HELP Smoking Sausage

[tonto1117]

Hi all, I would like to smoke some Italian suasage this afternoon and have a few questions, first what temp do you smoke them in, and what temp should you cook them to? Reading through the posts I believe it should be 165*, is that correct? Also, if I use a probe to moniter the sausage temp how would you place the probe in the sausage. Figured we would try out the windbreak we made today before next weekends big cook. I will post picture's in the genaral discussion area later. Thanks, Theresa

 

[deejaydebi]

Hi Theresa-

If you have alot of control on your temperatures the standard procedure is this:

Stick your themometer into one of the sausages the internal temperature should get to 152 degrees

Smoker Temps
-first hour at 130 to 140 degrees
-second hour 150 - 160 degrees
-third hour 170 degrees

When done if you used:
-colagen casings - cool to room temperature
-HogCasings spray with water until internal temperature is 120 degrees

I didn't have that much control in my ECB with an outside temperature between 15 and 5 degrees so I held at 130-170 for three hours - It worked.

Have fun!

 

[zardnok]

Theresa,

Are you smoking them to eat or smoking them to impart smokey flavor so you can eat them later? If you are smoking them to eat now, then you have a lot more leeway in the smoking process. If you are smoking them to impart the flavor and will cook them to eat later, you need to be much more careful with your temps so as you do not melt the fat out of the sausage.

As a general rule though, Sausage need to be smoked at a lower temp than most meats, so 150-175 is a good range to shoot for unless you are planning on smoking them to freeze or to eat later in which case, I would keep the temps between 125 and 150 so the fat does not render out.

 

[larry maddock]

yo tonto,
I M O ---
italian sausage is a "fresh" sausage..
along with cajun and polish and brats and chorizo...
they have not been cured...

you can "smoke cook" them ..

i put my smoker on high...
thats 246f on summer day..

i use 1 chip pan a hr..

only 2 pans total....

i take off of heat at 167f :D and serve them..
i freeze what doesnt get eaten ..

 

[tonto1117]

Thanks for the info everyone.

Larry, I ended up cooking them pretty much per your advice, I kinda figured that they were fresh sausage, not cured, and I would normally just throw them on the ole grill and cook em up, just figured why not try to inpart some smoke flavor to them.Smoked them at 225*- 250* and took them up to 165* temp for saftey reasons. They came out pretty good just not as much smoke flavor as I woulda liked.

 

[deejaydebi]

Theresa -

Used the smoked sausage for your zuppa or for company trays with cheese and crackers and freeze what you don't use quickly. Jst warm it up before serving!

Save the fresh sausage for your spaggetti, lasagna and sammies!

 

[deejaydebi]

Theresa -

Used the smoked sausage for your zuppa or for company trays with cheese and crackers and freeze what you don't use quickly. Jst warm it up before serving!

Save the fresh sausage for your spaggetti, lasagna and sammies!

 

[jp4lsu]

Debi,
You mentioned spraying the sausage with water until they reached 120° for hog casings.

Why is this?
Does this put moisture back in the casings? I've seen sausage sort of get wrinkled up after I take them out of the smoker or the grill. Does the water keep this from happening?

Thanks,
Jody

 

[deejaydebi]

Gee Jody -

I don't use hog casings wasn't me. I don't really like casings at all. I peel em when there done.

 

[Dutch]

Jody, the water bath or spray is to keep the casing from shrivling up. Being on the outside of the sausage, the casing will cool faster that the sausage inside the casing. It just provides a nicer looking product.

 

[rickpaul]

Hi, would I smoke fresh pork sauage this way? I have a mustang smoker with 1 1000 watt element, I`ve never smoked before, an don`t know where to start, could anyone tell me the basics? like how long would you smoke fresh pork sauage, at what temp, how much wood or saw dust do I put in the little smoke tray, the ingredents would be, besides the meat, garlic, green onions, salt an pepper, bell pepper . thank you very much in advance, I really appreciate it.........rick..........kd5ueo

 

[pigcicles]

Welcome to SMF, please check in at the Roll Call forum so everyone can give you a big hello.

You will cook the fresh pork in the same manner - in most cases you can figure it is safe to have your smoker at around 225º - 250º. Different cuts of meat should cook to different internal temps. Check this post and find a guide posted by DeeJayDebi to help get you going.

Always use internal temperatures and use times only as a rough guide.

I've never personally used an electric smoker (someone will be along shortly), so I can't give you a good answer on how much wood to use except you want to start off small and work up to what you like.

Remember you are looking for Thin Blue Smoke - NOT white billowy smoke which will put creosote on your meat. Remember THIN BLUE SMOKE. Good Luck

Keep Smokin

 

[deejaydebi]

RickPaul

One thing I've noticed about sausage smoking ... it doesn't take long or alot of smoke to be to much when smoking sausages! Keep your temperatures low and use little smoke.