Cooker temp for sausage

[killerque]

Question for the pros. My old smoker was easy to use because it was so drafty and leaked so bad you couldn't burn anything but man it used a lot of wood. All my smoking was done visually and it worked well for me but I could only smoke about 30-40 lbs at a time.

With my new one I am able to get higher temps with less wood. My question is while smoking game sausage what is your target box temp to a achieve a IT of 150ish.

My setup is a steel box with a offset woodstove for a firebox. I think I have it drafting good at the moment and holding 200-210 easily. I don't want to give it to much air as I also want to hold lower temps for cold smoking also. I am still learning control via air with this one.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Ideally you do not want your pit temp to go above 170-180 for making sausages like summer sausage and snack sticks. Higher pit temps than that can cause fat out.

 

[killerque]

I had that issue on my old cooker. I just learned to pull it short. I am hoping for a more controlled process now. Thanks for info. On my test burn tonight I held at 180 for two hours with clean smoke without adding wood. Only used a few pieces of oak. My old cooker would have had to have a wheelbarrow full to do that.

 

[muddydogs]

Do a search on hot water bath to finish sausage as its the only way to go if you don't want to spend 16 to 20 hours tending the smoker. My first batch of summer sausage I kept the stack temp at 180 ish for 16 hours before I let the temp climb to around 230 degrees just to get the internal temp up and be done with the smoke.

The second batch I did I smoked the sausage for 6 hours at 180 stack temp then finish it in the hot water bath which took about 1/2 hour to get the internal temp up to 160 degrees. The 6 hour smoke was kind of light on smoke flavor so for my next run I plan on an 8 hour smoke before the hot water bath finish.

From the research I did guys are finishing most every kind of sausage in the hot water bath.

 

[muddydogs]

double post. Not sure why but when I hit the submit post button it says the form was already submited. If I hit the submit button again some times it post one post other times 2 posts. If I don't hit the submit button again I loose the post. 

 

[killerque]

The hot water bath looks like a good idea. My only problem is the volume I do. Usually if I pull it short I will just finish it when I cook it for whatever dish I am preparing. Hopefully my new cooker will be a bit easier to control and I won't have to deal with this in the future.

 

[muddydogs]

The hot water bath looks like a good idea. My only problem is the volume I do. Usually if I pull it short I will just finish it when I cook it for whatever dish I am preparing. Hopefully my new cooker will be a bit easier to control and I won't have to deal with this in the future.

I just leave whatever won't fit in my water bath in the smoker smoking along, it only takes 30 to 45 minutes to take 130 degree internal temp summer sausage up to 160 in the water bath so leaving the rest in the smoker is no big deal. Last time I did 10 2.5" x 24" summer sausage chubs I smoked them for 6 hours which got the internal temp to around 130 then 5 at a time they went in the water bath to finish them off.

 

[killerque]

I have looked at diy hacks for water baths. Usually when I set own to make sausage it is a 100 lb batch.