Question about finishing in water bath

[CoreyMac]

Those of you who are finishing your sausage in a water bath, what water temp are you putting the sausage in at?  The last few times I did the water bath it worked great but I got a tiny bit of fat on the surface of the finished product. I just rinse it off when the casing comes off so no huge deal. There is still good fat content in the sausage. I had the water preheated to about 160F and put the sausage in . I'm wondering if that was too hot and shocked things a bit caused a slight fat out. Should a person be pre-heating the water to the IT of the sausage when you put it in from the smoker? Then ramp the water temp up when the sausage is in the bath? Up to this point I've only done 4" fibrous summer sausage and it went in the water with a 125f IT.

I am going to try using pork with less fat also to help this problem. The finished product tastes great but I want to try and keep all the fat in the meat. I'm new to the water bath concept and want to get this figured out.

Thanks
Corey

[renoman]

Since I got my Anova sous vide water circulator I no longer finish my sausage in the smoker. I usually smoke for 2-3 hours at 130-140 and then into the sous vide bath which is exactly 155 and I pull my links/rings/sticks when they reach 155 which I individually take the temps of with my Thermopen. No chance of them getting any hotter. No more guessing or fat outs and you can't leave them in too long by mistake. These instruments are VERY accurate and although somewhat pricey are just what I need to take the guesswork out of sausage making.

[bundy]

I also use the "Thermopen "  What is a Anova sous vide water circulator ?

[Enid]

I go with 160. Are you using a Nesco/roaster for your hot water bath? If you are, you need an accurate controller to monitor and hold temps, also these tend to get quite a bit hotter on the edge then in the center. It is best if you can recirculate the water to keep even temps.

[CoreyMac]

I go with 160. Are you using a Nesco/roaster for your hot water bath? If you are, you need an accurate controller to monitor and hold temps, also these tend to get quite a bit hotter on the edge then in the center. It is best if you can recirculate the water to keep even temps.

I have the Nesco and have checked my temps with various thermometers so I'm pretty confident about them. I recirculate the old fashioned way (wooden spoon on the end of my arm) ;D  Maybe its just that my pork has too much fat content from the beginning.

[carnie1]

I also use the "Thermopen "  What is a Anova sous vide water circulator ?

I researched it this morning http://anovaculinary.com/ Everything you wanna know, looks like it holds tight temp tolarences

[tskeeter]

Did some summer sausage in a water bath last night.  Didn't notice any fat out issues.  Used Costco boneless pork shoulder, so it was fairly well trimmed of heavy fat straight out of the package.  Nesco roaster 18 qt., half full of water, water preheated to 168F and stirred to even out temp, sausage temp at 100F when it went into the water bath.  Water temp dropped to about 164F - 165F with addition of sausage and pretty much stayed there.  Rolled sausage back and forth every 5 - 10 minutes to keep water stirred up.  Pulled sausage at IT of 152F - 155F and dropped in a ice water bath to bring temp down.

This was my first try at SS, so I'm anxious to give it a taste and see if I did Kirby's recipe justice.

[renoman]

I go with 160. Are you using a Nesco/roaster for your hot water bath? If you are, you need an accurate controller to monitor and hold temps, also these tend to get quite a bit hotter on the edge then in the center. It is best if you can recirculate the water to keep even temps.

I water bathed at 160 once and had A LOT of grease in the water when things were done. Now it is 155 no more no less and there is almost no grease on the top of the water.

[renoman]

I also use the "Thermopen "  What is a Anova sous vide water circulator ?

I researched it this morning http://anovaculinary.com/ Everything you wanna know, looks like it holds tight temp tolarences

That's the one. It is an exceptional piece of equipment made by the makers of medical equipment. I use it in my turkey deep fryer pot which holds long sticks and lots of links and rings.

[Enid]

I water bathed at 160 once and had A LOT of grease in the water when things were done. Now it is 155 no more no less and there is almost no grease on the top of the water.

I get just a slight film in the water but the sausage shows no sign of the fat coming out. I have had this happen at 165 water temp. The sausage has little holes missing where the fat was and the fat is stuck to the outside of the meat.

[renoman]

I water bathed at 160 once and had A LOT of grease in the water when things were done. Now it is 155 no more no less and there is almost no grease on the top of the water.

I get just a slight film in the water but the sausage shows no sign of the fat coming out. I have had this happen at 165 water temp. The sausage has little holes missing where the fat was and the fat is stuck to the outside of the meat.

Enid, I do a lot of pricking of the casings to let air out which may have left places for the fat to escape.

[CoreyMac]

I go with 160. Are you using a Nesco/roaster for your hot water bath? If you are, you need an accurate controller to monitor and hold temps, also these tend to get quite a bit hotter on the edge then in the center. It is best if you can recirculate the water to keep even temps.

I water bathed at 160 once and had A LOT of grease in the water when things were done. Now it is 155 no more no less and there is almost no grease on the top of the water.

I'll try the lower temp. See how that works.

Corey

[rajzer]

Usually you should have no problem with the water temp at 170.  The key is to watch the IT.

[Tenpoint5]

I keep my water temp around the 155 mark. If it get above 165 the fats start leaching out through the casings. Which causes a shean on the water and a light grease coating on the sausages when you extract them from the water. The trick to this whole thing is DO NOT dump the whole 5 pound batch in the water at the same time. It does the same thing to the water as it does in the Bradley. it drops the water temp drastically then the water has to reheat. the heating element will cause hot spots around the outside edge bringing those sausages up to and past the desired temp long before the ones in the middle do. I try to only put 1 or 2 rings of sausage in at a time (1-2 pounds) So as not to drop the water temp too far.

[CoreyMac]

Bit of an update. I tried another batch of summer sausage last Saturday but this time I went and got some lean pork shoulder and lean ground beef. Ground it all up and into casings. 8lbs worth. I put them the smoker real early because the last batch I did took almost 12 hrs. These ones were done in 6 hrs. :o Same PID settings as last time. I didn't even have to put them in the bath. There wasn't a drop of fat anywhere.

Good lesson learned for me, make sure your fat content is correct and your cook times are a lot less. Just never would have believed that a bit too much fat would have had such a huge effect on the finished product, boy was I wrong. :-[

Corey