Smoking 4" sausage chubs...

[PossumPie]

So I just had a strange idea. I make deer bologna (more precisely deer sausage) in 4" diameter rolls which I hang in the smoker for 8 hours. Anything less won't penetrate to the center. I got thinking, If I took the raw sausage and put it on cookie sheets in the smoker, there would be exponentially more surface area. Cold smoke it for say 3hrs, then stuff it into the casings wouldn't that be more efficient? I could then heat the chubs to internal 155 F in the smoker or oven, saving hours of long smoke and $$ on saved pellets. Is there a problem here that I am overlooking?

 

[Timber II]

More smarter people will chime in I’m sure but for starters I’m thinking this:

-gonna dry out

-long time for meat to be in the danger zone maybe

-not a significant savings on pellets

- why not stuff thinner chubs?

Those are just some thoughts from my feeble mind. I love making deer sausage and learned everything I know from the good folks on here