Looking for sausage advice

[SierraBBQGuy]

I’ve made sausage quite a bit, always the fresh variety that I cook right away or freeze. I’ve never ventured into the cured/smoked variety. I made some hot links yesterday, used .25% Instacure in the mix. I have a MAK pellet smoker, where the warming tray will maintain 150° with the main chamber at 250°.

I’m a bit nervous about this, but how long can/should I leave them in at 150? Or since I used the nitrates, doesn’t really matter? I plan to fully cook once done smoking.

[58limited]

Most youtube vids I watch, and the charcuterie books I have, recommend smoking at low temps for 3-4 hours, sometimes more (cured sausages only). Then they kick the heat to 180-200 degrees until the sausage is 150 degrees internal temp, dunk in cold water, then let air dry to bloom. To reheat they set the smoker/grill to 285 degrees until the sausage hits 150 - 160 degrees again.

I really like the 2 Guys and a Cooler youtube channel for sausage making info and recipes.

[58limited]

Backroadmeats Yeah, he does a great job explaining and demonstrating everything, better than most books or other youtube channels. I played around with sausage for almost 3 years learning from books and youtube but I learned more from 2 Guys and a Cooler over a weekend of binge watching than from all of the other sources.

[58limited]

I'm thinking of getting the cold smoke generator he uses - I need to sit down and see if I can modify my KBQ for it - I don't think it will be too hard.

[Backroadmeats]

I would to me you to bring the meat temp up really slow or you lose to much in rendered fat and shrinkage.. my smoker never goes above 173 for sausage I also understand that temp control is not an option for alot of people

[Jerod Broussard]

We never messed around with the 150's. We just run at 200-ish and man that stuff is goooood!!

[Jerod Broussard]

texastweeter We air dry and don't bloom as much. One thing about smoking sausage, when they start sweatin' out that water they are UGLY!

[Backroadmeats]

Really??? Not trying to bash anyone by any means . I have learned a ton from this site. Doesn't cold wet meat take a better smoke?? I make a fair amount of sausage and I will spray my sausage with water if it sets in the cooler overnight to get the casings wet again. I run 140 for two hours with heavy smoke!!. 1 hour at 160 and 173 til an internal temp of 160(meat inspector says so). At 200 degrees doesn't the sausage get wrinkly on the outside??

[Jerod Broussard]

Backroadmeats we add water to our mix and along with the 75% water already in the muscle fibers, that stuff sweats something fierce during a significant portion of the cook enough for smoke to adhere. Only time we get wrinkles is if we don't spray down with water to halt cooking at removal. And lately we haven't bothered since the wrinkling is minimal.

[SierraBBQGuy]

Most youtube vids I watch, and the charcuterie books I have, recommend smoking at low temps for 3-4 hours, sometimes more (cured sausages only). Then they kick the heat to 180-200 degrees until the sausage is 150 degrees internal temp, dunk in cold water, then let air dry to bloom. To reheat they set the smoker/grill to 285 degrees until the sausage hits 150 - 160 degrees again.

I really like the 2 Guys and a Cooler youtube channel for sausage making info and recipes.

I’ll,check that out thanks! That is pretty much my plan, a few hrs of smoke then kick up the heat until the IT is 150°.

[barelfly]

If you venture into charcuterie and curing, I’ve followed MIchael Ruhlman’s recipes and they are excellent! I’ve posted on here a few times on the charcuterie I’ve done as well as pancetta. This is the book i have and really enjoy the various recipes I’ve done:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393240053?ie=UTF8&redirectFromSmile=1&viewID=

I’ve also done sausage, but I can’t recall the the exact process. But I did smoke the jalapeño beef sausage to a temp, which was probably 1-2 hours at the most then dunked in water and air dried to bloom.

[TripleB]

As stated above, I take the sausage to 152 d and then dump into ice bath. The reason I was told to take it up to 152 and then an ice bath is because you don't want the sausage to keep going up in temp or the fat will render out at around 165 d. 152 d then dump....FWIW.

[Smoke n Beers]

I started making wet cured sausage for about a decade. Andouille, Linguica, Swojska (authentic Polish kielbasa). I cook at 225 to bring it to 152 internal min-155 Ok. I will note that I originally cooked to 150 and that may be fine now, but there were some concerns at one point. I erred on the side of safety. The purpose of the ice bath essentially to prevent shriveraling, although TripleB gave a more technical explanation

You might find the link below to of some help

https://honest-food.net/

The hosts name is Hank Shaw. Very interesting character but there is a section on this site dedicated to the details of making sausage. Hope this helps.

[texastweeter]

Hank is awesome.

[johnec00]

The book "Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages" by the Marianskis is a good starting point. Their web site is also informative and filled with recipes.

A source for recipes for various types of sausage video tutorial style is Two Guys and a Cooler:

https://www.youtube.com/@2guysandacooler

[Smoke n Beers]

Very interesting site. Thanks for the link!

[Jerod Broussard]

That's my go to book. Granted blood sausage has yet to make it to my smoker.

[johnec00]

Jerod Broussard That makes 2 of us.

[SierraBBQGuy]

Thank you for the recommendation to Two Men and a Cooler. I’ve binged his videos over the past few weeks! This guy knows his stuff. I have yet though, to see the other man or the cooler, lol