IT Tempurature struggle

[archeryrob]

Yesterday I had made Pepperoni in the smokehouse in the morning until 1. It turned out fine. I had 4 trial recipes to run for bologna using 50/50 deer to 73% beef about 13.5% fat total in 2 3/8" casings. The fire house was hot already so I put a couple sticks of wood on and did something else for a while to let the bologna slow heat. I came back an hour and a half later and SH temp dropped to 120 and bologna only 104.

So I heated it up to 150, bologna hit 120
then 160 and bologna hit 125
then 170 and the bologna slowly got to 130 and I mean slowly.

I let it rest there for over an hour and I maybe for 131. I got frustrated and did 180 and it hit 185 for a short period and let it back down to 180. Of course I was disappointed with fatted out bologna. :(

What would cause the IT to not want to raise? I know from the pasteurization charts I could have just held 135° for 30 minutes and it safe, but I just wasn't feeling the safety with it yet. It never got over 142° even when I quit and was fatted out.

I'm just frustrated and can't sleep and up way too early. I don;t know if the smokehouse was too warm with the firehouse hot already did somethign. The rest period did somethign or just why the IT would not move.

 

[indaswamp]

I a word....humidity. As the sausage exterior of the links heat to 140*, they start to sweat which cools the links. Regular sized sausage links in hog casing will take 3~4 hours to finish. beef middles 2~2 1/2" dia. will take 6~8 hours or more.

What smoker are you using and how many pounds were in it? If you overload a small smoker, the evaporative cooling is more pronounced because of the volume of meat.

Most you can successfully smoke in a MES 30 is about 12.5lbs. of sausage without over crowding.

Next time, you can pull the links after you have gotten the smoke on them and finish in a 170* water bath... this will keep the links moist and cook them to INT faster.

 

[SmokinAl]

When I make bologna & use the big red bologna casings, it takes 12-14 hours in my MES 40 to get to 152.
I'm not sure why, but I suspect the thickness of the meat is the reason.

None of the other sausage I make take nearly that long.
Al

 

[indaswamp]

You got it Al...it's the diameter of the bologna that takes so long to heat up at the low temps. needed to smoke sausage to prevent fat out.

 

[archeryrob]

The smokehouse is hand made and about 24" x 24" x 48" tall. There we only 4 - 2 3/8" x 24" bologna's in it with about 2.5# of meat each in Fibrous mahogany casings. I started them around 2pm and at 4Pm they were 104° and by 8 is when i pushed the heat up, did I just go too fast? by 9:30 I had 142 for 10 minutes and quit but it was fatted out.

Maybe I should not have tried two batches cooking in one day. its not unlike me, I tried 8 separate variation of recipes yesterday and my wife always says I try to push the envelope too hard and do to much at one time. I got a food plot to get done today. :D

 

[indaswamp]

Yes, you went too fast. bump it up gradually. I go up 10* every hour for regular hog casings. You want the smokehouse temp to be 25~30* above INT. Smaller dia. links, you can bump the temp every 30 minutes or so, larger links you might need to do it every 1.5 hours.

I do not make summer sausages, but I do make a lot of andouille stuffed in beef middles which run 2~2.5" in dia.

 

[archeryrob]

Thanks Inda, patience has never been one of my virtues unless it was sitting in a tree stand or a goose blind. :D

 

[indaswamp]

Another thing....
when you bump the temp too fast, the meat tightens up and squeezes the moisture and fat out of the links. Think of when a hamburger hits a searing hot grill...is shrinks in dia. and rises in thickness.

 

[daveomak]

Rob, morning..... HEY !!!!! Try using the pasteurization table... Follow the time/temp tables..... Use the 7 log reduction table... add 30 minutes or more to the time to insure death to those critters....
130 F. for 3 hours will kill it all and there will be no fat out...
SLOWLY raise the temp of the smoker to 160 ish... It may take 24-36 hours to get the sticks to temp, but the quality will be worth it.... OR, once smoke has been applied, sous vide at 140 F for 6 hours... a 4" cylinder takes about 6 hours to reach SV temps..
http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html

 

[oberst]

After smoking my sausage I often finish in the oven, which provides consistent heat. I put a probe in each rack however since their position in the oven will finish the bottom rack faster than the upper. Can’t tell any difference from finishing in the smokehouse. Some sausage I only want 4 or 5 hours of smoke. At the end of that IT may only be 130. It then goes into 165 degree oven and pretty soon I’m done. I start timing at 145 or so and follow the table DaveO has published for us. This has been way more convenient than fooling with my MES for endless hours on a dark, cold night.

 

[archeryrob]

Thanks all, I just bit off more than I could chew with trying to do two batching in one day and pushing it too fast. I learned a lesson. In hind sight, I should have started my pepperoni on the lower rack and then added my Bologna to the top bars later on and pulled the pepperoni when done. BUT, you always learn best when you trip and fall down. :D

Dave, Thanks and I have them all saved on my hard drive and even pulled them up. I've been do the 145 temps but still squeamish about dropping down to 130 for the extended time as the one report was bacteria dying at 125 and its just a bit close for me. I got a do a couple more at lower temps. I'm just getting used to the lower temp thing.

 

[daveomak]

Well, the lower temp pasteurization can save the finished product from fat out... Then it can be cooked to desired
doneness... You have killed all the food borne pathogens and know it's safe to eat..
Did you notice the reduction of pathogens with the addition of TIME ... That's why I prefer to extend the final internal temp TIME beyond the recommended to get the most pathogen kill possible... Sort of a "super pasteurization".... I know then, it's definitely safe to eat and if I choose to BBQ at 700 or oven brown at 500 or throw it in a fry pan to sear..... it's all good... Usually it takes 24-36 hours in the smoker at 155-160, depending on the product... The product "usually" doesn't get within 20 degrees F of the smoker temp... evaporative cooling thing.....