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Summer sausage time and temp?

WildWill

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 10, 2016
Messages
3,229
Location
SE Oklahoma
I've had a terrible time trying to make summer sausage this year. My first batch I forgot on the smoker WAY to long. My second batch didn't do much better. My first mistake was I used beef fat instead of pork shoulder which I normally grind with my game meat for sausage making and added far to much of it it definitely wasn't a lean mix. I managed to also overcook that batch but not half as bad not sure if my problem was cooking at to high a heat or to long maybe both. The sausages came out with a 1/4 to 1/2 inch layer around the outside that was tough to chew the inside of the sausage was cooked ok with good flavor just more fat then I prefer. These where all 3lb sausages cooked on a Yoder pellet smoker set at 180 not exactly sure on how long I cooked them. What temp do you guy's set your smokers at for summer sausage? How long do you cook them? Is there a internal temp your looking to reach? Also this is my first year using the pellet smoker I've always had the smokers that look like mini fridges with the water pan and wood chips could that affect anything? Any and all help appreciated I've gotta stop messing up good game meat.
 
I use an electric insulated smoker as most of my summer sausage cooking is done in the winter after the season and it helps me keep temps regulated. I usually set my sausages out for a good 4 hours or more before putting them in the smoker. Then when they go in the smoker I go 140 for an hour with no smoke. You don't want to smoke ice cold sausages. After the first hour I bump to 160-170 then add smoke. With my smoker a little smoke goes a long way I have found. I then go an hour at that temp then go to 180-190 for an hour. During these couple hours I may use 3 pans of wood chips maybe 4 but usually thats plenty of smoke. Then I go 190-200 but never over 200 and usually like to keep it closer to 190-195. I then cook at that temp until I get a 156 reading in the summer sausage logs. If I have them laying flat on the racks I have a corded temp probe in a sausage on each rack as the cooking temps will vary at each level. Lately I have been hanging them from the top rack and I will monitor 3 different logs with a temp probe. I also dont trust the temp gauge on my smoker so I also monitor the internal temp of the smoker with another corded probe thermometer. The reason I don't do the final cook at any higher temp is you risk boiling out the fat and or cheese if your not using the special high temp cheese, i just use regular block cheddar cut into little cubes. Once I hit 156 final cooking temp, I have a cooler set up with ice water and they go for a dunk in the cooler until I am convinced they are no longer cooking . From there I then usually hang them for a few hours to "bloom" and cool down before I cut them down to sizes I want to vacuum seal. I am by no means a know it all on the process but I have got where I am at after screwing up many batches over the years. How long is the cooking time you may ask? As I say with anything that goes in a smoker, "its done when its done", monitor temps closely and it will be done when you hit 156. Last batch about 30 pounds worth took between 24-30 hours once they went in the smoker.
 
I think I'd back off the temps...my process takes a bit longer and requires attention because my smoker is too small. 2hrs at 140 (no smoke), turn smoker to 170 (add smoke chips) and let internal meat temp get to 155...shock in ice water bath until temp is down to 100 or below...air dry for at least 1 hour or so. EDIT: since my smoker is too small, I rotate the logs around to reduce chances of overcooking

I've also done an overnight smoke instructions are in the Cabelas Smokehouse Recipe and I forget the exact details.
 
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Last time I did it at 180 on the Yoder. I added smoke with a smoke tube.

I never really pay attention to time. I always stick a probe in and pull it off right at 165. Then dump it into a ice bath.
 
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