Uneven color cold smoking

[Dustin Dorsey]

Because it's hot outside I decided to try using a pellet tube in my WSM to cold smoke some andouille and then I finished it in a sous vide bath. It's my first time doing either. The color wound up being pretty uneven. I normally do a warm smoke.

Here is the mixed meat and fat in the stuffer:

Linked sausages

Links on the WSM

After the water bath.

Another picture.

So I've got several theories on this.

1. Maybe I should have just smoked them longer? The tube ran out at 5 hours.

2. I let the links dry overnight in the fridge but didn't put them on a rack. Maybe the casings were just damp in some areas.

3. Not enough spacing between the links?

4. Maybe the light spots are where the casing didn't bind well with the meat due to fat smear? I kept the meat really cold in between steps. I don't think this is the case.

I tried a link and the sausage tastes great and will work perfectly for what I'm using it for, which is for gumbo.
I'm just looking for the guidance and to improve.

 

[Hijack73]

I just had a batch of bacon (2 ~5lb slabs) that I tried to cold smoke (ended up having to hot smoke it) and had pretty poor (IMO) results. I think it was just too hot and humid (we've had nothing but thunderstorm after thunderstorm for weeks now, even late at night- and that night came a doozy about 2 hours into the process) for running the tube in the pellet smoker. This ended up being EXTREMELY dark on one piece and dark on the other. I ran just the tube for about 4 hours, and saw it take on almost no color. I took the bacon out, started the smoker, and ran it at 220 for about 2 hours, with the tube still going. At the 2 hour mark, I was like - whoa......... that's PAST red.....

Tastes ok, but really really dark after that combo. These were also new to me pellets (Bear Mountain) that I purchased at Academy. I finally ran out of my Cabela's stash of cherry. I will continue to use them but I will not buy them again. Not because of this, but because these bound up my auger something fierce after only sitting in it for about 10 days. I ended up having to back burn though the auger tube with a propane torch to get it freed up. Yes, it's been hot and humid, but I've had this smoker for 4 years now and this is my first auger jam - sits on my covered patio 24/7/365. I've used a number of other pellets, including a big cheap 40lb bag of Sam's Club last year just to see if they were worth it. The answer to that was, maybe if I mixed with something else.... - but no jams with Cabela's (most often used- employee discount from when daughter worked there), Pit Boss (dozens of bags), Kingsford, and Traeger. It sat completely unused and full for an entire summer in 2022 - only problem then was the happy little wasp nest that stopped my fan from blowing.....

 

[DougE]

I took the bacon out, started the smoker, and ran it at 220 for about 2 hours, with the tube still going.

If using the pellet smoker to hot smoke bacon, I run at 160° until I get the color I want, then bump up no higher than 180° until I hit 145° IT.

For smoked sausage, I run just a tube with dust in the cook chamber during cooler weather until I get the color I want, or run the grill at 160° until I get the color I want in summer. Then poach nekkid in SV until they hit 151°, cold water bath, hang at room temp to bloom.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I would say that some sausage got more smoke than others. You can see the darker color in the raw stage on some. You need air flow when cold smoking. If I do this in my Yoder 640, I can turn on the fan without lighting the grill. This airflow helps a lot. I most always warm smoke to color then SV or poach finish.

 

[DougE]

All in all, uneven color or not, I think I'd be pretty happy with that batch.

 

[Hijack73]

If using the pellet smoker to hot smoke bacon, I run at 160° until I get the color I want, then bump up no higher than 180° until I hit 145° IT.

For smoked sausage, I run just a tube with dust in the cook chamber during cooler weather until I get the color I want, or run the grill at 160° until I get the color I want in summer. Then poach nekkid in SV until they hit 151°, cold water bath, hang at room temp to bloom.

I would if I could. My Pit Boss will not run under 220 without flame outs and then re-fire. I've spent enough time piddling with the PID without meaningful change in results. It just won't do it.

I smoke to color, then finish in a 170 oven to 145ish. This batch just went crazy. Smoked sausage I run to color then finish in a big 170 water bath (I just use a big pot that I bring to a low simmer on the stove top then perch it in the oven at 170 until it evens out - seems to only need about 20-30 minutes)

 

[DougE]

I smoke to color, then finish in a 170 oven to 145ish. This batch just went crazy. Smoked sausage I run to color then finish in a big 170 water bath (I just use a big pot that I bring to a low simmer on the stove top then perch it in the oven at 170 until it evens out - seems to only need about 20-30 minutes)

I also smoke sausages to color, finish in SV to 151° IT, then cold water bath and hang to bloom.

Main worry I'd have with having to run the smoke phase at 220° is the outside getting too hot ahead of the inside and melting some fat.

 

[Redicans]

I don't know anything about making sausage but I must say they look tasty to me!!

 

[hoity toit]

Because it's hot outside I decided to try using a pellet tube in my WSM to cold smoke some andouille and then I finished it in a sous vide bath. It's my first time doing either. The color wound up being pretty uneven. I normally do a warm smoke.

Here is the mixed meat and fat in the stuffer:
View attachment 701468

View attachment 701469
Linked sausages

View attachment 701470
Links on the WSM

View attachment 701471
After the water bath.

View attachment 701472
Another picture.

So I've got several theories on this.

1. Maybe I should have just smoked them longer? The tube ran out at 5 hours.

2. I let the links dry overnight in the fridge but didn't put them on a rack. Maybe the casings were just damp in some areas.

3. Not enough spacing between the links?

4. Maybe the light spots are where the casing didn't bind well with the meat due to fat smear? I kept the meat really cold in between steps. I don't think this is the case.

I tried a link and the sausage tastes great and will work perfectly for what I'm using it for, which is for gumbo.
I'm just looking for the guidance and to improve.

Rotate the sausages several times. Looks likes they could have been touching each other of inside the smoker th smoke was crawling the sides of the unit. keep exhaust wide open.

HT

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

I made some gumbo with it a few weeks back and you couldn't even tell the color difference any more. It was all the smoke I'd ever want so smoking them longer isn't the answer. The smoke going up the sides might be something. I had the water pan in there. Maybe I should have taken it out. Rotating is a good idea. I think the casings might not have been evenly dry. I need to make more sausage and try it again.