Summer sausage taking a long time to finish

[NBraun]

Seriously, I don't know if its me or if this is normal. I'm used to sausage taking a while to finish, but I never ran into a time where it took almost 24 hours.

I made 20lbs of venison sausage using 2 1/2" fiborous casings. I had my small propane smoker filled to the max. I used my fireboard thermometer to measure smoker temp, and two of the sausages, as well as following up with a thermapen. I had my smoker temp at 175-200, and the sausage was on for 21 hours and they had only reached an internal of 145, after stalling out for 6 hours.

I pulled them at 145, because I had to go to work, and I think they're fine because of the time they were at 145.

I feel like I'm going crazy,, people talk about times and it seems like they get to temp in at least 10 hours, maybe 12, and here I am taking over 21 hours. I've calibrated all of my thermometers and they're correct, not to mention the thermapen is the industry standard.

Am I wrong here?

 

[bill ace 350]

Seriously, I don't know if its me or if this is normal. I'm used to sausage taking a while to finish, but I never ran into a time where it took almost 24 hours.

I made 20lbs of venison sausage using 2 1/2" fiborous casings. I had my small propane smoker filled to the max. I used my fireboard thermometer to measure smoker temp, and two of the sausages, as well as following up with a thermapen. I had my smoker temp at 175-200, and the sausage was on for 21 hours and they had only reached an internal of 145, after stalling out for 6 hours.

I pulled them at 145, because I had to go to work, and I think they're fine because of the time they were at 145.

I feel like I'm going crazy,, people talk about times and it seems like they get to temp in at least 10 hours, maybe 12, and here I am taking over 21 hours. I've calibrated all of my thermometers and they're correct, not to mention the thermapen is the industry standard.

Am I wrong here?

D o you normally do 20lb batches?

Longest I've had to go is 16 hours.

Should be fine depending on how long you had it at 145.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Over crowding your smoker can make the SS take longer. 145 IT needs to be higher to be safe. 150 would have been better.

 

[zwiller]

Been there. @SWFLsmkr1 Beat me! Definitely never a good idea to really load a smoker or you have issues like this but for me the key was a EDIT warming step of sorts before the smoke provided cured product.

 

[NBraun]

Alrighty, Thanks for the input guys.

I've only done a few small batches before this, and they've all gone fine. I have a sous vide machine, would I be able to water bath them up to 155 yet to be on the safe side?

 

[Nodak21]

How much water did you add to your mix? That is usually my issue when they take forever

 

[indaswamp]

What size smoker are you using?

You can also close the dampers to 3/4 close to increase the steam in the smokehouse as this will stop- or at least significantly slow down- the evaporation cooling on the sausage surface.

 

[flatbroke]

Seriously, I don't know if its me or if this is normal. I'm used to sausage taking a while to finish, but I never ran into a time where it took almost 24 hours.

I made 20lbs of venison sausage using 2 1/2" fiborous casings. I had my small propane smoker filled to the max. I used my fireboard thermometer to measure smoker temp, and two of the sausages, as well as following up with a thermapen. I had my smoker temp at 175-200, and the sausage was on for 21 hours and they had only reached an internal of 145, after stalling out for 6 hours.

I pulled them at 145, because I had to go to work, and I think they're fine because of the time they were at 145.

I feel like I'm going crazy,, people talk about times and it seems like they get to temp in at least 10 hours, maybe 12, and here I am taking over 21 hours. I've calibrated all of my thermometers and they're correct, not to mention the thermapen is the industry standard.

Am I wrong here?

takes a long time for temps under 175, you are not wrong. redbarn took 17 hours for me. thats a long time in a stick burner. My smoker was not crowded. 25 pound batch.

 

[NBraun]

How much water did you add to your mix? That is usually my issue when they take forever

Just 12 oz for 15lbs of meat. Whatever the directions called for.

 

[NBraun]

takes a long time for temps under 175, you are not wrong. redbarn took 17 hours for me. thats a long time in a stick burner. My smoker was not crowded. 25 pound batch. View attachment 513257

I'm glad to hear someone else is experiencing it as well!

 

[zwiller]

The time it takes is one thing but I get case hardening pretty bad when it takes that long.

 

[indaswamp]

The time it takes is one thing but I get case hardening pretty bad when it takes that long.

I find that case hardening is not so much an issue if the product will not be dried. Once vacuum sealed, the moisture will equalize and rehydrate the outer hard surface.