Hang sausage

Terabull · August 07, 2009, 09:55:37 PM

How do you hang sausage in your smoker without the bottom ends over cooking? I have the plain ole 4 rack, and anything that hangs below 1 length from the top over cooks on the bottom ends.

NePaSmoKer · August 08, 2009, 05:08:26 AM

Quote from: Terabull on August 07, 2009, 09:55:37 PM
How do you hang sausage in your smoker without the bottom ends over cooking? I have the plain ole 4 rack, and anything that hangs below 1 length from the top over cooks on the bottom ends.

You can make a board out of 1x4 to place on the top shelf support or just stuff the casings shorter.

nepas

Mr Walleye · August 08, 2009, 07:03:30 AM

Hi Terabull and welcome to the forum.

I suspend an inverted rack on 1" x 4" strips. I then use hog rings to hang the sausage from the inverted rack. I never had much problem with the bottom ends being over done, maybe slightly but only on the very end. Here's a picture.

Mike

BigJohnT · August 08, 2009, 07:44:42 AM

I just knew there would be a use for that box of hog rings I found while cleaning up at Dad's house ;)

Thanks for that tip Walleye

John

smokeitall · August 09, 2009, 08:03:54 PM

A circulation fan helps a lot. I have done some with and without the fan and there is a big difference.

For hanging sausage I made two wooden pieces that rest on the top just like Mr. Walleye's but I screwed in three wooden dowels to hang the sausage over. I like those pieces with the ends that have the thin flat ends from hanging over the wood.

Man I gotta make some sticks soon.
SIA

BigJohnT · August 10, 2009, 05:07:29 AM

I guess I better add a fan to my list of things to do ;D

John

Terabull · August 11, 2009, 11:23:35 AM

Thanks for the replies. What about keeping them in a long coil and just put them on racks? Pros and Cons?

OU812 · August 11, 2009, 11:48:01 AM

Quote from: Terabull on August 11, 2009, 11:23:35 AM
Thanks for the replies. What about keeping them in a long coil and just put them on racks? Pros and Cons?

If you let the sausage touch each other they will be off collar and not as much smoke flavor, you want all surface area to be kissed with smoke. Also if the sausage is put on the racks to close together the heat wont rise and you will have hot spots in your smoker

Terabull · August 11, 2009, 01:09:51 PM

So is this going to be a problem?

lumpy · August 11, 2009, 01:14:13 PM

Looks good, although I would lower the racks. They don't need to be on the top rack.
Here is my sausage set-up.

Lumpy

OU812 · August 11, 2009, 01:33:36 PM

The bottom coil will be done b4 the rest with it taking on the most heat

You might want to rotate the racks top to bottom front to back to even out the cook temp

Habanero Smoker · August 11, 2009, 01:45:33 PM

Hi Terabull;

Welcome to the forum.

I also use the racks instead on hanging, but I have not tried to invert and stack the racks. That should work, but there is not much room for smoke to circulate around the sausage on the bottom. With the racks you can easily monitor the internal temperature of each rack if you have a good instant read thermometer. With sausage I find the cabinet recovery time to be quick. Try not to run your probe through the racks. I generally will run the probe wire done the back wall, or feed it through the front door seal so the racks can be rotated.

It's easy to rotate the racks top to bottom and from to back, it one rack cooks faster then the other just take that one out and leave the rest in. Since you you only used four racks, I would not have inverted and doubled up. I would have used all for shelves and rotates the racks.

Terabull · August 11, 2009, 02:09:52 PM

I was thinking of using the inverted racks to fully load the smoker in the future so I figured this would be a test. But now I am wondering if I will have too much heat loss with that much rack rotating.

smokeitall · August 11, 2009, 02:11:31 PM

It will just take longer and give you an excuse to be out by the smoker more having a barley pop checkin you sausage ;D

Habanero Smoker · August 11, 2009, 02:19:29 PM

If you have a temperature control device like a PID or Raptor Guru, the recovery time is quick, you are not smoking at high temperatures. If you have a brick in the smoker that help with recovery.

I rotate after the drying period (if I dry in the smoker), then after the smoke has been applied, then 2 hours after that, after I increase the cabinet temperature to 170°F and as the sausage comes closer to 150°F I may rotate in shorter time intervals. You really don't have to use the instant read until the last stages of smoking. If you have a Thermapen as a instant read, it will go a lot smoother.

Hang sausage

NePaSmoKer

lumpy