40# Deer Kielbasa - Finally

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pugsbrew

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Dec 11, 2015
227
37
SE Ohio
Just getting ready to come out of the smoker.  Recipe right out of Rytek's book, except 60% deer and 40% pork, rough guess.  Question at the end.


Got it ready to package.


Money shot.  We made plain, cheddar, and hot-n-spicy.


Of course, pickled some with plenty of heat!  Let sit for 10-14 days, in frig of course.


So, we really like the flavor, and they are not dried out.  The only negative I have is I think the casings are a little tough.  My buddy disagrees, but....

So, during the smoke, I could not get the temp of the smoker to rise where I wanted it.  I don't know if the heating element was petering out or the new PID just wasn't working correctly.  Now, I did a test run before smoke day, and everything went as planned.

The inside temp spent a lot of time around 135-140 deg.  Eventually, HOURS,  it did rise to 155ish.  We put the smoke to it for about 5-6 hours, after the first hour, and finished in a preheated water bath.  

So, probably not enough info, but what would make the casings tough?

ps  I didn't have time to run another test run on smoke shack.
 
The sausage looks great...............
icon14.gif


Points!!!!

Where did you get the casings?

P.S. how about filli'n out yer location in yer profile  \

Boykjo
 
I'm with Joe, the sausage looks awesome!

As for the temp, a heavy load of cold meat can tax a smoker at times.

Points for the nice looking work!
 
 
The sausage looks great...............
icon14.gif


Points!!!!

Where did you get the casings?

P.S. how about filli'n out yer location in yer profile  \

Boykjo
THX

Casings from Butcher & Packer.  I only soaked them for two days.
 
Last edited:
I'm with Joe, the sausage looks awesome!

As for the temp, a heavy load of cold meat can tax a smoker at times.

Points for the nice looking work!
THX

This kinda leads in to a question.  Does it really matter what temp the smoker gets up to, if we have a water bath back-up?  It was a colder day then my test run.  
 
  Looks good to me, I have had a batch like that as well, I am not sure if I had mishandled the csg, or froze it at one time, They were a couple yrs old, So I chalked it up to that, The other batches we did were fine. 
 
That looks like real nice venison kielbasa!

2 days of soak on the casings is plenty; did you use some vinegar?  I usually use a tbsp of white vinegar for a 10lb batch (in probably a cup of water).  So maybe a 1/4c for a 40lb batch.  I haven't had tough casings since I started with the vinegar bit and I only do an overnight soak (8-12 hours).

I'm with CB that 40lbs is a lot of cold mass fightin against what is likely a small heat source.  I've had that happen in my Masterbuilt 40 inch when I tried to do six racks of st louis ribs plus trim.  Even cranked I was barely holding 200 for almost 3 hours.
 
Thanks for al the replies.  Yea, I believe it is the mass that's not allowing the chamber to get up to temp.  So, I'll get it where I can, then water bath the sausage to temp after smoking.
 
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