Summer Sausage

[nuprofessor]

I have a question for the forum. I made a batch of summer sausage (80% venison, 20% pork) in my smoker. Used the recipe and instructions on the LEM website. When finished the sausage had a layer of grease and yellow / clear congeal on the outside (under the casing).
What happened? How can I prevent that in the future?

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Its called a fat-out

To high of a temp in your smoker.

What was your starting temp and meat IT.

 

[nuprofessor]

Its called a fat-out

To high of a temp in your smoker.

What was your starting temp and meat IT.

Started at 140 for one hour, 160 for one hour, then finished at 180. IT was 160

 

[BGKYSmoker]

140 good. the jum to 160 not good, 180 too high. IT too high.

Here is the temp and time scale i use for most of my sausage making. I use this for chubs and sticks. Please note that YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY.



Outside weather conditions can also have a big part of how long it takes the meat to target IT.



TRY NOT TO EXCEED SMOKER TEMPS OF 170.
See line 6.



I do not use a meat probe while smoking, the probe can cause fat cavitation and give false readings. Use a Thermapen to check IT of meat. I know that opening the door is going to increase your time, just the nature of the game.

Hang your stuffed casings at room temp for 2 hours to dry and set. Have your smoker pre heated at 130* I use a Masterbuilt electric. Keep your top vent open. Closing the vent off will increase moisture inside your smoker and give you an unpleasant discoloration on your product. Remember this is semi dry sausage, not dripping prime rib.
1. Hang in smoker at 130* for 2 hours (no smoke)
2. 140* for 1.5-2 hrs smoke (Use of a water pan is your call)
3. 150* for 2.5 hrs (smoke opt)
4. 160 for 2.5-3 hrs (smoke opt) check meat IT here from the top of the chubs. You may have a stall in this time period.
5. Increase smoke temp to 170* (opt smoke) For 3-4 hrs. Check IT again, You should be close to your target IT of 152.
6. If needed increase smoker to 172-174* for 1-2 hrs. DO NOT GO HIGHER OR YOU WILL RISK A FAT-OUT. CHECK IT OFTEN
7. If you dont have time to do a complete smoke you can use hot water to finish to your IT. DO NOT EXCEED A WATER TEMP OF 165 AND MOVE THE CHUBS/STICKS AROUND IN THE WATER. Cold water bath after your IT is up to you.

 

[JC in GB]

BGKYSmoker has got you covered. His advice is spot on.

JC

 

[nuprofessor]

Thanks. I’ll do that next time and see how it goes.

 

[zwiller]

+1
Rich chopsaw is helping me speed it up but most sites and recipes don't tell you that this is normally a 12+ hours session.

 

[SmokinAl]

SFL is the sausage king, so I would go with his advice!
Al

 

[nuprofessor]

140 good. the jum to 160 not good, 180 too high. IT too high.

Here is the temp and time scale i use for most of my sausage making. I use this for chubs and sticks. Please note that YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY.



Outside weather conditions can also have a big part of how long it takes the meat to target IT.



TRY NOT TO EXCEED SMOKER TEMPS OF 170.
See line 6.



I do not use a meat probe while smoking, the probe can cause fat cavitation and give false readings. Use a Thermapen to check IT of meat. I know that opening the door is going to increase your time, just the nature of the game.

Hang your stuffed casings at room temp for 2 hours to dry and set. Have your smoker pre heated at 130* I use a Masterbuilt electric. Keep your top vent open. Closing the vent off will increase moisture inside your smoker and give you an unpleasant discoloration on your product. Remember this is semi dry sausage, not dripping prime rib.
1. Hang in smoker at 130* for 2 hours (no smoke)
2. 140* for 1.5-2 hrs smoke (Use of a water pan is your call)
3. 150* for 2.5 hrs (smoke opt)
4. 160 for 2.5-3 hrs (smoke opt) check meat IT here from the top of the chubs. You may have a stall in this time period.
5. Increase smoke temp to 170* (opt smoke) For 3-4 hrs. Check IT again, You should be close to your target IT of 152.
6. If needed increase smoker to 172-174* for 1-2 hrs. DO NOT GO HIGHER OR YOU WILL RISK A FAT-OUT. CHECK IT OFTEN
7. If you dont have time to do a complete smoke you can use hot water to finish to your IT. DO NOT EXCEED A WATER TEMP OF 165 AND MOVE THE CHUBS/STICKS AROUND IN THE WATER. Cold water bath after your IT is up to you.

SFL,
Which if the Thermapens do you recommend for a beginning level smoker? When I looked they were priced anywhere from $20 to $130 depending on the model. Thanks

 

[BGKYSmoker]

I use the water resistant instant read thermapen. I think they are like $70

I dont leave a probe in my chubs while smoking.

 

[tallbm]

I have a question for the forum. I made a batch of summer sausage (80% venison, 20% pork) in my smoker. Used the recipe and instructions on the LEM website. When finished the sausage had a layer of grease and yellow / clear congeal on the outside (under the casing).
What happened? How can I prevent that in the future?

Hi there and welcome!

The guys got you covered.

What type of smoker are you use?

I would suggest you get a wireless dual probe (or more probes like at least 4) and you put a probe at rack level to measure your smokers actual temp. The out of the box smoker thermometers are always placed poorly or are just plain bad and give bad measurements so having a backup you can trust is nice. The 2nd probe will go into the meat.
You can set alarms so you know when your meat has hit the temps.

Now most smokers electric, pellet, charcoal, or stick burners may swing in temps and/or have trouble holding steady temps. With sausage and bacon you have to have pretty tight temp control so you dont get too hot and get fat-out like you did.
A good wireless thermometer with plenty of probes and alarms helps u handle all of this.

Finally, I do wild game sausage where I take the smoker to 180F degrees because I have to take my sausage internal temp (IT) to 165F to kill micro nasties in wild pork meat. So it is 100% possible BUT my highly modified electric smoker holds temps at those levels dead on and within 1 degree at smoker temps 275F+ so I know for sure I can do 180F and get sausage with no fat out :)
If using store bought meat I never take my smoker temp and IT of sausage that high.