

I have smoked sausages for years in my home made smoker but my first attempt to doing sausage, in the Bradley, ended up poorly. I had moisture in the tower like you would not believe. After discussing it here and with a Bradley tech I opened up the louvers in my 'V' tray which allows more heat to flow up into the tower vs trapping the heat by the water bowl. I suggested to Bradley to start putting more louvers in the trays, why not there is enough room for two or more louvers. They are to look into it, but who knows if it will happen.

Have fun making sausage. You will most likely find its better to use your own seasonings as you start to make more sausages. You just need to make sure you have the right amount of cure in the mix.

[possumgritz]

I would suggest not cooking over 170. I like to try to keep it at 165 in the final stage.

If you cook it to an IT of 152 you will have no worries as long as you use instacure #1.

[jackb1]

Well, two days later and I've got my first home made sausage!  It looks great.  The grinding and stuffing took MUCH longer than I'd expected, and I was expecting it to take a while since I'm using beginner's equipment. 
Thanks for the replies!