Sausage Smoking: Could use Your advice

[couger78]

The Sausage quest continues....I'm now in the market for a new smoker, My ol' reliable WSM is great for long, slow smokes but the temp runs waaay too hot (tough to keep it under 200° for extended periods. For sausage purposes, I've read where ideally the smoker temp shouldnt exceed the 160-165° range on the upper end.

Soooo...one of the smokers I'm considering is the 40" Masterbuilt Electric smoker (MSE).

Question for you sausage smokers—do you hang your links or lay them flat on the grates? If you do hang 'em, how are you doing this? On the MSE, it looks like one could use dowels from the grate racks to do this (see illustration) and possibly use a heat shield for protecting those pieces closest to the heat source?

I'm also looking into using one of the AmazeNsmokers units as well. This could possibly make the heat shield unnecessary.

Comments?

thanks

Kevin

 

[fpnmf]

Get an amazen.

I hang them from the top with dowels.

I have a 30 MES and have smoked tons of sausage...in fact that's pretty much all I use it for now that I have a WSM.

Hit the search tool and look at my sausage posts and a few others..like nepas, dan ... and more..

 Plenty of info here.

  Craig

 

[raptor700]

Never smoked sausage in the MES, But i do use dowels to hang it on.

The MES and an A-MAZE-N-SMOKER (as Craig said) would probably work well for ya!

Don't forget the Qveiw

 

[couger78]

Hit the search tool and look at my sausage posts and a few others..like nepas, dan ... and more..

 Plenty of info here.

  Craig

Thanks, Craig. You're absolutely correct about the wealth of good info here regarding MES & sausage set-up!

Some really good ideas posted by other forumites on hanging sausages.....

Custom plank & dowel:

S hooks & dowel

just S hooks:

Rebar:

Wire & dowel:

 

 

[boykjo]

looks like you have some good info to help you get that sausage hung.... If using rebar i would suggest before you hang the sausage, place aluminium foil over the rebar to keep the sausage clean and it makes for easy clean up of the rebar....

Happy smokin

Joe

 

[beer-b-q]

The MES 40" is definitely a good choice especially when teamed up with the Amaze-N-Smoker.  I would advise you to stay away from any of the Bradley Units.

 

[nogoer]

I've got the MES 30 i think. I always hang from dowels, but i often have to make concesions with how much and what size links i make. The dang thing isn't tall enough, but that shouldn't be an issue for you with the 40. I did tons of research into smokers with the specific use of doing sausage and bacon smokes as the primary use. I shied away from the bradley because of issues with some and the proprietary "pucks" and thier friggen expensive. Not to mention full on smokes i think (may be wrong) are out of it's temp range.

I have had mine for years now and in spite of some early design flaws making the latch a pain, and one issue with the heater element breaking the solder joint this thing has taken some serious use and abuse and is still going strong! I highly recommend the MES. There's also alot of DIY methods for cold smoking with this thing. I rigged up an external electric stove thing with a cast irron skillet, but that was before the plethora of cold smoke generators now. Plus i like to be cheap and use crap around the house for problems im presented with, it's more fun than buying something.

 

[weisswurst]

I have a masterbuilt.I hang from dowels placed nearer to top. Pretty much like in the photos.I like the side opening feature of the masterbuilt.I can control the lower temps much better. One can purchase a smoke generator and mount it , thereby having the ability to cold smoke without the unwanted heat. I rigged up a hot plate next to the smoker and used pipe to direct smoke into the smoker via the loading port. So that i can cold smoke  , then turn heat on in smoker but still use the " hot plate " smoke generator.It does create some heat but not much and no  flare ups.When i get done with my post retirement honey dos i am going to make something that would work along the same lines as a smoke pistol. Except I would not have to purchase the smoking wood or pellets.   For newbies who want to make sausage , I would recommend the smoker have a port on the side that the smoke can be introduced thru.With the Masterbuilt the intention of the Manufacturer is to introduce the smoking wood thru the port into the pan below food. This works quite well , however when i make sausage i take it a step further and it makes it even better.If i am smoke cooking as apposed to real smoking that is not quite as important so i use the smoker as is.  as i am writing this i am looking at a picture of my gr grandfathers brother standing near his smoker. Looks much like an out house.His heat and smoke source is a few feet away and lower than the smoker. this is circa 1920. Happy smoking Weisswurst

 

[franknap]

I've been making sopressata for the past 30 years, I press the sopressata after making them for a few days. Once flat, i cold smoke for 2 days. Then into my converted fridge to cure for a few months. Ill take some pictures one of these days. The cold smoker I use is a steel garbage can and links hung on dowels, Also hung to cure in fridge, with humidifier, temp controller and fan to circulate air. 

 

[raptor700]

I've been making sopressata for the past 30 years, I press the sopressata after making them for a few days. Once flat, i cold smoke for 2 days. Then into my converted fridge to cure for a few months. Ill take some pictures one of these days. The cold smoker I use is a steel garbage can and links hung on dowels, Also hung to cure in fridge, with humidifier, temp controller and fan to circulate air. 

I would like to see some pics of that set-up