My first Rodeo

[Bagman]

After years of reading everything we could about sausage making my buddies and I took the plunge yesterday!  First let me thank the experienced and gracious members of this form for sharing their vast knowledge so readily.  We made 25#s of SS, 50/50 venison and pork.  A great learning experience with a few bumps in the road.  First bump could not find my Maverick and do not have a PID (yet) so had to rely on the the thermometer on my 10 year old OBS and a meat thermometer.  Second bump a four shelf OBS will not hold 25#s of SS.  So after a few beers, intense calculations and conversations and some "looks good to me" technology, I am thrilled to announce that we were very successful.  Have not cut into it to taste yet (later today) but opened the fridge this morning to an intoxicating smoky aroma and sausages with a beautiful color. Thanks again for all you do on this forum, this is the hands down place to come for info on a wide variety of smoking topics.  I will try to post a money shot and an unbiased (haha) evaluation after tasting. 

[Saber 4]

Glad to hear you had success, sausage is my next step project and I look forward to your pictures and evaluation, unbiased of course :)

[Bagman]

 Well we were quite pleased with the finished product, however we agreed that it tasted more like bologna than SS.  Our conclusion was that for years we have taken our venison to a processor and had the SS made.  We figured that he uses venison and fat (beef or pork) which produces a fuller flavor than the 50/50 venison and pork butt that we made.  I would like to thank Pikeman for the suggestion of using the 3/16 plate, we did and liked the look and mouth feel.  I have pictures but am not smart enough to insert them.

[Tenpoint5]

That's the fun thing about sausage making. If your not happy with this batch you get to make another and tweak it to the way you like. I would suggest scaling back to 1 or 5 pound practice batches until you get it dialed in. Then go for the big 25 pound batch.

[cobra6223]

Hey Bagman... a four rack Bradley hold 30# of SS...10/3# rolls. It sounds like your a smart cookie so with the help of some friends like I found on here, turn your 4 rack into a 8 rack and put one high up in the cabinet and then I hang 5 rolls from 2 dowel rods. Once hanging I space them out and try to keep them from touching, then they get 3 hours of wonderful hickory smoke and into a water bath. Don't forget to rotate front to back or if you leave them in there for 3 hours the ones in the back may get burnt on the bottom by the element. Good Luck and hurry up with the money shot.

[rveal23]

Glad to hear you had success, sausage is my next step project and I look forward to your pictures and evaluation, unbiased of course :)

I'm in the same boat as Saber this is one of my next projects to jump into. Never have done it but seems like it will be fun!

[Tenpoint5]

Glad to hear you had success, sausage is my next step project and I look forward to your pictures and evaluation, unbiased of course :)

I'm in the same boat as Saber this is one of my next projects to jump into. Never have done it but seems like it will be fun!

Don't do it guys! That is a slippery slope that once you started onto it. Your going to the bottom! 

[ragweed]

Glad to hear you had success, sausage is my next step project and I look forward to your pictures and evaluation, unbiased of course :)

I'm in the same boat as Saber this is one of my next projects to jump into. Never have done it but seems like it will be fun!

Don't do it guys! That is a slippery slope that once you started onto it. Your going to the bottom!

Don't listen to Tenpoint5.  It's not THAT addicting.  I can stop whenever I want!  There's more to life that making sausage!  Oops!  Gotta go.  Time to rotate the snack sticks.

[tskeeter]

Glad to hear you had success, sausage is my next step project and I look forward to your pictures and evaluation, unbiased of course :)

I'm in the same boat as Saber this is one of my next projects to jump into. Never have done it but seems like it will be fun!

Don't do it guys! That is a slippery slope that once you started onto it. Your going to the bottom!

Don't listen to Tenpoint5.  It's not THAT addicting.  I can stop whenever I want!  There's more to life that making sausage!  Oops!  Gotta go.  Time to rotate the snack sticks.

And what a slippery slope it is, as rveal 23 says.  I'm Tskeeter, and I'm addicted to smoking.  For me, it started with a Mastercraft smoker.  Because I'm lazy, and wanted the advantages of a bisquette feeder, the smoker was soon replaced with a six rack Bradley.  Then I needed meat grinder and sausage stuffer attachments for the mixer.  After one use, these were upgraded to a real meat grinder and a 5# vertical stuffer.  Along the way I seemed to accumulate little things.  Like bubba pucks, smoke sticks, wireless thermometers, heating element modifications, PIDs, a duplicate set of racks, frog mats, a wider assortment of bisquettes, bisquette storage containers, cold smoker attachment, stainless stuffing tubes, sheet pans with drying racks, and the like.  Along with a fair collection of spare heating elements and puck burners, so my therapy, uh, smoking sessions wouldn't be interrupted by an equipment failure.   These were followed by HOA approval for a smoker house masquerading as a garden shed.  Which had to be equipped with a smoker stand, semi permanent wiring, flex arm light, and flip down tray shelf.  Last weekend my smoking accessories were augmented by a small freezer.  (So I could save money by buying meat when it is on sale.  And so I would have room to store the results of my mania.)

I keep telling SWMBO about how much we are saving by not going out for  ribs, not buying smoked cheese, not buying pulled pork, or expensive smoked salmon, or good sausage, or smoked nuts.

On the other hand, there is no way I'm fessing up to how much I've spent on my smoking rig.   

[Saber 4]

Glad to hear you had success, sausage is my next step project and I look forward to your pictures and evaluation, unbiased of course :)

I'm in the same boat as Saber this is one of my next projects to jump into. Never have done it but seems like it will be fun!

