Sausage reaching temp issue

[egraetze]

Smoked sausage for the first time and had a problem reaching 152F. I made both venison kielbasa and venison sausage, both of which are a mix of venison, pork and spices stuffed in natural casings. This being the first time for smoking sausage I followed recommendations exactly in my Masterbuilt electric smoker. After stuffing I hung the sausage on hooks on my upper grate and set the temp at 100F to first dry them. Once dry I turned up to 165F and added chips. I had a remote temperature probe into the center of the of the central hanging sausages. When time, I added apple chips 2 more times. The temperature probe got up to as high as 145, but never higher. I opened the door several times 5 to 6 hours into it to probe with an instant read to see if there was a reading problem. I got the same temp. I finally pulled the sausages and put them into a water bath but never got over 145. The skins were getting over done and dark. I did not want to up the temp as I did not want the fat to render. Seems the couple times I opened the door, the remote probe would drop a couple degrees but come back up in time. Breaking one sausage open I saw they were definitely done. It tasted good, but was overdone and starting to dry too much. I should have taken them out sooner but never reached temp. My smoker is new and very good at holding temp. Suggestions for what went wrong and what to do next time?

 

[johnnyb54]

Egreatze, I've had the same thing happen to me on numerous occasions. For some reason my sausage stalled and took forever to reach 155. Since my sausage took so long in the smoker my casings became very tough even though they were soak and conditioned properly. I will be following this thread closely for a solution.

 

[worktogthr]

Smoking sausages at a low temp can. E an all day process. 12 hours or so in some cases depending on the thickness of the diameter of the casings. To make your life easier, you might want to consider just smoking for color rather than time or internal temp. When you have the color you like (which for me is usually between 3-4 hours) then finish them in the warm water bath. It will save you time and aggravation and it will give the casings a nice smooth texture and appearance. After about 3-4 hours in the smoker, it's usually only about 20 minutes or so before I get them up to temp in the water bath. Seems like you have all the basics down, so don't get discouraged and give it another shot.

Also, I have made sausage that has been overcooked. Makes a great adiditon chili, pasta sauces, burritos and the like... all things where other moisture is brought to the party.

 

[worktogthr]

One more thing... just make sure the remote thermometer is accurate. Sometimes that can be the culprit

 

[crazymoon]

Sounds like your probe is off or your mix was too lean. Your sausage shouldn't have been dry at 145*, I try for a 3:1 if using pork butt or a 4:1 if using all pork back fat when using venison.I will err to the side of more pork than less and always get a nice finished product.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

It is perfectly fine to run the smoker up to 170-180 and not worry about rendering the fat. If your pit temp is only 15-20 degrees above the temp you are shooting for it will take forever to reach the internal temp. Also it will dry the meat out, much like making jerky.

Did you use cure in your sausage? If not then you shouldn't be smoking like you did. For long low temp smokes you need to use cure. Sausage without cure needs to be cooked hot and fast.

 

[egraetze]

Egreatze, I've had the same thing happen to me on numerous occasions. For some reason my sausage stalled and took forever to reach 155. Since my sausage took so long in the smoker my casings became very tough even though they were soak and conditioned properly. I will be following this thread closely for a solution.

The casings did become tough. Glad I am not the only one having experienced this.

 

[egraetze]

Smoking sausages at a low temp can. E an all day process. 12 hours or so in some cases depending on the thickness of the diameter of the casings. To make your life easier, you might want to consider just smoking for color rather than time or internal temp. When you have the color you like (which for me is usually between 3-4 hours) then finish them in the warm water bath. It will save you time and aggravation and it will give the casings a nice smooth texture and appearance. After about 3-4 hours in the smoker, it's usually only about 20 minutes or so before I get them up to temp in the water bath. Seems like you have all the basics down, so don't get discouraged and give it another shot.

Also, I have made sausage that has been overcooked. Makes a great adiditon chili, pasta sauces, burritos and the like... all things where other moisture is brought to the party.

I will try a bath the next time as it was taking forever.

 

[egraetze]

It is perfectly fine to run the smoker up to 170-180 and not worry about rendering the fat. If your pit temp is only 15-20 degrees above the temp you are shooting for it will take forever to reach the internal temp. Also it will dry the meat out, much like making jerky.

Did you use cure in your sausage? If not then you shouldn't be smoking like you did. For long low temp smokes you need to use cure. Sausage without cure needs to be cooked hot and fast.

 

[egraetze]

I did use cure for both recipes. One was at 20 percent pork and the other was at 40 percent. Will shoot for higher pork content for next time smoking as I believe the dry mix may have been a factor. I am certain my probe was accurate as I checked several times with an instant read thermometer and read the same internal temperature. The sausage is still good tasting, but just a bit too dry from long time at low heat and the casings are a bit tough.

 

[tropics]

Kielbasa cooked in Beer with Kraut is wonderful.

Richie

 

[boykjo]

Over loading your smoker can also increase cooking times and create a stall. As dirtsailor said dont be afraid to go to 170-180. Sometimes if I get tired of waiting  at 140'ish IT stall...Sausage looks good, been in for a while...... I sometimes crank it to 200 to 210. It will get to 160 IT quick

Boykjo

 

[boykjo]

Forgot to say if they were dry you need more fat

 

[bigluke]

Another thing you may consider is the fact that your smoker temp may not be accurate.  Did you use the built in temp on your MEB?  I know that mine can be off by 10-12* at times vs. my Maverick electric thermometer. Now, I just bump up the temp until the maverick reads the temp I want.

I have also experienced some pretty long stalls with my sausages, after some searching around on SMF I found this chart about time and temp. 

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/Oa/fr/95033f-a.htm?redirecthttp=true

Ryan

 

[oberst]

My Masterbilt has problems uniformly finishing my sausage sticks to target temp. When they have been in long enough and maybe temps are only 135, I finish them in the oven set to convection bake, where the temp seems to be exceptionally uniform, at least in my oven. It finishes the sausage quickly and uniformly, and I set the oven at 170 or 175 and watch my temp probe closely.

 

[egraetze]

Thank you all for your advice.  Takeaways that I will take into consideration the next time:

1. Increase pork fat content to assure the sausages remain moist

2. After the desired color is achieved, in order to finish to temperature:  Increase the temperature in the smoker, finish in the oven, or finish in a hot water bath

3. Include a temperature probe to monitor smoker temperature.  The smoker is brand new, but that does not mean that it maintains the desired temperature.

Note that the sausage still tasted great, but were a bit overdone for my liking.  They were awesome fried up with onions and beer.