Cold smoked sausage

[Tejasmoke]

I would like to try my hand at making a batch of cold smoked sausage. I'm thinking a smokehouse temp. of about 70 degrees. Other than that I'm pretty unsure of what I need to know and do. Tell me everything.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Well, you need a smoke source. Any thoughts on that?

 

[Tejasmoke]

Well, you need a smoke source. Any thoughts on that?

Either a pellet maze or one of those steel mesh, spiral shaped sawdust burning gizmos. My smokehouse is about 4' h x 3' w x 3' d, so I think there is enough volume in it to keep either of those things from heating it up too much, assuming the ambient temp. is low enough.

 

[indaswamp]

Yeah, you need a low ambient temp. for good draft through the smokehouse. For the size smokehouse you have, I highly recommend the Amazn Tube. Get the long one... pack it full with saw dust (I use a short piece of 3/8" rebar to pack it tight) and it will burn for 10-12 hours (preferably at night-especially if you are in Texas). Will throw some amazing thin blue smoke and will only raise the temp. 5-7*F inside the smokehouse. This is what I use in my smokehouse; 6.5'H x 2.5'W x 2.5' L.

Night time - higher humidity = better for cold smoking

 

[Tejasmoke]

Yeah, you need a low ambient temp. for good draft through the smokehouse. For the size smokehouse you have, I highly recommend the Amazn Tube. Get the long one... pack it full with saw dust (I use a short piece of 3/8" rebar to pack it tight) and it will burn for 10-12 hours (preferably at night-especially if you are in Texas). Will throw some amazing thin blue smoke and will only raise the temp. 5-7*F inside the smokehouse. This is what I use in my smokehouse; 6.5'H x 2.5'W x 2.5' L.

Night time - higher humidity = better for cold smoking

Alright, all of that sounds good. I am in Texas and realize that I will have to wait until the conditions are right. So, if I am able to time it so that I can have the sausage ready (with cure #1) when night time temps are in the mid 40's and I smoke it overnight with the tube loaded with sawdust, can I then remove it from the smokehouse, package it and freeze it, and then put it on my kettle and cook it and eat it at a later date? Let's assume the IT of the sausage after smoking it is in the 50's and I take it to 170, or so, on the kettle.

 

[indaswamp]

That will work as long as you use cure #1....

 

[Tejasmoke]

That will work as long as you use cure #1....

Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to respond. Now I'm going to put you on the spot! Would you care to offer some time and temp. guidelines that would apply to the cold smoking of sausage with cure #1? For example, could I smoke it two nights in a row, under conditions described previously, with a rest in the fridge during the day? At what IT does it become unsafe to cold smoke?

 

[DougE]

Chamber temps are all that really matter for cold smoking. IT of the sausage is irrelevant since IT will always lag behind chamber temp. Keep it below 90°F.

 

[indaswamp]

Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to respond. Now I'm going to put you on the spot! Would you care to offer some time and temp. guidelines that would apply to the cold smoking of sausage with cure #1? For example, could I smoke it two nights in a row, under conditions described previously, with a rest in the fridge during the day? At what IT does it become unsafe to cold smoke?

Since you will be cold smoking to freeze the sausage, Ideally try and keep the smoke chamber as low as you can....50-60*F would be ideal. But anything under about 71*F should work. If you pick a night in the 50's you will be good. And yes, you can cold smoke 2 or more nights in a row holding in the refrigerator during the day. I like to cold smoke my bacon 4 nights.....

 

[Tejasmoke]

Thank you.

 

[Tejasmoke]

Since you will be cold smoking to freeze the sausage, Ideally try and keep the smoke chamber as low as you can....50-60*F would be ideal. But anything under about 71*F should work. If you pick a night in the 50's you will be good. And yes, you can cold smoke 2 or more nights in a row holding in the refrigerator during the day. I like to cold smoke my bacon 4 nights.....

Got it. And again, thank you.

 

[cptnding]

I like to cold smoke my bacon 4 nights.....

I bet that's some delicious smoky bacon! I gotta ask. Whats your smoking process?

 

[Fueling Around]

Cold smoking is a floating level.
Try keep your chamber temperature under 70°. Time really depends on your outside temps.
Yes, you can cold smoke in many stages. My last was 2 bacon slabs that got 3 rounds of cold smoke with cold soak between and after..

 

[indaswamp]

Load up my AMAZN tube with Dave's pellet dust, packed tight, light and let it burn down to an ember. Put in smokehouse almost vertical...about 70-80* incline...I lean it against the propane burner...right in the center of my smokehouse.
Load the bacon slabs in the smokehouse once the temp. has dropped enough, and let it smoke all night.

In the morning, I move them to hang in my curing refrigerator 32-41*F for the day. Repeat......3 more times....