Venison Summer Sausage

[Joe Rinaldi]

I did 20 lbs of Jalepeno with Hot Pepper cheese Summer Sausage yesterday. Turned out great.  Here was my programming, 140 2 hrs. 155 3.5 hrs. 175 to IT 155. I was hoping for more smoke production at the 155 set point. I'll have to work on that. I used the jerky dryer after the first 2 hours. Total time was around 17 hours. When IT reached 150 they went into the ice bath for 40 minutes then placed in the fridge overnight. I just Vacuum sealed and in the freezer they went. Plenty of snacking this summer! 

 

[DivotMaker]

Wow, Joe!  That summer sausage looks incredible!  I'll be more than happy to send you my address, if you have more than you can handle!

 

[NDKoze]

That looks awesome Joe!

Did you use chips or chunks? At lower temps, you will get a lot better smoke production out of chips or chunks that have been cut down to slivers, or even pellets. The chunks are hard to keep smoldering at lower temps.

Also, if you haven't found the hot spot on your element, a quick test with an empty smoker and your smoke box filled from front to back will show you which part of your smoker runs the hottest.

Your sticks look really good and evenly cooked. I am kind of surprised that the bottoms didn't get a little too much heat with them being so close to the heating element. If it were me, I think I would try to rig the top strings to pull the sticks up closer to the top of the smoker and further away from the element. But, if your sticks cooked as evenly as they look, this may not even be necessary.

I could sent you my mailing address too.

 

[Pork Belly]

Because of the non-edible casing and use of the fan you can get away with having a lot of smoke. I like chips for the low temp long smokes.

Sausage looks good, nice job. 

 

[Joe Rinaldi]

Thanks for the feedback.  I have chips and didn't even think to use them.  Do you guys place them in foil or lay them directly on the bottom of the wood box?  As far as the bottoms cooking hotter, they didn't at all.  Even temps throughout.  I will raise them up next go round for sure though. Other than the low smoke I couldn't ask for a better cook.  Thanks to you guys I think I've got that resolved for the next run. 

 

[NDKoze]

I use a chip tray when I use chips. If you don't have the chip tray, yes I would use foil. You don't necessarily have to wrap them in foil, but just make kind of a foil boat for them to sit in. I have heard that the #4 elements are pretty powerful, so putting the chips directly in the smoke box may cause too much combustion.

I have done tests with a full smoke box, so I know where my hot spots are at. So, I strategically place chips in both my hot spot as well as the spots that are not quite as hot. Brian (AKA Pork Belly) also soaks some of his chips which aids in a delayed smoke starting point because the chips don't really start smoking until they dry out.

So, using this or a combination of these things should help you extend your smoke on the next round.

 

[Pork Belly]

I use a chip tray and nothing else, I also use way more chips than would seem reasonable, at least a couple of handfuls. I do the same for jerky.

 

[Joe Rinaldi]

Does the chip tray go in the wood box or do you place it on a rack? 

 

[Pork Belly]

It goes in the fire box to block the big holes. The chips go on  top of the chip screen.