venison summer sausage

[lars]

has anyone smoked venison summer sausage with the bradley smoker? time ?temp? amount of smoke?

[Tenpoint5]

Here is a recipe for Summer Sausage that is on the recipe site. While there take a look a round. To make Venison I would use a 2/1 ratio of venison to beef.

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?t=106&highlight=summer+sausage

[Patience]

I do several batches a year of venison sausage.  Whether its hours old fresh, or a year in a vaccum pack storage, they yield same good results.  Add 1lb pork shoulder to every 9 lbs venison, but it doesn't have to be exact to the ounce.  The summer sausage blend from Butcher and Packer with some of their high temp cheese is my all time for sure recipe and will rarely change this combo.  I like the 2½ inch casings, but the 1-1½ "peperoni" style casing is also a hit, its perfect for crackers so they say.

One thing I have learned is to control the amount you load.  I will do up to 9 two pound sticks (or 9 one pound sticks if you are sampling new recipes/spices).  Anymore than this and you're pushing the limits of space and load, IMO, and in the winter months you want the Bradley to work and not struggle.  Start at 120 for 1 hour to dry the casings and ramp up to 145 over another hour to get the meat at about 90 degree before smoke.  Turn smoke on for 4 hours of whatever you would like and ramp heat to 160-170 during that 4 hour time, and this will be the final holding temperature.  Best results are if you flip/rotate the sticks atleast once during smoke and again during hold times.  You will notice your sausage will seem to hold onto 145ish degree for a LONG time, and even drop a degree or two.  Its ok, keep the heat to them in the 160-170 range and after 10-12 hours you can pull them at 150 meat temp and leave them at room temp for a couple three hours or so, then fridge.

I personally do not soak/spray with ice water when finished.  As long as you stuffed them tight with no air they will not shrink as bad as some say.  
Good luck!

[drano]

lars
I use 10 lb of venison and 3.85 lb of pork butt or blade steak, and mix it with 1/2 batch of Frisco Summer Sausage mix (package is for 25 lb, so I have it diluted just a bit).  Frisco is on the south edge of Omaha NE.
http://www.friscospices.com/sausageseasoningmixes.asp
This makes 5 sticks that are not quite full, but lay on the rack side to side.  I smoke for 3 hours. 

Here's my latest batch.  3 sticks w/ 2 on the top shelf, one on the next one down.  (I did the other 2 sticks the next day)

Time   meat   smoker   notes
0430         sausage set on counter to warm up
0630      160   sausage on smoker, start smoke
0930      170   ½ turn in place, stop smoke
1230      175
1330   148   170   bottom to top back, ½ turn.  Some fat liquefied, running out
1430   155   170   Done

I've seen several web pages warn not to liquefy the fat (you will see a lot of liquid in the casings if you do) and I've made that mistake in the past.  Prevent it by keeping the smoker temp 170 or below.  Push to 175 only if you are impatient/running out of time. 

Members here are lots of help, as shown by the above posts.  The book Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing by Rytek Kutas is an outstanding resource also. 

Good luck.
drano

[Mr Walleye]

I've seen several web pages warn not to liquefy the fat (you will see a lot of liquid in the casings if you do) and I've made that mistake in the past.  Prevent it by keeping the smoker temp 170 or below.  Push to 175 only if you are impatient/running out of time.

I couldn't agree more with you Drano! I can get away with a smoker temp of 170 degrees but if I push it above that point it will usually render some fat out of the sausage which is not what you want. It's just better to be patient.

Mike

[Smoking Duck]

I've seen several web pages warn not to liquefy the fat (you will see a lot of liquid in the casings if you do) and I've made that mistake in the past.  Prevent it by keeping the smoker temp 170 or below.  Push to 175 only if you are impatient/running out of time.

I couldn't agree more with you Drano! I can get away with a smoker temp of 170 degrees but if I push it above that point it will usually render some fat out of the sausage which is not what you want. It's just better to be patient.

Mike

I think that has been the hardest part for me in my years of smoking.....Patience (in everything smoked) is truly a virtue.

SD

[lars]

Thank you all so much Im going to give it a try