Tower Temp. Good - Food Temp low???

[Lazic]

Hi Folks.....I'm new to the forum and would like to say hello to all.....

I have a 6 shelf Bradley and I do have some experience with curing and smoking. This smoker has me stumped and I hope some or one of you can help me. I was making some Krainerwurst sausages and seem to have done everything fine until I started smoking them. I slowly increased the temperature from a preheated 135 to 165 degrees waiting for the magic 152 internal sausage temperature. It never arrived. I have a dual probe remote thermometer (a good and accurate one) and was monitoring the tower temp. and the sausage temp. No matter what I did I could only get 132 internal temp. after 10hours by which time the sausages were dry and dead - mostly sawdust tasting. All the fat was out of them because I increased the temperature to 190. Again the tower temp. was ok but not the food.....I'm stumped and hope someone has run across this and has an answer...thx. a bunch in advance,

[Johnny]

Hey Lazic,
Welcome to the forum. Question.. what is the temp outside the smoker? If your not using some type of temp controller you most likely will have crazy temp swings. I can tell you one thing 190 degrees is most likely where you got your fat out . There usually will be a stall out somewhere around the 132 degree mark but thats normal. Another question is how much did you have in the smoker? I use a 4 rack and never exceed 8 lbs .. more than that the results never are as successful.

[Lazic]

Thx. Johnny....It was about 40 degrees F. I monitored the tower temp. very closely and did not see any appreciable temp. fluctuations. I did have the sausages dry and about 70 degrees when I put them in the smoker. However, I may have screwed up by putting in about 15lbs. of sausage in there. But then again, the tower temp was really good it's just the sausages wouldn't climb at all...

[Johnny]

I would say thats your problem, my advice would be to split your 15 lb batch into 2 smokes next time and you will find things move along more quickly ;)

[Johnny]

There maybe others on here with experience making this type of sausage but im thinking you can finish these in a hot water bath of 170 degrees . I have finished alot of 35 mm smoked sausage in hot water baths and results are amazing!!
Cheers,
Johnny

[Lazic]

I finished my second batch in a water bath but embarrassingly the first one was a bust and good for the dog but not for human consumption....lol... In any case thank-you much for your time and wisdom....

[Johnny]

Hey no problem! That's what we are here for, to help one another :)

[Edward176]

Welcome to the Forum Lazic. Sorry to hear you are having difficulties with your temperature. I just smoked some sausages before Christmas and the temperature outside was an issue for me too. I smoked in my Bradley for around 2 1/2 hours at around 140'F. Removed the sausages and placed on cookie sheets in a preheated oven at 200'F with my meat thermometer probes in a couple of sausages. Once they reached an IT (Internal Temperature) of 155'F I removed from oven and into ice cold water bath. After 10-15 minutes removed from water bath and hung in the basement to bloom. I find using the oven the simplest and quickest way of cooking/smoking my sausages.
Also, as mentioned by Johnny I have done the same, instead of cooking in the oven I did the Hot Water Bath, a very good method. Just keep the water from boiling and try to maintain an even 80'C (176'F) without going over the 80'C/176'F temperature..

[Lazic]

Thanks Edward176. For the water bath I use the NUWAVE PIC induction unit. I use a large heavy bottomed stainless steel stock pot on it filled about 1/2 to 2/3 with water. I set the unit to the temperature I want (165 as directed by most sausage masters to prevent fat melt). I place the sausages in the pot with one of them containing a meat thermometer probe. When they come up to temp, I remove them to an ice-water bath. Then I hang them to bloom. I never tried using the oven because we have a gas stove and temperature fluctuations can be high but maybe worth a try with a small batch. Thanks again for your post. Any bit of shared information is great.

[Lazic]

I wait until the sausage internal temp. drops to 90 degrees or less before pulling them out of the ice bath.