Venison Sausage - Best smoking technique and drying properly?

[macdaddy21]

I've been making venison sausage for several years now with a friend and his family, but was never there when they smoked it. This last year my dad and I built a smokehouse out of a 6x8 shed and added some racks made out of 2x4's with dowel rods (2x2's) to hang the sausage on. Long story short, everything worked fine, but we over smoked the sausage and it turned out tasting like wood. Definitely a mistake I will not make again. But, I wanted to ask how other members here smoke their venison, provided they use a smokehouse similar to mine. My smoke source that I used last year was a steel barrel that sat below ground with a 4" pipe leading up to the smoke house that had a baffle inside it to control how much smoke entered the house. The system worked and the smoke was cold, but we let it smoke for way too long. However, this year I want to try a different method of smoke application, so I am here for suggestions.

I would like to give a little background on how we make our sausage. Please feel free to critique anything I have done. I am here to learn!

We like to make some sausage that we smoke a little and then vac seal and freeze, that we can later grill or pan fry, etc. For this sausage we use a 40/60 or a 50/50 pork to venison ratio. Mixed with seasoning/cure and ground, then stuffed and tied. Last year we over smoked this, but this year I only want to smoke it for a few hours to give it some smoke flavor, then seal it and freeze. 

We also make some dried sausage. We use the same ratio or pork to venison and use the same seasoning and cure. Is this right or should I use different ratios? The batch last year was not too bad other than being over smoked and a too hard. I have done some reading on controlling humidity in the smokehouse to help the sausage dry evenly, and that using a dehumidifier can help? I would really like to know more about the best ways to get my dried sausage to dry properly and evenly, so it doesn't get hard on the outside and then take much longer to dry in the middle, as that is what happened last year. 

Finally, I would like to possibly try making some summer sausage this year. I am completely clueless as to how to go about doing this. If somebody can either explain this to me or send me a link to some summer sausage how-to's that are good, I would really appreciate it. 

I can also post some pictures of my smokehouse if need be. As for my specific location, I am in Central Texas...In between Houston and Austin. If you smoking guru's need any more information from me, let me know.

Thanks!

Mac

 

[macdaddy21]

Anybody?

 

[BGKYSmoker]

For SS you meat to fat ratio the normal is 80% lean meat and 20% fat cut in.

IE: For 10 lbs of SS i would go 7.5lbs of venison and 2.5 fat cut. (this is how i mix it)

 

[smokinhusker]

Great answer from one of the best sausage makers here!

 

[macdaddy21]

Nepas, thanks very much for the response. As for the dried sausage, any recommendations on how to get it to dry evenly? I have seen some of the dry curing refrigerator's that other members here have made. I have considered making one but if I could achieve the same (or similar) results drying them in my smokehouse, I would like to do that. I have considered adding a humidifier but I am not sure if that would help me much if I cannot control the humidity that it produces. Any ideas?

 

[shoneyboy]

 MacDaddy21, if I’m understanding you right, you are just trying to dry your sausage before smoking it, Right? In reality all you need to do is hang it in your smoke house and put a fan on it until the outside of it gets tacky…….Now if you are trying to dehumidify a large space where a fan just is not large enough to work for you, you can use a small AC window unit on low and that will do the trick….That is basically what a AC unit does, dehumidify..........

Now about over smoking your sausage, remember less is more…..It does not take much wood to impart the smoke flavor in your food…… Thin white smoke is all you need…..If you are using wood for a heat source, start your fire, let it burn to coals before you start smoking, then add small amounts of wood at a time to the coals to get the smoke you desire……Hope I answered your questions ShoneyBoy……….

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Nepas, thanks very much for the response. As for the dried sausage, any recommendations on how to get it to dry evenly? I have seen some of the dry curing refrigerator's that other members here have made. I have considered making one but if I could achieve the same (or similar) results drying them in my smokehouse, I would like to do that. I have considered adding a humidifier but I am not sure if that would help me much if I cannot control the humidity that it produces. Any ideas?

You will need a humidity control. The Dayton is great to control the humidity.

Dayton is the white controller.

900x900px-LL-87d134bb_DSC00399.jpeg

• BGKYSmoker
• Dec 29, 2012

My dry cure fridge.

900x900px-LL-fe20d855_DSC01443.jpeg

• BGKYSmoker
• Dec 29, 2012

 

[macdaddy21]

Forgive me, for my terminology is not entirely correct. Shoneyboy, what I am trying to do is smoke some venison sausage just to give it a smoky flavor, then allow it to dry until it is safe to consume without needing to be cooked. If I am correct, this is the process that Nepas refers to as "dry curing". Last year when we did this, our sausage did dry, but it took 2-3 weeks in the smokehouse with the AC window unit on the whole time. The finished product was pretty hard on the outside and tough to bite off. I know that result was caused by low humidity. 

I have looked at making a dry curing fridge but was trying to find a way around it, at least for this season. I was wondering if I could add a humidifier to my smoke house and keep my sausage from drying out too much while it dry cured. If not, I guess I better start looking for a cheap fridge. 

As for applying smoke to my sausage, I have been looking at getting the AMNPS and saw where another member attached a mailbox to his smokehouse, cut some holes for smoke flow, and put the AMNPS inside it. I was thinking about doing this as well. Tomorrow morning I will go get some pictures of my smokehouse. I think this will definitely help you all help me. 

Again, thanks very much for the responses!

MacDaddy