Deer Summer Sausage with pics

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empacee

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Original poster
Sorry if this is wrong area.

I mixed up and made 5 3.5lb tubes of deer summer sausage today with my neighbor (hes got all the processing equipment) using Hi Mountain Jalapeno kit. They shorted me a bit of cure in one of the packets, but since we both use Hi Mountain kits alot, we had extra cure from other kits to make up the difference. Gonna hang them in my smoker and use cherry chips, should be good? I have cherry, pecan and oak, figured cherry would be best. Let us know how yours turns out.

 
Took FOREVER to hit 160 internal temp! Directions said to hold smoker at 180 until temp was reached but I ran at 200, glad I did or they would probably still be in there. LOL They are done though, very nice flavor and the Douglah ones arent as hot as I expected, will need to throw in some more Douglah next time.

 
Took FOREVER to hit 160 internal temp! Directions said to hold smoker at 180 until temp was reached but I ran at 200, glad I did or they would probably still be in there. LOL They are done though, very nice flavor and the Douglah ones arent as hot as I expected, will need to throw in some more Douglah next time.

[/quot. Those look awesome! I just did a 30 lb batch of the original hi mountain ss. I also had to ramp up my temperature to right around 200 deg After about 12 hours to hit my internal of 156. They were hung up at 150 deg forever when I had it at 180 deg.
 
First off, I want to say they look great! Somehow I hit a temperature wall around the same as you do. 

I just picked up the jalapeño kit. Sounds like it could stand to add a bit more heat? Suggestions on quantity and ingredient? I was thinking of getting some more jalapeños and mincing them up and adding them. Maybe smoke them first? Habanero dust sounds great!

I just did a pepperoni stick kit by Hi Mountain and also a garlic and peppercorn summer sausage kit. Both were equally mild flavored. Don't get me wrong, what as faintly there was good, just not enough, know what I mean? 

One more question, if you don't mind me asking in your thread: As per the reply of hitting the lower IT of 153* vs 160* for the sake of rendering, would that have anything to do with the shriveled cases? I too have suffered from shriveled cases on one of my batches. I was thinking I wasn't stuffing enough. What are some possible risks of not reaching a higher IT? I made mine out of white tail venison.

Now that you have made your kit, is there anything that you would have done differently? Sounds like you would add more Douglah? How much? 

If I am stomping on your thread, let me know, I'll edit out the questions. 
 
NFDM is your friend if you do not want as much shrinkage. Also you really want to start at a low temp and bump it up 10 degrees every hour. Then A cold shower helps too. I think that kit is the best one they have that I have tried. I smoke japs and dry them almost every week then pulverize them in the coffee grinder. Hard to give you an amount as I eat hot peppers almost daily and am fairly immune to the heat.
 
NFDM? Non Fat Dairy Milk? I certainly would not have guessed that. How much does one add for the single batch recipe? 

Smoked, dried then pulverized. That's a great idea! I assume you split then seed them first before smoking?
 
Non fat dry milk powder. The amount I use is like 1/4 cup per 5 pound batch. It helps the sausage retain the moisture somehow. I would imagine there is some in the spice mix at some rate but I have always added a little more. If you are making a whole kit's worth which if I recall is like 50 pounds you might want to cut back on that amount a little bit.
 
So if you smoke at a temp of 180 is that what causes fat to render? Or can you smoke at that temp as long as you don't let the it get to high? Or does smoking at the higher temp cause the fat to render on the outside befor the it get up?
 
If you look up a whole bunch of from scratch SS recipes on this site, the common denominator is to start at say 110 degrees with no smoke for an hour and then bump it up to 130 with smoke for an hour and then 10 degrees each hour after that until you get to your target temp. I usually go to 155. If you cook quicker the fat will sweat out of the sausage and cause shrinkage. You will get a drier sausage too. The super cooling at the end of the cook arrests the cooking that would continue due to caryover heat which might take your final temp over your target temp by 5 or more degrees depending on ambient temp of the area you are blooming them in. Someone with more technical expertise could I'm sure explain it in more detail. But after quite a few batches of store bought kits and then doing my own thing. That seems to produce consistently tight looking and juicier SS for me. I have to Macgyver up my equipment to accomplish this as I don't have a good electric smoke house and it is a pain but well worth it at least for appearance if nothing else. All that said, I bet your SS tasted great. Just some things to consider.
 
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First off, I want to say they look great! Somehow I hit a temperature wall around the same as you do. 

I just picked up the jalapeño kit. Sounds like it could stand to add a bit more heat? Suggestions on quantity and ingredient? I was thinking of getting some more jalapeños and mincing them up and adding them. Maybe smoke them first? Habanero dust sounds great!

I just did a pepperoni stick kit by Hi Mountain and also a garlic and peppercorn summer sausage kit. Both were equally mild flavored. Don't get me wrong, what as faintly there was good, just not enough, know what I mean? 

One more question, if you don't mind me asking in your thread: As per the reply of hitting the lower IT of 153* vs 160* for the sake of rendering, would that have anything to do with the shriveled cases? I too have suffered from shriveled cases on one of my batches. I was thinking I wasn't stuffing enough. What are some possible risks of not reaching a higher IT? I made mine out of white tail venison.

Now that you have made your kit, is there anything that you would have done differently? Sounds like you would add more Douglah? How much? 

If I am stomping on your thread, let me know, I'll edit out the questions. 
Douglah peppers are damn hot, way more than Habaneros could ever think of being. I added 2 tbsp of dusted Douglah that I had dehydrated, I would guestimate it was 5-6 peppers worth. The mixing went pretty good with my buddy's Cabela hand mixer, but every now and then you will hit a hot nugget and you are like "whoa!", but I like it! I grow tons of peppers and have lots of different stuff from Habanero dust to Reaper dust. Next time I might try some Scorpion CARDI powder, its got a good burn without being too much, but still hotter than Habanero.

I really dont know why they shrivled like that, but there was a decent about of jelly on them, which I wiped off with a towel before slicing. They dont taste greasy at all and everyone that tried it loved it.

And no worries man, youre not hijacking my thread, I am always open to comments, questions and suggestions :-D
 
 
Douglah peppers are damn hot, way more than Habaneros could ever think of being. I added 2 tbsp of dusted Douglah that I had dehydrated, I would guestimate it was 5-6 peppers worth. The mixing went pretty good with my buddy's Cabela hand mixer, but every now and then you will hit a hot nugget and you are like "whoa!", but I like it! I grow tons of peppers and have lots of different stuff from Habanero dust to Reaper dust. Next time I might try some Scorpion CARDI powder, its got a good burn without being too much, but still hotter than Habanero.

I really dont know why they shrivled like that, but there was a decent about of jelly on them, which I wiped off with a towel before slicing. They dont taste greasy at all and everyone that tried it loved it.

And no worries man, youre not hijacking my thread, I am always open to comments, questions and suggestions :-D
You had fat out and if you follow my recommendations above they won't shrivel or have that jelly on them.
 
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