Greetings and Salutations

[BCK1968]

Hello, one and all, from Saskatchewan, Canada

To make a long story short, I brought home my first smoker yesterday- a six-rack digital.

No doubt I'll be spending more time reading here than posting.  I don't know that I have much to contribute yet.

I was inspired to make the purchase for a few reasons.  I've been hunting for several years and, up to this point, always had the butcher make my sausage.  But I've been wanting to get in to doing it, and jerky, on my own.  And not just venison.

One of the local outdoors outfitters had them on sale, so I took the plunge.

I haven't done anything in it, yet.  Hopefully that will happen later today.  I have 25 lbs of sausage mix marinating in the fridge, along with 5 lbs of jerky, currently in it's gooey phase.

I've been running the oven portion in my kitchen and briefly tested the smoker. Very briefly.  Worry not.  I work in respiratory care so I'm intimately familiar with CO poisoning, and you could probably do surgery in my working area. 

The only concern I have so far is that the temperature seems a little unstable.  It seems to settle out after about half an hour or so of running.  Should I not be able to set the thermostat and have it stay put?  How much variance should I expect?

I'm looking forward to learning all I can here and, one day, being able to contribute something constructive.

[beefmann]

Welcome Aboard,

Congrats on your  smoker you will like it,,, first things first,,,  KEEP THE TOP VENT WIDE OPEN, this allows moisture to escape and allow air  flow which is important

if you have not  done it  yet,,, season your  smoker for at least an  hour

Any  time you  use your  smoker,, the variances in temps you are  seeing is very normal,,, it  takes 30 to 40 minutes to warm up,  Also on that  note on a larger load of  meat 7 lbs or more you  will notice that the box temp will drop significantly and take a long time to recover ,,, if at all,,, this is normal... do not let it get to you.

also outside weather conditions also  will affect the  smoker such as  winds, snow,, cold weather,, rain,,, so  if you  can  put it in some king of  enclosure it  will help.

sounds like your  well on your  way with  sausage and   jerky ,,, there are many here that  make there own sausage and jerky,,,

do a lot of  reading here  ,, there is a  lot of good information

[Jim O]

Welcome ! I don't do sausage or jerky,but from what I read, stable temps are important, I think most "sausage makers" use a PDI to help stabilize the temps somewhat. I may be wrong,but if I am, someone more knowledgeable will correct me. Good luck.

[tskeeter]

Jim is correct that many sausage makers use a PID to control the temperature of their smoker.  But, Even though I use a PID, I question whether such an investment is necessary.

The sausage smoking technique that I have adopted is apply smoke, then use a hot water bath to bring the sausage to a finished temp of 152 to 155 degrees, use an ice water bath to bring the sausage internal temp back below 100 degrees, and then bloom the sausage for an hour or so before refrigerating.  Since the smoking is done at a much lower temp than the finish cooking, I don't think the normal temperature variation of a Bradley would cause the sausage to overheat and the fat to melt out of the sausage during he smoking portion of the process.

Why have I adopted the hot water bath process?  Mostly because it is faster than finish cooking the sausage in the smoker (liquids transfer heat much more efficiently than air).  I also think that it is easier to control the temperature of a large volume of liquid (I use an18 quart turkey roaster) than it is to control the temp when a heating element is either full on, or off, to heat air.

[Orion]

Jim is correct that many sausage makers use a PID to control the temperature of their smoker.  But, Even though I use a PID, I question whether such an investment is necessary.

The sausage smoking technique that I have adopted is apply smoke, then use a hot water bath to bring the sausage to a finished temp of 152 to 155 degrees, use an ice water bath to bring the sausage internal temp back below 100 degrees, and then bloom the sausage for an hour or so before refrigerating.  Since the smoking is done at a much lower temp than the finish cooking, I don't think the normal temperature variation of a Bradley would cause the sausage to overheat and the fat to melt out of the sausage during he smoking portion of the process.

Why have I adopted the hot water bath process?  Mostly because it is faster than finish cooking the sausage in the smoker (liquids transfer heat much more efficiently than air).  I also think that it is easier to control the temperature of a large volume of liquid (I use an18 quart turkey roaster) than it is to control the temp when a heating element is either full on, or off, to heat air.

This information is bang on. A good instant reading thermometer for the internal temperature of the sausage and a floating immersable type for the water bath is all you really need to make most sausage products. Water bath to finish saves time and energy.

[BCK1968]

Thanks, one and all.  I'll have to look in to getting one of those aftermarket controllers.

Right now I have it outside with some venison smokies in it and, wouldn't you know it, it's tracking really rather well.  And it's 16 deg. F, at the moment.  I guess the cold is keeping it from overshooting.  Plus, I've got it surrounded by some cardboard to keep the wind off of it, not to mention my neighbours' eyeballs.

[Habanero Smoker]

Looks like you are on your way to having some great sausages.

I have an Original Bradley, and prior to getting my temperature controller I was able to smoke some great sausages in the Bradley from start to finish. It takes more babysitting the smoker, and more frequent rotation of the sausages, but it can be done. Using the cold smoke setup also helps keep those temperatures fairly well within range of your set temperatures.