HELP! Question on sausage temps!

[bowhuntinfireman681]

Hello, I am new here to the site but have been smoking for some time. I have a Brinkmann all in one smoker that I love to smoke brisket, turkey, chicken etc in. I just finished with a huge custom smoker (with some help form you all here) It is 5' x 5' x 4' wide. I plan on doing alot of summer sausage smoking. And I tried it yesterday and it came out alright. Not great but alright. I found out some very good things yesterday. I attempted to smoke 150lbs of summer sausage. I brought the smoker up to temp around 220. Loaded the smoker with the meat, laying all the logs flat on the racks. I "planned" on letting them cook at 220 for about 2hrs since there was soo much meat in there and was afraid of the pork content going rancid. I planned on going out after 2hrs and rotating the meat and turning down the temp to around 150-160 until the internal temps got to 150-160. Well I didnt put my probe into any of the logs thinking that I had some time before they got upto 150. WRONG. I went out after 2hrs and was shocked at my findings. The smoker temp never got over 220 during that time. All the casings were loose and some of the logs appeared overcooked already. I immediately turned the heat down and inserted the probe to get the internal temps. They were up around 165-170. OVERCOOKED! I took off some of the smaller ones but the rest, I rotated around, lowered the temp to 150 and kept smoking. They needed more smoke. I smoked them for about 3-4 more hrs at a temp of 150. The internal temp never got over 130 during that time. After the 3-4 hrs I took them off and cold bathed them. Cleaned and dried them then wrapped them in freezer paper then into the freezer. I did some "SAMPLINGS" and they tasted great. It is the texture of the meat that I dont like. It looks over cooked. I did add high temp cheddar to the meat during the mixing and the cheese is still in there. So the meat did not get hot enough to melt the high temp cheese. They do taste good though. I even had a buddy here try it and he loved them. After cutting them, they appear dried out some, but when you eat them, they taste moist.

My question is this.... what temp should I have the smoker at for summer sausage. I was obviouly wrong in thinking I needed to have higher temps at the begining of the cooking process then lowering the temp to take the smoke. I was worried about the pork and deer fat turning on me. But if I used a commercial seasoning that has cure in it, would I be ok anyways?

I am smoking up 25lb of pepperoni sticks and 25lb of pepper snack sticks today. I am keeping the temp down around 150 today and seeing if that helps with the texture. WHat should the internal temp on these smaller sticks be?

Thanks for all your help here. This is a GREAT WEBSITE.

Thanks again
Jeff

 

[pescadero]

Jeff:

How are you doing? Sounds like you have your hands full.

I know you will be getting the help you need quickly and we are glad to have you as a new member.

Skip

 

[lcruzen]

Jeff,

When I've made venison summer sausage I've used seasoning with cure. After stuffing the casings they need to be refrigerated for at least 12 hrs but no more than 24 hrs. Then put on the smoker @170o for an hour to dry the casings. Then hit it with smoke for about 3-4 hours and let the temp remain @ 170o until you achieve and internal temp of 157o. The cure will prevent the meat from going bad at low temp smoking. I''ve been please with the results so far.


Lou

 

[goat]

I smoked some slims jims, aka snack sticks last night. I started at 130* for an hour, then to 145* for 3 hours, and 160* for an hour, finished at 180* until they reached 155 internal.