Deer Summer Sausage===Temperature+ Pit Boss 820

[rng1974]

Hello. I'm new to the forum but not entirely new to smoking. I've done jerky on various types of smokers and general variety cooking. I recently purchased a Pit Boss 820 pellet grill and have loved it so far. The next challenge that I am looking forward to is Deer Summer Sausage.
So for this post I am mainly interested in temperature. Not so much the finished temperature, but the sequence (or lack thereof) of temperatures. I have read quite a bit of information, much of it on this website, which discusses starting out at a low temp 130F let's say, and then increasing 10 degrees each hour till you reach the finished temp.
My problem is that the Pit Boss will not go down that far in temp. I believe on startup smoke mode it is around 180. I have talked with several local folks who smoke their own sausage and they say they will smoke at 225 for 4-5 hours and it turns out fine.
Just looking for some opinions in general on the Pit Boss Pellet Grill. I truly believe that both ways work but just trying to determine the best. Thanks.

 

[mike243]

If you have a P setting it will run lower and also some of the woods run cooler, outdoor temps will also play a big roll also

 

[tom987]

Read the link below. You’ll likely have a fat out situation if you can’t keep temps under 180.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/best-practices-for-sausage-making.255662/

 

[smokerjim]

I would just give it a shot at your lowest setting and see what happens,you could go at a higher temp but like mentioned your fat will start to melt away and also you will have a shorter time in the smoke, . also when your sausage is done you might want to drop them in cold water it helps to keep the casings from wrinkling. good luck

 

[pushok2018]

You should not exceed 170° in the smoker.
That is the temp that the fat breaks or renders. At that point the sausage will be crumbly or grainy in texture, thus your lousy texture.
Goal is to raise the internal temp slowly to around 152°. It is long process in the smoker and by raising the temp above 170 the outside of the chub will exceed 170° before the 152° internal temp is reached.

 

[rng1974]

So I guess the idea is to raise the temperature evenly throughout the chubb

 

[smokerjim]

that's basically the idea, I never made summer sausage but I would guess you could smoke at lowest temp for a couple hours then put in 180 degree water bath until to hit your internal temp of 152-155, also are you using cure in your recipe.

 

[rng1974]

I have been playing around with some of the settings the past couple weeks since I posted this. I changed the P setting to a 5 and left it on smoke, temp finally settled around 150-160F and held there. Thinking if I can keep it in that range I should be okay. However, I’m in Missouri and the weather changes from week to week (85F to 110F!) so I will have to manage my time.