First Time Summer Sausage ever with the Kirby Cannon.

[Thomas DeWitt]

So,  I have been a home brewer for over 20 years but recently sold all my brewing equipment to try something new.  After smoking a Turkey for Christmas I decided to that smoking and Barbecue would be the thing for me.  I love to cook so it is a good match.  Unfortunately I am a little obsessive about my hobbies.  I have seriously spent over 100 hours on this site since Thanksgiving.  I think I have read almost every post and as I always do, i bought everything I thought I would need to do this right.  Short list, 4 rack digital Bradley, SRG, Auber PID, Auber Sous PID, steam table, maverick, tons of spices, racks galore, frog mats, etc, etc.  ......

So today, for the first time I thought I would try Summer Sausage with my new Kirby Cannon.  To make this simple, I bought a Summer Sausage kit from High mountain.  And I went to a great local butcher called Tip Top meats here in San Diego.  He used his Sausage plate to grind me 12 pounds of beef and 3 pounds of pork.





I was amazed at how easy the Kirby cannon was to assemble and use.  I had my sausages ready in no time at all.



Just like home brewing, every time you brew something unexpected happens and that makes each recipe unique.  In this case, I learned that a 4 rack smoker is not big enough to hold a 24 inch summer sausage.  I had to use bamboo sticks to hold the sausage and I had to take out the heat deflector.  I hope I did not ruin the sausage.  In brewing the say "relax, dont worry, have a homebrew".  So i pulled out some of the Apple Pie I made last night and drank it.




They are about to go in the water bath after a couple hours of Hickory and Maple smoke.  I have no idea if this is the right type of smoke.  I smoked at 120 for 1 hour to dry, 140 for 1 hours with smoke, 160 for 1 hour with smoke, then in the bath at 180 til the reach 156.  Hope that is right.  Flying blind here.

I want to express how grateful I am to Kirby for the wonderful stuffer.  He has been so helpful.  The canon was much, much easier to use than I expected.  Also, it was a breeze to clean.  After years of cleaning brew equipment I was excited to be done so quick.

When I was done cleaning my equipment, I sprayed it all with Five Star.  It is an acid based, no rinse food grade sanitizer.  It is great, clean, spray, let air dry and you are sanitized.  One once in 5 gallons of distilled water and then but in a spray bottle will last you a long time.

Anyway, the sausage is not done yet so I will put the money shot on later.

As always, a beautiful day in San Diego.






Posted this on Tapatalk and my ipad so I hope it comes out ok.

Tom




---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.079668,-117.278009

[devo]

Must be nice to be able to go outside and make sausage  ::) as I look out my window and watch the snow falling  ;D

Nice job there Thomas. Wish I was there helping you out. Don't you just love the Kirby cannon.

[Shasta bob]

Welcome to the site. so much to learn here and so much time. your photos look like you have some good results happening

[Thomas DeWitt]

Thanks, placed and order for 40 casings.  Only 12 inch this time.  hope they are short enough to fit.

[pikeman_95]

Thomas

First thanks for all the kind words. With out a doubt you have set some sort of record for getting the stuffer going. Guys I sent this out the middle of last week. Thomas got this thing Tuesday of this week and has a batch done and ready to take off on another. It looks like you did a great job of stuffing. I can't wait for the cut shots.
You are Unbelievable
Kirby

[smokeNcanuck]

T- I have the same problem, my sausage is too long for my smoker ;)

There are a lot of times I wish I had that little extra height of a six racker.  Not a big deal as long as you
remember when you are stuffing, which I often do not.  You will probable find that the ends of you SS were done
more than the top, just because they were so close to the element.  I'm sure it would not be an issue as you finished in a
hot water bath.  I like the hot water trick as it really cut down on the cook time.

Your first batch looks GREAT, I sure you will enjoy!  will be looking forward to
the money shot.  I really wish I was at your house, the weather looks beautiful.

