smoke house

[labjake]

Home made smoke house that we could not get enough smoke flavor. So purchased a home made unit that goes on the outside of the smoker. Uses gas and a pan for chips that smokes and travels in a short pipe into the smoker. Had a lot of smoke but when finished smoking the casings had a lot of dark black soot on them and the sausage didn't have a lot of smoke favor. Plus after smoking about 3 hrs under 130 degrees and then upping temp to 170 degrees to finish. It will take another 10 hrs to get internal temp up to 156, is that common?

 

[jimmyinsd]

were your sausages good and dry when you started adding the smoke? what temps were your sausages when you applied the smoke? sounds to me like you have condensation in the smoke house and that formed droplets on the sausages. this could be a lot of things, but something was certainly off and I would guess its with the temps and humidity levels.

where are you located?

 

[indaswamp]

Did you have the vents wide open? Did you over load the smokehouse with sausage? Did you have good air draft? Did you use a water pan?

 

[labjake]

I was told to shut the damper, didn't have it over loaded,air draft was just the damper on the exit pipe,no water pan. damper half open after done smoking and when turned up temp to finish.

 

[labjake]

before smoking I cracked the door open for about 1 1/2 hours and ran a temp around 150 to dry the sausage. But the sausage did hang over night in my garage which was about 45 degrees. I live in wisconsin

 

[indaswamp]

What smoker are you using? and how many pounds of sausage did you smoke?

 

[indaswamp]

I was told to shut the damper, didn't have it over loaded,air draft was just the damper on the exit pipe,no water pan. damper half open after done smoking and when turned up temp to finish.

Should always run with the damper wide open when smoking to remove stale smoke to prevent creosote build up and to remove moisture that is evaporating from the meat. Otherwise you get condensation on the ceiling of the smokehouse, which creosote will condense on the drops, then they drip on your meat leaving a foul bitter acrid taste on the meat.

 

[labjake]

home made smoker that is 3.5x3.5 and I only had 32 stick. I had 100 sticks in it before but now we added the burner on the side and piped in so I can get more smoke. Before I added a ceiling fan to help move air.

 

[daveomak]

A picture of your smoker design would help...
When smoking meat, air flow is a critical ingredient, like others have noted... The exhaust should always be open for good air flow... that allows for the exit of moisture and good clean smoke from adequate combustion... Temperature can be adjusted using alternate air inlets...
Below is a "drawing" of several possible combinations for a smokehouse....

 

[labjake]

my smoker is 3.5x3.5 by 7ft tall,has a 1x2 smoking unit on the left side that is piped into the smoker. Has a 6'' pipe out the top with a damper in it. At the bottom have a gas burner for the heat.

 

[labjake]

So what I need to do is hang the sausage and turn the heat to what temp ? to dry the casings. Isn't the casing always seam damp because of the meat? Keep the damper open and when the casings are dry then start smoking for 3 hours. Then turn the heat up to 180 and shut off when the sausage is at 156.How long should it take from smoking to getting the sausage to 156?

 

[labjake]

I forgot there is a ceiling fan on top inside, I put it there to help move the air

 

[indaswamp]

So what I need to do is hang the sausage and turn the heat to what temp ? to dry the casings. Isn't the casing always seam damp because of the meat? Keep the damper open and when the casings are dry then start smoking for 3 hours. Then turn the heat up to 180 and shut off when the sausage is at 156.How long should it take from smoking to getting the sausage to 156?

Hang the sausage, with vents wide open put 110*~120* heat to them with no smoke for minimum of 30 minutes, but an hour is better. When the casing is dry and sticky to touch, they are ready for smoke. As long as the surface of the meat stays below 140*, the surface will absorb smoke into the meat. I like to keep the chamber temp. 120* for an hour with smoke, then bump up to 130* and hold there for 2~3 hours (unless I'm smoking andouille). This lets me get the deep smoke I like and helps with the color. Then, just step up the heat 10* every hour or so trying to keep the chamber temp. about 20~25* above the INT of the links. You want to heat the links gently so the meat does not tighten too quickly and squeeze moisture out that you worked so hard to try and retain.
When I get the chamber temp up to about 170* I hold this temp until the links reach 152*. I hold this temp. for about 12 minutes for sufficient pasteurization of the meat. Some go longer-depends on the degree of safety you want. Some cook to a high temp. but it really is not necessary unless you are wanting a little bit drier product.

As far as time, It depends on a number of factors. If you skip the holding @130* for 2~3 hours, you should be ale to finish your sausage smoking in 5~6 hours.

The key here is to slowly step up the temps. gently...once the meat paste in the links gets to about 130~135*, the meat paste is set from cooking. BTW, this is when your encapsulate citric acid is released-after the meat has set from cooking. This is done to prevent the acid from interfering with the binding of the meat.

 

[labjake]

thank you, the ceiling fan i put was to move the air so there is no hot spots, do you think that is hurting anything

 

[indaswamp]

thank you, the ceiling fan i put was to move the air so there is no hot spots, do you think that is hurting anything

Which direction are you pushing the air with the fan? In reverse or normal which blows down?

 

[labjake]

reverse

 

[indaswamp]

Where is the exhaust flue for the smokehouse?

I have seen people use fans in large smokehouses, but always mounted on the wall and blowing air vertically instead of horizontally. because it will not impede the draft through the smokehouse.

With a ceiling mount fan, you will either have air blowing down in the middle (fan in normal position) or air blowing down along the sides of the walls as the air curls at the ceiling and turns 180* (with fan in reverse). Both will impede the natural draft in a smokehouse.

 

[labjake]

the exhaust pipe is in the top center. Before I put in the ceiling fan I had hot spots and would cook the fat out of some of the sausages. But I didn't have the damper open either. I want to try another batch but I did like 4 batches with different mixes and they all taste the same,cooked and no smoke and you would think it was all the same mix.