1st Timer with Questions

[SevFry]

Hello.  My friends and I are attempting to make our own deer sausage this fall, I have been reading on the forum and found some very helpful advice, but still have a couple of questions. 
We have 3 deer in total which we will be mixing with ground pork.  Once mixed and stuffed, do you have to smoke it while it is still fresh? Or can you freeze and smoke once thawed and ready for consumption? If so, do you still put the cure in with the mix?  Can you dry it in the smoker and apply smoke but not take it up to the full IT, then freeze and finish cooking when ready?  If I have to completely smoke and cook all of it at once, that will take a very long time in my 4 rack bradley.
Thanks in advance for the helpful advice.  I love this site!!

[NePaSmoKer]

Hello.  My friends and I are attempting to make our own deer sausage this fall, I have been reading on the forum and found some very helpful advice, but still have a couple of questions. 
We have 3 deer in total which we will be mixing with ground pork.  Once mixed and stuffed, do you have to smoke it while it is still fresh? Or can you freeze and smoke once thawed and ready for consumption? If so, do you still put the cure in with the mix?  Can you dry it in the smoker and apply smoke but not take it up to the full IT, then freeze and finish cooking when ready?  If I have to completely smoke and cook all of it at once, that will take a very long time in my 4 rack bradley.
Thanks in advance for the helpful advice.  I love this site!!

Your going to let the deer hang and bleed out some.....right?

You can mix the venison with the pork cut in, in 5 lb batches in zip lock bags. Freeze until your ready to make sausage then add the cure and seasonings to the meat when defrosted.

[STLstyle]

I just processed my deer, ground and froze in 5lb batches.  If you grind pork you can freeze them in proportional batches as well so when you are ready to smoke you combine and go.

I just made my first batch of sausage yesterday and it turned out pretty good.

For me I did 50/50 venison and ground pork.   Made 10lb batch.  Good luck.

I don't think you want to add seasoning / cure until your ready to smoke.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi SevFry;

Welcome to the forum.

If I'm reading your post correctly, are you inquiring about what you can do with the sausage after it has been stuff?

If so any of the options you mentioned can be done, as long as you have added the cure. Once you add cure #1, your sausage are no longer considered fresh sausage.

You can smoke/cook right away, or freeze them raw, or air dry and cold smoke then freeze for later cooking. If you air dry and apply smoke I would keep the cabinet between 70 - 90°F (leaving them in a raw state), and then fully cook the sausage at a later time.

[viper125]

I freeze all my ground meat in 1 and 2 lb packs. This way if you need 1 lb pork and 1 lb beef or venison you have it. Grind it weigh it and bag and freeze. I recommend sealer bags and then wrap in paper for the best keeping. Then you can take it out and make any size batch you want whenever you like. It also helps in buying meat. Because you can buy a little at a time when its on sale. Can never have too much ground meat or pork butts.

[Sailor]

SevFry,  Some good advise has already been given by the above replies.  I will add my "for what its worth department".  If you are making summer sausage you can get 20 pounds in the 4 rack Bradley but you got to hold your mouth just right to hang them  ;D That is a big load for the Bradley bit it can be done and it will take you most of the day to grind, mix, stuff and smoke.  20 pounds of Summer Sausage will keep you and your friends happy until the next big smoke.  Now if you do a hot water bath to finish them then you might be able to get 60 pounds of sausage done in a day but that is going to push it if you are putting 2 to 3 hrs of smoke on them.

Now if it were me I think that I would grind all of the deer up and package all of it except what I was going to smoke that day and put the rest in the freezer.  Same thing with the pork.  I would not mix it together.  Reason being is that you may want to make something else in the future.  You may decide after your finished smoke that the 50/50 cut was not to your liking and may want to try a 60/40 or 70/30 cut to find out what your liking is.  You might even decide to cut it with ground beef to make hamburgers. Different folks have different tastes.

You may decide that you want to make some fresh sausage and not smoke it.  Since you have packs of straight deer meat your options are all open. You may want to make Ground Deer jerky and if you mix the deer and the pork you have limited your options.

As stated above, once cure #1 is added it is no longer "fresh" sausage.  Personally I like to keep my options open.  Good luck with your project.  Hope your friends are good at boning and taking the silver off  ;D

[viper125]

Good advise Sailor and totally agree! One other thing Id like to add. It is recommended to freeze fresh deer or any meat for that matter for at least a week before using. Now I don't always follow that but it is a good idea, As the freezing temps kills a lot of bacteria and germs present into days meats especially wild. Just thought Id pass it on.

[SevFry]

Thanks for all the advice.  I think that grinding up and freezing in small batchs so I can make what i want when I want is a great idea.