Good weekend for smokin'

[renoman]

Temps here were around the freezing mark so I thought I would smoke some Kielbasa and try my first cheese smoke.

Kielbasa all stuffed and ready to go.


SMOKIN'


All done. Brought up to temp with my new sous vide cooker.


All wrapped up.


First try at cheese


Was able to keep the smoker at 70-75 with the help of a couple of pans of snow.


Got some nice colour to it.


All wrapped up and ready to age. Should be ready for Christmas.

[ragweed]

Very nice indeed, Renoman!  If you can stay away from the sausage, you should have some great snacking on Christmas day!

[Saber 4]

That is some good color on the cheese and I love the creative use of snow and your sausage looks mighty tasty.

[Habanero Smoker]

Everything looks good. I'm getting a different brand, and it suppose arrive around January 30th.

How well did your sous vide circulator work?

How large of a pan and amount of water was used for the sausage?

Did you start with cold water?

How long did it take the circulator to bring the water up to temperature?

[Griffen]

Do you just leave it in the fridge to age?

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[renoman]

Everything looks good. I'm getting a different brand, and it suppose arrive around January 30th.

How well did your sous vide circulator work?

How large of a pan and amount of water was used for the sausage?

Did you start with cold water?

How long did it take the circulator to bring the water up to temperature?

The sous vide circulator worked great. I broke the rules and just put the sausage in the water bath without vac sealing. I had a good look at my unit and could not see any part that would be in the water that I could not clean. All I had at this time was a very large pot and I had to fill it right to the top to get the sausage covered. I did start with hot water from my instant hot water dispenser so it was up to 152 in a few minutes. I did the sausage in 2 batches because the pot was too small for it all. They were up to temp in less than 1/2 an hour. On my first try with the circulator it brought 12 liters of 60 degree water up to 165 in 40 minutes. It is 1000 watts.

[Habanero Smoker]

That sounds very encouraging. I hope I can do the same with the brand I purchased. It would cut down a few steps of having to set up my temperature controller, and worry about the probe getting too deep into the water.

[dirt1008]

I'm thinking about buying the sous vide also, did you let the meat cool down between your smoke and your cook?

[UncleAl]

Renoman I like the idea of the white clips you use for suspending your sausage what are they and how do you secure them to the caseings

[renoman]

I'm thinking about buying the sous vide also, did you let the meat cool down between your smoke and your cook?

No straight into the sous vide bath. I set the temp to 155 so there is no way for a fat out.

[renoman]

Renoman I like the idea of the white clips you use for suspending your sausage what are they and how do you secure them to the caseings

They are just zip ties with a ring on the end to put a screw through to secure wires and such. Someone else on here uses them. I saw a pic and thought it was a good idea. Works real good. I can buy 100 of them for about 5 bucks at HD in the electrical dept.

[dirt1008]

About what temp was your sausages when you went from smoker to water? About how long would you guess 25lbs would take from 3 hrs smoke to get to 152 IT? Just a general idea really. I want to buy one, just don't know if it's worth it. Does it speed up the process that much?

[renoman]

About what temp was your sausages when you went from smoker to water? About how long would you guess 25lbs would take from 3 hrs smoke to get to 152 IT? Just a general idea really. I want to buy one, just don't know if it's worth it. Does it speed up the process that much?

They were about 130-135 and they came up to 152 in about 20 minutes as I recall but I did them in two batches because my pot was too small for the whole 15 lbs. Nice thing about the sous vide bath is that the temp is so exact you don't have to worry that they get to hot.

[dirt1008]

What kind of a container or pot are you using for your water bath? How long are your sausages? I usually make the 20" long sausages and am having a hard time finding a container to cook them in.

[renoman]

I use a large turkey roaster but I try and keep my sausages 12-14" because my 4 rack digital gets too hot at the lower back of the cabinet.