Hello, to all of the forum members from a newbie with some experience, more wide than deep.
I started smoking with a Luhr Jensen hot smoker in the 1970s smoking "chipped" beef, cheese, and so on. At that time, I did a little summersausage, too, but had to improvise to cold smoke.
After a move to OK in late 1989, I started using a water-smoker--one of the cylindrical models powered by charcoal and Hickory or Apple wood that I garnered from the woods around here. That smoker was used to make brisket, duck, corned beef, ribs, and pulled butt. At that time, I built a cold-smoker from two food-grade 55-gallon drums and did my own hams and bacon for a short time.
Now, I am using a Bradley Original Smoker with a dedicated computerized control and am in the process of modifying it to cold smoke. Mostly that will be to get back into the summersausage and kielbasa making category. At present, I cure my own corned-beef and use the smoker to make a semi-mild variety of Pastrami out of it, too.
Over the last 37+ years, I have collected an amazing number of recipes for sausages and other cured meats and have books with smokehouse designs in them (even some old USDA designs). Maybe one of these days I can get that smokehouse built that I have been wanting for 40 years.
I started smoking with a Luhr Jensen hot smoker in the 1970s smoking "chipped" beef, cheese, and so on. At that time, I did a little summersausage, too, but had to improvise to cold smoke.
After a move to OK in late 1989, I started using a water-smoker--one of the cylindrical models powered by charcoal and Hickory or Apple wood that I garnered from the woods around here. That smoker was used to make brisket, duck, corned beef, ribs, and pulled butt. At that time, I built a cold-smoker from two food-grade 55-gallon drums and did my own hams and bacon for a short time.
Now, I am using a Bradley Original Smoker with a dedicated computerized control and am in the process of modifying it to cold smoke. Mostly that will be to get back into the summersausage and kielbasa making category. At present, I cure my own corned-beef and use the smoker to make a semi-mild variety of Pastrami out of it, too.
Over the last 37+ years, I have collected an amazing number of recipes for sausages and other cured meats and have books with smokehouse designs in them (even some old USDA designs). Maybe one of these days I can get that smokehouse built that I have been wanting for 40 years.