Sausage advise......Need Help!!

Surveyor · November 28, 2005, 03:36:29 PM

Put about 15lbs of sausage into my home made Bradly (old fridge with Bradly Generator)Everything went well as far as the smoking part went but as the sausage cooked the internal temp of the meat (maverick) reached 147F and stalled. There was steam rising from the vent. The oven temp was at 210F t0 218F. this stayed for approx 2 hrs. then the internal temp of the meat started to climb. I removed the sausage when it reached an internal temp of 155F It looks to me that the mosture evaporating from the sausage cooled it. The resulting sausage is Ok but looks a bit dried out. Can anyone suggest a way to fix this?

Bassman · November 28, 2005, 03:58:16 PM

Hi Ed,
First thing I thought of was did you dry out the sausage before smoking? By that I mean the excess moisture. After stuffing I always put it in the smoker with no smoke & low heat say about 100F or so, with vent wide open for about an hour. This gets rid of the excess moisture,which is why I think your internal temp stalled. Then bring temp of smoker up to no more than 200F. smoke until internal temp is 152F. Hope this helps.[:)]

Jack

rugbywaz · February 14, 2006, 09:10:51 PM

I have been learning the hard way on this as well.

1) always keep smoker at about 100 degrees till skins are dry.
2) Increase temp to 140-160 and start smoke.
3) Once internal temp of meat is around 140 you can remove smoke and add a pan of water to your smoker. You may have to jack your thermostate to keep the temp of the smoker around 160-170.
4) never ever raise your temp over 170 degrees. The fat will render at that temp. Hence the dry sausages.
5) This is a long process and can take from 6-10 hours.

Rugby

Oldman · February 15, 2006, 12:58:53 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">never ever raise your temp over 170 degrees.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Max Temp....Max Temp...Max Temp.... more like 160-165 box temp for me... however I have done 170.

Olds

headgames · February 15, 2006, 01:45:54 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">This gets rid of the excess moisture,which is why I think your internal temp stalled<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"> DAMN I love this place never knew why my sausage would stallWould always start questioning my temp reading , batteries in the thermometer , the dial on the smoker, MY BRAIN CRAMPS lol. thanks guys

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anyone know a site where I can post my pics so I can repost them here . Looks like I can't just suck them off my computer direct .

If ya go home hungry.........You were at the WRONG HOUSE !

rugbywaz · February 15, 2006, 03:33:45 PM

Sausages take a bit to cook. The more meat in the smoker the longer the process can take. Keeping the temp below 170 stops the fat from rendering. You can have long periods where the internal temp of the meat does not change. Suddenly it will rise. Catch it at 152 and immediately hose down the sausage with water and get the internal temp to 100 degrees. Let the sausage sit out on the tabel for an hour or two. This will create the characteristic red/brown color of a smoked sausage.

Trick: once internal temp of sausage hits 140, remove smoke and start using water. You can then crank the temp. This makes the smoker a steamer and decreases the amount of time needed to cook the product.

If you are doing thick pieces of meat, temps can be increase into the low 200's. Something about thin sausages versus a slab of meat lets you jack the temp a bit.

Hope this helps

Rugby

zhongyi · February 15, 2006, 09:10:12 PM

I made some Polish sausage as my virgin smoke. Tasted great. My only complaint was it looked too dry. My wife's only complaint was not enough fat. I think this just solved both problems. Thanks

jaeger · February 16, 2006, 01:13:43 AM

Headgames,
Check out http://www.photobucket.com.
It's free and you can resize pictures.

Doug

headgames · February 16, 2006, 01:49:18 PM

Thanks jaeger ..... will try here goes

If ya go home hungry.........You were at the WRONG HOUSE !

headgames · February 16, 2006, 01:51:24 PM

DAMN it worked whoo hoo . as you can tell was a bit WARM bow hunting early this year thanks again jaeger

If ya go home hungry.........You were at the WRONG HOUSE !

jaeger · February 16, 2006, 04:45:38 PM

Nice buck headgames!
We ended up with doe tags again this year. Making lots of deer jerky.

Wouldn't you know, I had two nice bucks run right up to me this year. I had to just watch as they ran off. Oh well, if I would have shot them, I would be poaching and would have been arrested, lost my gun and my truck. Now, if I were the vice president it would be just a case of, not having the proper stamp.[;)][B)][xx(]

Doug

rugbywaz · February 16, 2006, 04:46:23 PM

Z

If it looked dry you can add dry milk or soy protien to the mix.
Usually about 1 cup per 10 lbs. This will help keep the meat together and hold the juice. Also, keep the temp down (<170). Finally, remember this is not a health food. Sausage does need fat. For polish sausage a good two pack of boston butts is a good 70/30 lean to fat ratio. This is what your shooting for. However, you can add a bit more fat. Just ask your butcher for trimmings. You can add a bit more to the mix, if needed. Every pig is built a bit differently.

Good Luck

Rugby

zhongyi · February 16, 2006, 06:32:26 PM

I definately had the temp up too high. I used the Hi Mountain Sausage Kit. The final step in their instructions is to finish cooking at a temp between 180-200 degrees.

iceman · February 16, 2006, 06:56:55 PM

Man are they way off base on that one. At that temp you'd end up with a log! Stay in the 160 range and pull it just before reaching temp, then get it cooled down fast. You need to keep the fat in or you loose texture.[:p]<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by zhongyi
 I definately had the temp up too high. I used the Hi Mountain Sausage Kit. The final step in their instructions is to finish cooking at a temp between 180-200 degrees.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

iceman · February 16, 2006, 06:59:40 PM

Good job headgames. Nice looking dinner on the hoof you got there.[:D]<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by headgames
 Thanks jaeger ..... will try here goes

If ya go home hungry.........You were at the WRONG HOUSE !
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">