Best duration for hot smoking raw, homemade polish sausage.

[Sjwilson99]

Hey all!
New to this and looking for advice.
I have an offset charcoal smoker, with a few different species of wood to add to the charcoal for smoking.
I am making homemade polish sausage with a marbled pork shoulder, and 80/20 ground beef.
Choosing garlic, majoram, salt and pepper to season the meat within the casing.
I’m doing 10lbs total, so 8lbs pork shoulder, and 2lbs fatty ground beef.
I am looking to get the incredibly tender texture and smoke taste as a Texas style smoke on these. I’m not looking to cold smoke and use later, I want to do these for my family as they are polish, and it could start a neat tradition on Christmas.
Using my offset smoker, how long should I smoke them? I’ve read everything from about an hour to over 3.5 hours.
I have all the time in the world, so I’m not worried about it going long, I Just don’t want to open and check them and lose my smoke.
Also, should I rotate them?
Twice if it’s around 3 hours?
Any other tips, I’m open to suggestions!

Thanks!

 

[tropics]

If you are not using Cure #1 you have to hot smoke them @ 225°F
Use a digital thermometer and cook the to an internal temp of 165°F
Richie

 

[Steve H]

You don't need to rotate them. If you are using cure then you can smoke longer at a lower temp. No cure, then follow Richie's advice.

 

[SmokinAl]

So what is it, cure or no cure?
Al

 

[Sjwilson99]

Thanks all!
I wasn’t planning on curing them. How many days/what would it take to cure them? Is it worth it?

 

[crazzycajun]

If your using them right away I doubt it would be possible not to get them to 140f in 4 hours using a offset and wood so no cure is necessary if you use this method. If you can’t do this then cure is necessary,but it will change your flavor. What temp are you planning on smoking at?

 

[Sjwilson99]

If your using them right away I doubt it would be possible not to get them to 140f in 4 hours using a offset and wood so no cure is necessary if you use this method. If you can’t do this then cure is necessary,but it will change your flavor. What temp are you planning on smoking at?

I was planning on smoking them at 225*F. But, I’m open for suggestions. 10lbs. 3 Hrs. Uncured. No rotation. 225* That’s the plan as of now.

 

[DanMcG]

How many days/what would it take to cure them? Is it worth it?

For 10 pounds you'd want to use 11 grams of cure #1 and give it 12-24 hours for the cure to do its thing.

 

[thirdeye]

When hot smoking fresh sausage, either linked, ringed or a fatty, I like pit temps around 200° to 215° in order to push the time envelope to about 3 hours to slowly creep into the 160°-165° internal range. Trying to rush sausage can force it to break (meaning the fat and protein will separate from each other and you get a mealy texture) or even burst and you loose some juices you have worked to hard to keep. I'll either hold in a warmed beer/butter/water bath to reduce wrinkling, or if I smoke more than we'll be eating I use a cold water bath for a few minutes.

 

[indaswamp]

For 10 pounds you'd want to use 11 grams of cure #1 and give it 12-24 hours for the cure to do its thing.

Or mix in a cure accelerator (sodium erythorbate, citric acid, among others...) right before you stuff the meat paste into casing, then you can smoke right away.

edit to add for the O.P.:
https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/172/using-cure-accelerators-in-making-sausage