Summer sausage cold smoking

[Gordof]

Just purchased 4 rack digit. Looks like I will have a lot of fun. First project is cold smoked summer sausage. Have used 2 1/2 in. artifical casing. A couple questions - 1. How long is it recommended to keep in smoker? 2. How often should I give it a shot of smoke ie: 2, 3 4 times a day and how many bisquettes should I use each time?
Thanks for your anticipated response.

[TestRocket]

Welcome Gordof,

The sausage guys should be here soon and help you out! Good luck! 

[watchdog56]

If you are going to smoke it make sure you use some cure in the mix. I made that mistake once and had to throw away 5 lbs. I have only hot smoked and got the IT to 152 then pulled. I amsure someone else will chime in.
And welcome to the forum.

[Sailor]

Gordof, I am not sure what you trying to do when you say you want to cold smoke.  If you are going to smoke sausage you need to add 1tsp of cure #1 to every 5lb of meat and then bring the IT to 155 degrees.  This would not be considered to be cold smoking.  If you are going to "air dry" and wanting to add smoke then I guess that you would have to cold smoke it.  I have not had any experience on air dried sausage but what I have read is that you have to use Cure #2 for those type of products.  Nepas is one of our experts on sausage making and I am sure that he can help guide you.  Smoking at low temps without cure #1 is inviting nasty critters into the meat.

[RAF128]

If you're only cold smoking and don't bring the meat up to 152º you should cook the meat  before eating.   Bring it up to 152, give it an ice bath to stop the cooking and hang it to blum and it's ready to eat.
Quick question.   What recipe are you using for the SS or is it a kit?   

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Gordof;

Welcome to the forum.

Can you better explain what you are planning to do. From your description it appears you are planning to air dry them in the smoker over a period of time. That probably will not work out well, if you plan to keep the temperature below 90°F; especially for 2.5" diameter sausage.

Are you going semi-dry cure the sausage? Or are you planning to fully dry cure the sausage? Each type requires a completely different method to get to the finished product. Semi-dry is fully cooked then air dried for a period of time, and it requires cure #1 (aka instacure #1; Prague powder #1). If you are going to fully dry cure it then you must use cure #2 (aka instacure #2; Prague powder #2); and have an appropriate environment to dry cure the sausage.

[Gordof]

I used the eastmansoutdoor sausage kit - summer sausage.

[Sailor]

I used the eastmansoutdoor sausage kit - summer sausage.

I looked on the Eastmans Outdoor site for the summer sausage info.  http://www.eastmanoutdoors.com/cms/content/sausage-kit and if you click at the bottom on the     * 38660 Sausage Kit Manual link it will give you the PDF of how to make the sausage.  It is very clear that you are to use cure in your mix.  The kit should have come with some pink salt which is the cure.  I am not sure of the amount that they have listed because normally you use 1 tsp per 5 lbs and they say 1 tsp per 1 lb. 

With this mix I am pretty sure that you will not want to do a cold smoke.  This sausage needs to be cooked to an IT of 152-155 degrees.

[RAF128]

I used the eastmansoutdoor sausage kit - summer sausage.

I looked on the Eastmans Outdoor site for the summer sausage info.  http://www.eastmanoutdoors.com/cms/content/sausage-kit and if you click at the bottom on the     * 38660 Sausage Kit Manual link it will give you the PDF of how to make the sausage.  It is very clear that you are to use cure in your mix.  The kit should have come with some pink salt which is the cure.  I am not sure of the amount that they have listed because normally you use 1 tsp per 5 lbs and they say 1 tsp per 1 lb. 

With this mix I am pretty sure that you will not want to do a cold smoke.  This sausage needs to be cooked to an IT of 152-155 degrees.

Just looked at the instructions from eastman.   Talk about vague.    Doesn't tell you much at all.  Most other kits tell you a lot more like how to smoke or heat it.    I'm guessing here but I think that kit is meant to be hot smoked and the IT taken to 152.

[NePaSmoKer]

You will never reach the IT of 152 with an actual cold smoke (no heat) Your going to need to start at 130* and ramp up to 170-180* to get the correct IT.

Habs is right with the cure #2, you need the right R/H and temps. This is mostly dry cured and some salami, pepperoni, lebanon bologna  type sausages ETC..........

[pikeman_95]

I am not sure what you are meaning by cold smoking but all smoked sausage needs to have meat cure added 4 oz./100# or .04 oz./ 1# of Meat. If you are trying to get a good saturation of smoke into your sausage make sure it is brought up to room temperature before you put in the smoker. If the meat is cold it will sweat and repel the smoke.  I have developed a super smoke generator which puts a very intense smoke in the smoker. I run the smoker at 160 F and with this combination I can saturate My sausage in 1 1/2 hours. The sausage will only be about 100F at this point. When we make frankfurters, we finish off the curing process [155 for ten minutes] by putting them in a water bath that is also 160 F This will take about another 20 minutes. In a Professional shop they use a steam chest to accomplish the finale temperature. You can keep the sausages in the smoker to the final cure temperature but it will dry them out and they can become Tough. Here is a picture of our German Frankfurters after 1 1/2 hours in the smoker.




Here is the water bath we place a thermomiter in the largest dog and keep a good eye on the temperture.



After flash cooling in cold water we air dry them to let them bloom[to get their color]




Here is a shot of the franks coming off of my home built hydraulic stuffer.



This is a shot of the stuffer. It works totaly off of the sink water pressure. It has a negative pressure venturi which sucks the ram back so that you can refill the stuffer. It holds 10# but I have expanded it to hold 15# since these pictures were taken. I also have a larger vertical stuffer which does 65# at a time.


This is a picture of the 120 pounds that we did that day.

[watchdog56]

very nice job. Looks like you have a lot of helpers there.

[ExpatCanadian]

Here is a picture of our German Frankfurters after 1 1/2 hours in the smoker.

Pikeman, you wouldn't want to share that Frankfurter recipe would you?  I'm looking for a good "go-to" BBQ Frank....  and yours certainly look the part, and I imagine you wouldn't be making them if they didn't fit the bill tastewise as well  :)

[pikeman_95]

I would like to take full credit for the recipe but I can't. We use High Country German frankfurter mix [google it] In Lincoln MT.

To this mix we add

2 cups mustard seed
2 cups brown sugar
1/4-1/2 cups cracked black pepper  [med or kind of hot]
1/3 cup of minced garlic or more to taste.
this is for a 30 pound batch 15 pounds wild meat and 15 pork shoulder [Costco]
We heavy smoke for 1.5 hours and then finish in a hot water bath. 160 F water 155 F core temp.
Franks are very juicy and tender
These franks are great boiled in a batch of sauerkraut or no the grill.