First try at stuffing sausage w/ pics!

[SamuelG]

Sorry to hear that KyNola!

If it helps, I've made me share of unrecoverable mistakes.

Lo Siento


SamuelG

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[smokeNcanuck]

That sucks!
My last batch of sticks got split between two of my friends dogs! :-[
Just drive on and try again.

sNc

[NePaSmoKer]

Larry


I Quote Farmer Fran............"Deeskeeoto!

http://www.hark.com/clips/xwsgxhxftt-we-live-to-play-another-day

[Keymaster]

Sorry your maiden voyage sucked Kynola but it sure looked good before you stopped takin pictures :) Stand right back up and go at it again Mister ;)

[SiFumar]

That really is to bad!  It's frustrating I know.  Practice makes perfect ya know!  ;D

[KyNola]

Daniel Powter had a great song that pretty much summed it up for me.  The title is "Bad Day".  I was going to post the Youtube link to it but it kept posting ads in front of it.

So to cap it all off, even Youtube wants to screw with me today. :)

[OU812]

Man that really sucks Larry.

Did ya take notes from the start?

That'll help keep this kinda crap (what ever it was) from happining again.

I sure hope you didnt toss them cause the bottom of them fried before the top was fully cooked.

[pikeman_95]

Hey man everybody has made his share of crap. If you can divulge the problems you had some of the guys could help you out. I have worked through some rather funny problems. Well they seem funny now but at the time they hurt.

Don't stop trying.

[viper125]

As I learned with Ham and Bacon! "Nothing to fear but fear its self" It's not rocket science. Once you get it you wont have problems. And I can't think of a better site to learn. Be more explanatory and I;m sure some one will know how to problem and can help to fix it.

[Rckcrwlr]

I feel really bad for KyNola but some of these posts sound like we are talking him off the ledge.

It's freaking sausage, for God's Sake.  Nothing Life threatening.

Don't take this the wrong way but my attitude on things like this used to drive me nuts...after seeing three of my close friends lose their fights to cancer, I have a whole new outlook on life.

Throw the sausage out, document what you did and what caused it to go wrong and make adjustments.  There are some great people on this site with great knowledge.  Someone will be able to guide you in the right direction.

I make sausage a lot, only smoked recently.

[KyNola]

Thanks everyone, especially Rckcrwlr.  He put this all in perspective.

Here is a brief autopsy of what happened.  First, there was operator error.  The sausages were stuffed too long.  I stupidly failed to measure the hanging distance in the Bradley.  When I went to hang them it was obvious they were not going to fit without removing the drip tray, which I did.  Even with the drip tray removed, they were very long.  Second, additional operator error.  I attempted these without the benefit of a PID even though I own a brand new one.  Sooo, the temp swings came into play.  Next, the IT readings were all over the place.  I used 3 different digital probes, an ET 732, a thermopen and another instant read by Thermoworks.  None of them ever read the same.  I literally tested all 3 of them with the boiling water test during this fiasco as I thought they were giving false temps.  They all tested spot on.  Lastly, the pork meat mix itself.  I had the pork ground at my local butcher's.  Told him what I was doing and he told me he would take care of it for me.  I'll bet you the fat content was somewhere around 35-40%.  Everytime I would check the temp with a probe, liquid fat would pour out the hole.  The casings were literally dripping with fat.  Fat was running everywhere.  I brought the sausages in based on faulty temp readings(from the hot liquid fat inside the sausage I am sure).  I went to ice bath them and noticed how limp they were.  I broke one open and immediately knew they were not done.  They were all covered in fat and none were done.  That's when I threw them all in the trash and went about cleaning up the mess.  I had left the door of the Bradley open in order to cool it down.  When I went out to button it all up I noticed the tray that the water pan sits on was fat covered.  I scraped a 1/8 inch layer of congealed fat off of the tray.  There was fat underneath the water bowl!

Conclusion: 1. Operator stupidity. 2. Smoke/cook temp not controlled tightly enough. 3. Improper mix of lean and fat in the mix.

There you have it my friends.   

[Sailor]

Been there done it all!

I now Know that I can make a 37 inch link and hang it over my Bell bar.  The bar is elevated using 1x2 pieces of wood.  You will never forget this lesson.

I tried to do sausage without a PID and it don't work so pretty good.  Another lesson that you will never forget.

As for the mix....Well I only will use Pork Butt that I grind myself.  When you get fat dripping you have your cabinet temp way too high.  Smoking sausage the cabinet temp should never get above 175.  Even if you had the 35% fat you should not have fatted out like you did if the cabinet temp were in the 170 area.

Like my Daddy always told me.  I can buy you books and send you to school and you won't learn a Darn thing.  The things that cost you money you will always learn from.  Man oh Man ain't that the truth.  When my mistakes cost me money I tend to never repeat them.

[OU812]

That would have had me wanting to pull my hair out,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and I have a bunch.  ;D

But You could have finished them in the oven or by poaching.

I made sausage for a couple years without a PID and after the smoke finish by poaching.

I know I know I wasnt there but.........they have this thing called a phone. ;D

Allot of sausage is made with 30 to 40% fat,,,,,me I like 20%

[viper125]

Ha Ha Ha LOL! You did all that? Well me too! I did some kielbasa that turned out so dry it crumbled and taste? Had none. Sorry if my last post sounded like any thing bad. Its like they said no biggie. But it Pisses me off also. I done great in the smoker WITH A PID but when I decided to try a water bath I didn't have it where I wanted so I had to keep playing with it. Got low then way to high and so on. You would have rolled on the floor laughing so hard. When I seen they were fatting out and water was soaking in and swelling them I wasn't sure what to do. Well by then it was to late. But I didn't know it! So I filled the sink with cold water and proceeded to try and put these swollen casings have way across the kitchen to the sink. Every time I picked one up it would burst and send water squirting clear across the kitchen. Well here I am with the last one one in my hand grease on walls,ceilings and floors. Then I slip both legs and Kielbasa goes in the air just as the wife comes home. She was laughing so hard at me with legs in the air and hot grease squirting everywhere she didn't even get mad. Well I don't know if it was embarrassing,hurt or just plain mad but it took 4 hours to clean that kitchen of grease. And when done I even started thinking of not trying any more. But two days later I thought it out and and made some great stuff! So just keep plugging. The battle just makes the product that much better when you succeed. Oh I never told this before but thought you may have needed it. So lets keep this between us HUH?

[Sailor]

Viper...That has me rolling on the floor.  Yes Sir I know first hand about shooting grease.  1st time I poached sausage I saw liquid inside the casings.  (did not stuff them tight and had fat out too)  I stuck my thermo pin in and it was like I drilled a gusher.  I shot hot liquid grease from one end of the kitchen to the other.  I was not so lucky in the wife department.  She did not think that was funny at all.  Go figure.