Big day of smoking! Made 25 lbs of summer sausage and 12 lbs of snack sticks for Christmas presents. This was my first attempt at summer sausage. I decided to start with the Summer Sausage kit from Cabelas. Unfortunately, my husband was skunked during deer hunting, so no venison sausage this year. I went to Sam's club and bought 90/10 hamburger and 10lbs pork. I did 15 lbs burger and 10lbs pork for the sausage.
Lots and lots of meat...
My husband even volunteered to help with the stuffing.
All stuffed and ready for the smoker. We really filled the rolls full. The 25 lbs was supposed to fill 10 tubes and we only got to 8 1/2. I found that they were a little long for my MES 30. Next time I will make the tubes about 3-4 inches shorter.
Put into the smoker with the AMNPS overnight at 100 degrees. Started at 7:30 bumping the temp 10 degrees each 1/2 hour.
Sorry, I didn't get a picture of them loaded into the smoker. After only 5 hours they had hit 156 and I pulled them. Some of the sausage was hotter at the bottom. Again, I blame this on being too long and close to the heating element. Then into a cold bath till temp was below 110 degrees.
And out to dry for 4 hours. You can see the ends that were too close to the heating element and the fat rendered out. Luckily only a few short sections had an adverse effect because of it. Next time I will make sure to make them shorter.
Of course a BearView.
And all packed up for gifts. Managed to get 27 packages ready for presents.
I have impressed myself with my first attempt at summer sausage. My husband said that he even likes it better than the stuff the butcher made with his venison last year. I was surprised with how much it made. I probably could have made 1/2 as much and still had more than enough for snacks and gifts. But, that shouldn't be a present as there currently is no sausage in the freezer. While the sausage was smoking I started on the snack sticks. Managed to get all 12 lbs into the smoker and I'm just waiting for them to hit temp. Unfortunatly broke the plastic gears on my Kitchenair 5 lb sausage stuffer about 3/4 of the way through. Northern Tool says that they will exchange it because it is only a little over 1 month old. Any tips on where I can order metal gears as I assume this is going to happen again. Thanks for letting me share. Any tips would be appreciated.
Lots and lots of meat...
My husband even volunteered to help with the stuffing.
All stuffed and ready for the smoker. We really filled the rolls full. The 25 lbs was supposed to fill 10 tubes and we only got to 8 1/2. I found that they were a little long for my MES 30. Next time I will make the tubes about 3-4 inches shorter.
Put into the smoker with the AMNPS overnight at 100 degrees. Started at 7:30 bumping the temp 10 degrees each 1/2 hour.
Sorry, I didn't get a picture of them loaded into the smoker. After only 5 hours they had hit 156 and I pulled them. Some of the sausage was hotter at the bottom. Again, I blame this on being too long and close to the heating element. Then into a cold bath till temp was below 110 degrees.
And out to dry for 4 hours. You can see the ends that were too close to the heating element and the fat rendered out. Luckily only a few short sections had an adverse effect because of it. Next time I will make sure to make them shorter.
Of course a BearView.
And all packed up for gifts. Managed to get 27 packages ready for presents.
I have impressed myself with my first attempt at summer sausage. My husband said that he even likes it better than the stuff the butcher made with his venison last year. I was surprised with how much it made. I probably could have made 1/2 as much and still had more than enough for snacks and gifts. But, that shouldn't be a present as there currently is no sausage in the freezer. While the sausage was smoking I started on the snack sticks. Managed to get all 12 lbs into the smoker and I'm just waiting for them to hit temp. Unfortunatly broke the plastic gears on my Kitchenair 5 lb sausage stuffer about 3/4 of the way through. Northern Tool says that they will exchange it because it is only a little over 1 month old. Any tips on where I can order metal gears as I assume this is going to happen again. Thanks for letting me share. Any tips would be appreciated.
