The Impatient Sausage Maker

[scottnthewoods]

I guess I will know the answer to this soon enough on my own, but I thought I would put it out for feedback.

So I made some Krakow sausage today and smoked if for a couple hours until I got it up to temp. I then I chilled it quickly in a ice water bath.

I would like to have some semi-dry to dry sausage.  I have read several articles about hanging it and letting is dry over several days / weeks.

So as an experiment I put a few pieces in my food dehydrator.  I took a measure of the weight and if I kiln it down to 65-70% of the starting weight will I accomplish the same product (or reasonably close)? 

 

[wild west]

I havnt tried that before but I'm guessing it will end up too dried out on the outside. When going for the type of sausage you stated the rh needs to be maintained relatively high especialy at the start to achieve an even consistency. What temp did you smoke at. Any sausage i have made takes way longer than a couple hours to come to finish temp

 

[scottnthewoods]

I used 26 mm collegen casings.  

Smoked the sausages at about 200 on my green egg with the plate setter in place for a little over 2 hours to reach 145-150 degrees.

Once temp was reached I chilled in an ice water bath.

I have put a few in my Open Country dehydrator after weighing them.

I could see the outside being drier than the center, but after putting it in the refrigerator wouldn't the moisture migrate and even out?

Here's a photo of my cobbled together rig.  A proper smokehouse is in the near future.

IMG_9577.JPG

• scottnthewoods
• Sep 9, 2017

 

[wild west]

Be sure to let us know how they turn out

 

[pc farmer]

In order to do what your want to do I would only go a week.  The fridge will dry the outside fast with the low humidity.

Cure #1 is only good for so long.  For long rest or dry cured use #2.

 

[scottnthewoods]

New to trade please elaborate on the differences Cures.

 

[pc farmer]

Basically #1 is used for short cures for meat that is to be cooked.

#2 is for long cure, dry cured products that wont be cooked.

Check this out.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/curing-salts-for-sausage-making

 

[scottnthewoods]

Thanks

So I kilned 30% the Sausage weight off and it made a fairly nice product.  It took about 5 hours with my dehydrator at 160 degrees f.

This said, this method is the perfect replacement for the time tested method of giving time a chance to do it's work.

I am sure I could monkey with it and tweak things a bit, but this method would go in the column of "Okay if you need something quick". 

IMG_9582.JPG

• scottnthewoods
• Sep 10, 2017

 

[tallbm]

New to trade please elaborate on the differences Cures.

Hi scott.  Have you used any cure at all with the sausages you are tinkering with?

If not you may be playing with fire.  

The safety rule is that meat should NOT sits with an Internal Temperature (IT) between 40F - 140F for over 4 hours.  If so you have hit the danger zone where bacteria and/or the toxins they produce could make you sick or kill you. 

The solution to this situation is to use Cure #1 (also called instacure or prague powder).  So with smoking sausage, bacon, jerky, etc. Cure #1 is used.

With uncooked dried products Cure #2 is used.  This is for uncooked cured meats like dried pepperoni, salami, prosciutto, etc. that are cured without ever being cooked and dried.  There is more to this whole process but you can read on it for more details.

I am just posting this to ensure you are using cure and if not to raise awareness that you may risk hospitalizing yourself or someone else.  Safety is the key and the community here can surely help you on your meat journey :)

 

[chef jimmyj]

 
Hi scott.  Have you used any cure at all with the sausages you are tinkering with?

If not you may be playing with fire.  

The safety rule is that meat should NOT sits with an Internal Temperature (IT) between 40F - 140F for over 4 hours.  If so you have hit the danger zone where bacteria and/or the toxins they produce could make you sick or kill you. 

The solution to this situation is to use Cure #1 (also called instacure or prague powder).  So with smoking sausage, bacon, jerky, etc. Cure #1 is used.

With uncooked dried products Cure #2 is used.  This is for uncooked cured meats like dried pepperoni, salami, prosciutto, etc. that are cured without ever being cooked and dried.  There is more to this whole process but you can read on it for more details.

I am just posting this to ensure you are using cure and if not to raise awareness that you may risk hospitalizing yourself or someone else.  Safety is the key and the community here can surely help you on your meat journey :)

Good advice... In this case, the sausage was smoked at 200 and reached 150 in under 4 hours, that is hot smoked. Krakow kielbasa contains cure but even if not used, he hot smoked it safely. Drying at 160 also avoids any bacterial issues...JJ

 

[tallbm]

 
Good advice... In this case, the sausage was smoked at 200 and reached 150 in under 4 hours, that is hot smoked. Krakow kielbasa contains cure but even if not used, he hot smoked it safely. Drying at 160 also avoids any bacterial issues...JJ

Phew!  Didn't want anyone getting sick lol :)

 

[blaise]

Rytec Kutas book -----page 372 in my copy has a short section on drying any smoked sausage. You might want to check it out.

Blaise

 

[scottnthewoods]

In the ones pictured I did use Cure #1 and they were brought up to at least 145f (probably closer to 155) in the initial smoking process.  

I then ice chilled them.  

I later had this idea so I put some in my dehydrator set at 160f.

I have little confidence in the exact accuracy of thermometer on my Green Egg but it was reading around 200 degrees during the initial smoking process.  Thats about as low as I have been able to maintain temp and fire in the egg.  I utilized a plate setter to direct the heat away from the center.