Can you smoke 20 pounds of Kielbasa in an OBS?

Sailor · September 25, 2011, 10:08:18 AM

Well, yes you can if you do some planning ;D. Needless to say I did the planning but my plan did not come together like I would have like but I did learn some valuable lessons. The Bradley will fit 20 pounds of sausage if you hang them. The trick it to hang them properly. I planned to make 9 inch links which would give me 18 inches from my hangers and not be touching the V tray. This is where the plan fell apart. I did not precut my casings and you don't need too either. I did have to cut a section as the cellulose tube was too long for my stuffing horn. I pulled out a bit of casing and tied the end and left enough string to tie to another section so I could drape these sections over my hangers. As I stuffed I would link off a link at 9 inches and then stuff another 9 inches and tie that one off and cut the casing and repeat. All was going great until I went to hang the load. WTF .......Why are the casings too long and touching the V-Tray. When I measured I used the same measurement that I use when making snack stixs but I drape the stixs over the hangers. That was my problem. Next time I will make a long length that has 4 9inch links and then drape them and that should solve my problem. I am smoking 2 hrs and 40 minutes of Hickory at 140 to 150 degrees and will then pull them and give them a hot bath. I had to take the V-tray out so I will be watching this smoke very carefully. I was careful to not have any lengths on the biscut hot plate and they are well away from the heating element.

Grinder all set up

10 pounds of Butt cut up ready to be ground

Butt all ground up

Mix all mixed up and allowed to set for 30 minutes.

10 pounds of Poke and 10 pounds of 80/20 all mixed together ready for the goodness to be added.

20 pounds of Kielbasa stuffed and in the OBS and ready for the smoke.

Another thing I learned is the if I EVER do another 20 pounds at a shot I WILL have a Kirby mixer ;D It was not fun hand mixing 20 pounds of meat.

Will post some more shots as the day progresses.

mikecorn.1 · September 25, 2011, 10:11:22 AM

Looking
Forward to them

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Mr Walleye · September 25, 2011, 10:12:53 AM

Lookin' good Sailor! ;)

That's a big load in there! Are you doing the water bath method to finish?

Mike

SamuelG · September 25, 2011, 10:13:23 AM

Very nice!

The Kirby Mixer is awesome, get one!

I have had many "WTF" moments when measuring my casings to hang them in the Bradley. Can't wait to see more pics.

SamuelG

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Sailor · September 25, 2011, 10:19:58 AM

Quote from: Mr Walleye on September 25, 2011, 10:12:53 AM
Lookin' good Sailor! ;)

That's a big load in there! Are you doing the water bath method to finish?

Mike

Yes, going to use my $15 turkey roaster that I got a few weeks ago. BTW this is your recipe with a few tweaks that I am using. I really like the way the cellulose casings stuff. Wife came in and said "why did you put a black strip on your sausage". Told it was to identify the type of meat I was stuffing. Her reply was "OH thats a good idea". :o I will most likely get a "whatfor" when she looks at all of the casings in my stash. ;D

marauder11 · September 25, 2011, 10:20:42 AM

I just did 23 pounds of the Mennonite sausage i asked about. I use extra racks and only am smoking for the flavour. I pulled them after the smoke was done and wrap and freeze. My local butcher calls this fresh smoked sausage.

pensrock · September 25, 2011, 04:01:38 PM

Anytime I attempt to do more than ten pounds of sausage, I get tons of condensation inside the smoker. It actually drips out the door. Its done this from day one so now if I use the Bradley for sausage I limit it to ten pound loads.
Now I'm talking about completing the whole smoke in the Bradley, not just a couple hours for flavor and finishing in a water bath.
We discussed this here a couple times and I talked to Bradley but never got a solution so now ten pounds is my limit. I think others have better luck than me so I would go by what they say.
If I have a big load to do, I now use my old homemade outhouse style smoker. I never get condensation in it. :)
Good luck, your kielbasa looks great. :)

SouthernSmoked · September 25, 2011, 04:19:17 PM

Looking good Sailor!

Any updates?

ghost9mm · September 25, 2011, 04:24:54 PM

You have my attention on this....lookin forward to the finished product....

pikeman_95 · September 25, 2011, 04:35:56 PM

Looking good Jim. I am going to keep an eye on this one.

Pensrock
You might want to consider adding something like a smoke stack over the vent of your smoker. Just use an over sized pipe and set it over the vent. This will give the smoker more draft and air draw which will change out the air faster and avoid the moisture buildup. You could do this for the first part of the smoke and then take off the vent pipe addition once much of the moisture has left the sausage.

Kirby

SamuelG · September 25, 2011, 06:22:17 PM

Quote from: pikeman_95 on September 25, 2011, 04:35:56 PM
Looking good Jim. I am going to keep an eye on this one.

Pensrock
You might want to consider adding something like a smoke stack over the vent of your smoker. Just use an over sized pipe and set it over the vent. This will give the smoker more draft and air draw which will change out the air faster and avoid the moisture buildup. You could do this for the first part of the smoke and then take off the vent pipe addition once much of the moisture has left the sausage.

Kirby

Kirby you are one amazing guy full of genius! Thanks. I just read the knot post.. Now the stack...

Gracias

SamuelG

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pensrock · September 26, 2011, 05:18:47 AM

Kirby, yes I made a power vent but did not get to try it yet. I bought a six inch to four inch stove pipe adapter and mounted a small 110V fan on the four inch side. I can set it over the Bradley vent for max draw or space it up an inch or so to cut back some on the draw. I made it mainly for doing peppers, jerky and things like that. I always figured it would pull out too much heat for doing sausage but never tried it.

Sailor · September 26, 2011, 05:41:58 AM

@Pensrock, regarding the condensation. I did not notice any condensation at all with the 20 pounds in the Bradley. Please keep in mind that I they were in the OBS for the smoke and not to finish. Dry time 1 hr and smoke of 2 hr and 40 min. The one thing that I have noticed is that the cellulose casings do not wick much water at all unlike hog and collagen casings. They seemed very dry to the touch when I hang them in the OBS. I do run my vent wide open too.

Sailor · September 26, 2011, 05:54:25 AM

After the hot bath and on racks to bloom. This ain't all of them ;D

In the tub in the fridge for an overnight slumber party.

Will peel them and vac seal them later today. Will post shots when that happens. Some came out with great color and some not so much. Will see how the finished product comes out.

pikeman_95 · September 26, 2011, 06:20:32 AM

Quote from: pensrock on September 26, 2011, 05:18:47 AM
Kirby, yes I made a power vent but did not get to try it yet. I bought a six inch to four inch stove pipe adapter and mounted a small 110V fan on the four inch side. I can set it over the Bradley vent for max draw or space it up an inch or so to cut back some on the draw. I made it mainly for doing peppers, jerky and things like that. I always figured it would pull out too much heat for doing sausage but never tried it.

Pensrock
You could install a T in the pipe between the fan and the smoker. Then you could put a damper in the part of the T that is open to the air. That way you could vent some fresh air into the T so that it does not pull too much air out of the smoker. You could also use a fan speed switch on the power supply to the fan and slow it down to what ever amount of air pull that you want.