Don't do it guys! That is a slippery slope that once you started onto it. Your going to the bottom!

Don't listen to Tenpoint5.  It's not THAT addicting.  I can stop whenever I want!  There's more to life that making sausage!  Oops!  Gotta go.  Time to rotate the snack sticks.

And what a slippery slope it is, as rveal 23 says.  I'm Tskeeter, and I'm addicted to smoking.  For me, it started with a Mastercraft smoker.  Because I'm lazy, and wanted the advantages of a bisquette feeder, the smoker was soon replaced with a six rack Bradley.  Then I needed meat grinder and sausage stuffer attachments for the mixer.  After one use, these were upgraded to a real meat grinder and a 5# vertical stuffer.  Along the way I seemed to accumulate little things.  Like bubba pucks, smoke sticks, wireless thermometers, heating element modifications, PIDs, a duplicate set of racks, frog mats, a wider assortment of bisquettes, bisquette storage containers, cold smoker attachment, stainless stuffing tubes, sheet pans with drying racks, and the like.  Along with a fair collection of spare heating elements and puck burners, so my therapy, uh, smoking sessions wouldn't be interrupted by an equipment failure.   These were followed by HOA approval for a smoker house masquerading as a garden shed.  Which had to be equipped with a smoker stand, semi permanent wiring, flex arm light, and flip down tray shelf.  Last weekend my smoking accessories were augmented by a small freezer.  (So I could save money by buying meat when it is on sale.  And so I would have room to store the results of my mania.)

I keep telling SWMBO about how much we are saving by not going out for  ribs, not buying smoked cheese, not buying pulled pork, or expensive smoked salmon, or good sausage, or smoked nuts.

On the other hand, there is no way I'm fessing up to how much I've spent on my smoking rig.   

As far as addictions go this is a pretty tasty one to have and we don't have meetings we have Smokeouts, can't wait to be Iowa bound on Thursday morning. And no I don't want SWMBO to find out how much we've already spent and how much we'll end up spending, as long as she likes the results I should be ok....

[tskeeter]

Glad to hear you had success, sausage is my next step project and I look forward to your pictures and evaluation, unbiased of course :)

I'm in the same boat as Saber this is one of my next projects to jump into. Never have done it but seems like it will be fun!

Don't do it guys! That is a slippery slope that once you started onto it. Your going to the bottom!

Don't listen to Tenpoint5.  It's not THAT addicting.  I can stop whenever I want!  There's more to life that making sausage!  Oops!  Gotta go.  Time to rotate the snack sticks.

And what a slippery slope it is, as rveal 23 says.  I'm Tskeeter, and I'm addicted to smoking.  For me, it started with a Mastercraft smoker.  Because I'm lazy, and wanted the advantages of a bisquette feeder, the smoker was soon replaced with a six rack Bradley.  Then I needed meat grinder and sausage stuffer attachments for the mixer.  After one use, these were upgraded to a real meat grinder and a 5# vertical stuffer.  Along the way I seemed to accumulate little things.  Like bubba pucks, smoke sticks, wireless thermometers, heating element modifications, PIDs, a duplicate set of racks, frog mats, a wider assortment of bisquettes, bisquette storage containers, cold smoker attachment, stainless stuffing tubes, sheet pans with drying racks, and the like.  Along with a fair collection of spare heating elements and puck burners, so my therapy, uh, smoking sessions wouldn't be interrupted by an equipment failure.   These were followed by HOA approval for a smoker house masquerading as a garden shed.  Which had to be equipped with a smoker stand, semi permanent wiring, flex arm light, and flip down tray shelf.  Last weekend my smoking accessories were augmented by a small freezer.  (So I could save money by buying meat when it is on sale.  And so I would have room to store the results of my mania.)

I keep telling SWMBO about how much we are saving by not going out for  ribs, not buying smoked cheese, not buying pulled pork, or expensive smoked salmon, or good sausage, or smoked nuts.

On the other hand, there is no way I'm fessing up to how much I've spent on my smoking rig.   

As far as addictions go this is a pretty tasty one to have and we don't have meetings we have Smokeouts, can't wait to be Iowa bound on Thursday morning. And no I don't want SWMBO to find out how much we've already spent and how much we'll end up spending, as long as she likes the results I should be ok....

Do Smokeouts count as therapy?

Can I take a tax deduction for my Smokeout therapy expenses if I can get my Doctor to write a prescription?  (I'll have to check to see what tasty inducements might need to be exchanged for the prescription.)

[Tenpoint5]

Skeeter if you take off driving at a slow pace tomorrow you should be here for the smoke out on Saturday!

[tskeeter]

Skeeter if you take off driving at a slow pace tomorrow you should be here for the smoke out on Saturday!

I thought I was in need of therapy until I saw your post in MWSO IV, 10.5.  Man, what a bunch of goodies!  If I was to try what you've done, I'd need to add a refrigerator next to the freezer.

By the way, what time are you conducting the therapy session you are leading on Saturday?  I won't be able to make it.  (Darn boss thinks I ought to come to work once in a while!)  But, maybe I can join you in spirit, if the cosmic waves and smoke aroma are strong enough.

[Tenpoint5]

Starts friday evening with a meet greet and relax from driving in. Then Saturday betwee 2 and 3 eat between 4 and 5 lasts until I'm the last one on the deck. Sunday morning clean up and final goodbyes

[cobra6223]

you guys aren't even close to being addicted...I'm so bad I'm trying to figure out how to turn it into a business and make living at it, although that may take all the fun out of it. The smoke outs are awesome therapy.