Sausage Steamed Not Smoked

[Obxjoe]

I made 20 lbs of pork sausage. Let them dry in the air for about an hour. I put them in my #3 at 130 degrees for and hour to dry with the jerky fan on. After an hr I removed the fan I raised the temp to 150 and put the cold plate in. When the IT got to 150 I opened the smoker but did not have the mahagony color I expected. The sausage looked like it had been steamed. I used the cold plate because the first time I did a sausage smoke I could not get the wood to smoke between 130 - 150 until I put the hot plate in. Should I start out with a higher temperature (170) to get the wood smoking and then drop it to 155. My recipe calls for no higher than 165 or the fat will run out of the sausage. Thanks in advance for any help.

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[DivotMaker]

Joe, I'm not a sausage maker, so I'm sure Brian or Gregg will chime in to help you more than I can!  But, seems to me that your process is backwards.  If it were me, I would smoke first, at low temp (like 140) for a couple of hours, then leave at 140 and add the jerky fan.  This is the way I do jerky.  It allows the smoke to penetrate the cold meat, then continue to dry.  For sausage, though, you may have to raise the temp to 160 during drying, which will also "cook" the sausage.  I'm sure I'll get corrected, but that's my 2¢!

[NDKoze]

Tony is right about you doing things backward.

You should apply the smoke with the jerky dryer off. After about two hours, put the dryer on for the rest of the smoke. There is just too much moisture in the box that needs to get out of there. I learned my lesson about steaming verses smoking the hard way too.

Also, since you are using the cold smoke plate, I would think you could set the temp higher and not overheat the area above the cold plate. That is the whole point of the cold plate.

I would go with something like this:

1. Add cold sausage to cold smoker with the cold smoke plate inserted and pre-loaded with about 3-4 ounces of wood chips (go on the lower side if you do not like as smoky). Chips are preferable for lower temp smokes like sausage or jerky because they will start smoking at a lower temperature.

2. After 45 minutes bump the temp to 175-200. I don't have a cold smoke plate. But if you can't keep the cooking chamber under 165 with the dial set to 200 degrees, what's the point of using the cold smoke plate?

3. After 75 more minutes (2 hours combined) add the jerky dryer and go until your meat hits your desired internal temp.

Another option is to use an A-MAZE-N tube smoker and forget about using the smoker element. I have used my A-MAZE-N smoker and the temps stayed around 90 degrees depending on what the ambient temps are. You could still use your smoker element set at 125 or so which will help with some airflow that will help the A-MAZE-N smoker stay lit in the generally oxygen starved environment of the Smokin-It smokers.

[Pork Belly]

200 is my go to temp for hot smoke. I have never had a problem with melting fat IF I monitor the Internal temp of the sausage and keep that below 155, with 150 m]being MY ideal finished IT.

Immediately shock the finished sausage in an ice water bath until cool to the touch, this sets the fat and keeps the case from slipping and wrinkling.

[Obxjoe]

Thanks for all of the input. I have read thru all and picked and modified ideas. I have since done 2 smokes and both batches came out great.

[GaryH]

Let me see if I understand this process correctly. Put cold sausage in cold smoker. I would use saw dust because the smoker would be set at 130 to apply smoke to the sausage. Smoke at 130 degrees for 2 hrs.
Turn on dryer and increase smoker temperature to 170-180 and cook until IT of sausage reaches 155 degrees and remove from the smoker. I do not have a cold smoke plate. Please advise if this will yield a mahogany colored sausage with the casing adhered to the forcemeat and have a nice snap to it. Just like I am use to in my wooden smoker.

[NDKoze]

Are you talking about snack sticks or ring sausage? For ring sausage I only smoke for 2-3 hours at 180 degrees, and then package and freeze. This type of sausage will be reheated to 155 before eating. Snack stix, I take to 155-160 degrees.

I'm not sure about using the sawdust. I haven't really heard of anyone using sawdust unless you are using an A-MAZE-N Smoker. I suppose you could put it in a foil boat.

I use chips or chunks and smoke at 200 for the entire smoke, adding the jerky dryer after two hours. Even at this temp it takes me 8-10 hours to smoke a 25-28 pound batch of snack stix. I tried a step up method going from 150 to 175 to 200 in the past, but it took forever to smoke and did not yield any better results than the straight 200 degree smoke.

Make sure you give the snack stix an ice bath after pulling them from the smoker or the skins will not stick to the meat and will eventually peal off.

[GaryH]

I smoke Andouille in 12" sticks looped over dowel rods to about 155-160. Takes about 6-7 hrs. I cool the sticks in ice water as well. Guess I'll get the sausage hanging stuff when I order the dryer. Do you use the dryer for the entire smoke? Usually make at least 15lbs per run and everyone is pleased with the taste from my wooden rig so I don't want to produce a subpar product with my first try in the #3. Appreciate your input.
Thanks,
GaryH

[NDKoze]

I would skip the sausage hanging stuff and just cut them to fit and lay them horizontally. That is just my opinion as I think you'll get a more even cook by doing it this way and then rotating your trays periodically top to bottom and front to back. My smoker has a hot spot in the back, so rotation is a must. You can see a couple of pieces in the packaging picture below that got kinda burnt because I didn't do a good enough job of rotating. But out of 50 pounds (2 batches), I think we only had 3-4 sticks that weren't edible.

Between my Dad, Brother, and Brother-in-Law, we smoke about 250lbs of snack stix a year depending on how many deer we get.

We cut our links in 40" sticks and hang them on my "Sausage Rack 1000" which is just a hanging rack that I came up with. We let them rest overnight and then just lay them horizontally on the racks. I have never bothered trying to hang because the 25-28 pound batches that we do would not fit if I hung them. I can just barely get 25lbs in on 6 racks. So, my smoker is maxed out. I think the #3 is just not quite tall enough for hanging. The #4 on the other hand is a different story.

Other than the first two hours, yeah you will need to use the dyer for the entire smoke. You will be amazed at how much steam needs to be pulled out of the smoker.

[GaryH]

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