I'm new to making summer sausage. The first batch I did turned out great and I thought I had it down. Everything from the dryness level to my heavier smoke flavor I was really happy with. The next batch when I cut the sausage the fibrous casing stuck to the pieces of sausage I cut and when I pulled the casing away from the cut piece it would pull my piece of sausage apart. Also I ran the smoke pretty heavy on both batches (I'm experienced with smoking pork and chicken in my WSM ). The first batch took the smoke real nice my second bad batch did not take the smoke worth a darn. BLAND.
The differences of note that I am aware of (with a probable fact I did something wrong that I wasn't aware of) were on the first batch I only put 5 one pound sticks in the smoker. On the second batch I ran 10 one pound sticks. The smoker I'm using for this summer sausage is Smokin It model #1 electric. Pretty small smoker comes with two 12 by 13 inch racks.
The other thing that was different was I used clear fibrous casings on the first batch and mahogoney fibrous on the 2nd. Not sure that makes a difference. Yes I soaked them in water both times.
Just want to get some thoughts from the experienced summer sausage crowd before I make up my next batch. Could either of my 2 differences be a facter on my bland smoke taste and my cases sticking?
The differences of note that I am aware of (with a probable fact I did something wrong that I wasn't aware of) were on the first batch I only put 5 one pound sticks in the smoker. On the second batch I ran 10 one pound sticks. The smoker I'm using for this summer sausage is Smokin It model #1 electric. Pretty small smoker comes with two 12 by 13 inch racks.
The other thing that was different was I used clear fibrous casings on the first batch and mahogoney fibrous on the 2nd. Not sure that makes a difference. Yes I soaked them in water both times.
Just want to get some thoughts from the experienced summer sausage crowd before I make up my next batch. Could either of my 2 differences be a facter on my bland smoke taste and my cases sticking?