I am pretty sure I know the answer, but I want to see what others think. Yesterday I made some polish and had them double linked in strands of 6 hanging in the smoker. it was real random but some of the sausages didnt have that nice red color, they were pinkish with some white spots on them. i expected white spots where the sausages were touching, but this was on most of the sausages on entire halves that were completely exposed to the smoke.
Heres the skinny.
Ryteks recipe with some alterations, 30% venison, 50% pork, 20% beef, they were stuffed in natural casings on Saturday, into the fridge overnight in a rubbermaid tote with the lid on. taken out on Sunday and left to hang in the kitchen for about 30 minutes, then into the smoker with the door cracked and vent wide open at 100 degrees for about an additional 45 minutes to let them dry. added the smoke for about 3.5 hours starting at 130 and bumping up to about 170, and then finished in a water bath to 154 to 160ish. shock cooled in ice water and then left to bloom at room temp for about 2 hours or so. I knew after about 2 hours that I had an issue as I checked on them and they were noticeably taking color oddly.
I left the top vent wide open the whole smoke and had a decent draft through the smoker, but I am assuming that the sausages were maybe condensing or something? it was very humid yesterday with snow showers on and off with temps in the mid to high 20s.
The only real difference i did was i typically wouldnt cover them overnight in the fridge the night before, did the lid not allow the excess moisture to escape? I had a bad experience a couple smokes ago with casings from this batch that turned out very hard and I was concerned about not enough moisture in the casing so??
Thoughts?
EDIT: By the way, the links towards the top had better color, and the 3 odd balls at the end of the run that hung without being doubled up were almost perfect in uniform color. does the double linking require a longer drying time since the air doesnt get around them as well?
Heres the skinny.
Ryteks recipe with some alterations, 30% venison, 50% pork, 20% beef, they were stuffed in natural casings on Saturday, into the fridge overnight in a rubbermaid tote with the lid on. taken out on Sunday and left to hang in the kitchen for about 30 minutes, then into the smoker with the door cracked and vent wide open at 100 degrees for about an additional 45 minutes to let them dry. added the smoke for about 3.5 hours starting at 130 and bumping up to about 170, and then finished in a water bath to 154 to 160ish. shock cooled in ice water and then left to bloom at room temp for about 2 hours or so. I knew after about 2 hours that I had an issue as I checked on them and they were noticeably taking color oddly.
I left the top vent wide open the whole smoke and had a decent draft through the smoker, but I am assuming that the sausages were maybe condensing or something? it was very humid yesterday with snow showers on and off with temps in the mid to high 20s.
The only real difference i did was i typically wouldnt cover them overnight in the fridge the night before, did the lid not allow the excess moisture to escape? I had a bad experience a couple smokes ago with casings from this batch that turned out very hard and I was concerned about not enough moisture in the casing so??
Thoughts?
EDIT: By the way, the links towards the top had better color, and the 3 odd balls at the end of the run that hung without being doubled up were almost perfect in uniform color. does the double linking require a longer drying time since the air doesnt get around them as well?