What more can a man ask for than some fine home made sausage and a nice cold beer!

cheers,
sNc

[Thomas DeWitt]

OH, OH, i think I did something wrong.  Everything was great going in to the water.  Then when they hit about 150 I noticed a lot of grease in the water and the casings got loose and shriveled.  When I put them in the ice bath, I saw a lot of fat gelling in the water.  So, I cut one open to take a look when they where blooming.  Although they taste awesome, there is melted fat on the insides of the casings.  I think maybe I got them too hot.  Not really sure, but they won't make good gifts.  Time to try again once I figure out what happened.  Really tasty.  I wish I just left them in the smoker now.   :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(

[devo]

If I was you I would take the casings off, wash off the fat and then vac seal them and nobody will know the difference except you.  ;)
Sounds like the hot water bath got to hot.  You have to be real careful as they can turn on you very fast.

[pikeman_95]

Tom the magic water bath temperature is 160 above 170 the fat near the out side of the sausage starts to melt and pool up under the casings. If you look very close at the fibrous casings there are very small holes in the casings. This is how the melted fat got into the water. If you look close at the sliced sausage you probably will note, that you do not see any fat chunks near the edge of the sausage. This is because it melted and flowed under the inside of the casing. I have seen cases where the fat melt has left holes in the sausage.  This will also cause the casing to wrinkle some. Devo is correct if you peal the casing and wipe or wash off the fat they will be OK but they will just not be as good looking. Try again, just keep the water temp. under control. Everything was looking good up to that point. I would give them a little more smoke then you indicated. You can also try tying a couple of 1/2 hitches in the hanging string on each casing to shorten up the loop. This will help keep the sausage a little further from the heat. I only know some of there things because I did the same thing and learned not to do them again. This is why when I have some one helping me and I have them watching the water temperature I give them a  good talking to about how important it is to pay attention..
Kirby

[Quarlow]

Gee Tom, you know how well beer goes with sausage? You might shoulda kept the brew works to compliment each other.  ;) You will have to watch your sausage for overcooking at the bottom close to the element. Hope it all went well. Love to see to money shots.

[Sailor]

Thomas, welcome to the wonderful world of smoking and sausage making.  Sounds like you went in boot deep right from the start.  ;D  I have the OBS and my first SS try I stuffed too long and had to do just like you, take the v tray out.  Now I know my max link I stuff a casing to is 18 inches which allows me to hang from my bell bar that I have supported on 1x2 on the top rail.  I might suggest that you keep a log of what you do for each attempt.  When you hit a home run your know how to repeat it. 

Sounds like you have just about everything you need from the git go.  As time goes on you will find that you just have to have another toy piece of equipment :o

Looking forward to seeing your photos

[micman]

Thomas, Pikeman is right don't let the water get above 170. This has happened to me and I fatted out the outside of my sausage. I try and keep my water at 160, it takes a little longer to cook but then there is no fat out. How I do this is when the temp starts to go above 160, I pull a couple of cups of the water out, and add a couple of cold cups, I have a hard time regulating my stove so this way works for me, but like I said it does take a little longer. These fatted out a little, I wiped them with warm water and they were fine.

Mick

[Thomas DeWitt]

Yes,  this looks a lot like what happened to me.  I am very interested though cause I was using an Auber and the temp actually never go over 160.  At least according to the Auber.  I purchased a 20 quart Hamilton Roaster today.  Maybe that will work better.  We shall see.  I wiped the sausage off and took a couple to a party with me.  Everyone liked them (they were all drinking  :-*). 

Anyway, I had a good time making them.  My garage does smell a lot like hotdogs today though.

As soon as the new casings get here I will try again.

[pikeman_95]

Tom
I am sure they did not have to be drunk to enjoy your sausage. Get a digital thermometer in the turkey roaster and keep a close eye on the temperature.
I still would like to see a cut shot. for that matter I would love to live close enough you to have a taste.
You can get a digital thermometer from Wall Mart. You just need to get some seal into the end of the probe. I rub some liquid rubber into the shielding and give the connection where the wire goes into the probe a good seal. With out a doubt you are going to give it a dip into the water and that will screw up the probe if you get water in it.

Kirby.

[Thomas DeWitt]

Ok Kirby, here you go!!!





---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.079887,-117.277769