What types of smokers do you guys use for sausage?

[jeffesonm]

Howdy all,

I'm still pretty novice when it comes to smoking meats... done a fair number of pork butts/shoulders, few chuckies and a few rounds of ABTs. All this was done with my modified El Cheap-o Brinkman.

Well now it's deer season here in NJ and I'd like to get into sausage making. I've read most all the threads in the last 20 pages of this forum, and ordered and just received a copy of Ritek Kutas' famous sausage book. I've been scoping out a LEM 5 lb vertical stuffer and will probably place one big order once I complete my shopping list (cure, casings, etc.).

Many of the recipes I see call for smoking sausage at very low and precise temperatures for long periods of time: 1 hour @ 100, 4 hours @ 140, 4 hours @ 170, etc. I'm good enough with the ECB to keep it in the 225-240 ish range for pork butts and chuckies, but there are always some variation in the temps and those cuts seem more forgiving than sausage would be.

So, what types of smokers does everyone have that can handle this type of smoking?

 

[got14u]

howdy Jeff. I use a home made smoker power with propane and a smoke daddy smoke generator for my sausage. I have used a MES before but it takes some tending to and didn't seem to smoke enough at low temps. but I didn't use sawdust either. With that being said I would think a lot of the cheaper electric units out there that have the wood pan very close to the heating element would work for ya if using sawdust. I don't have much experience with those so I can not recommend any particular brand. You will also need to decide how big of a unit you want. Will you be smoking 20lbs or 70lbs at 1 given time. Good luck with your decision

 

[hoser]

I use my gosm gasser to do everything, because it's the only smoker I've got!

I did modify it somewhat...in-line needle valve so I could maintain the low temps necessary when starting the smoke. You could also try putting a pan of ice in there when starting off to help keep the temps lower...just fill your water pan with ice and give her a little test drive...see how the temps run for an hour or two.

Good luck!

 

[uncle_lar]

I use my Gosm also to do my sausage and sticks and salami
I take out the racks and made wooden doll rods to hang the sausage on
I have the smaller gosm and can get about 20# of sticks or polish kilebas in it at a time
I have a larger chip pan that sits closer to the burner than the stock one.
I cut the legs off the chip pan rack
I also do not use the water pan when doing stick or salami
I have a few pics on here in different threads with my gosm filled with sausage and sticks.
I will see if I can find one and put a link on here

 

[travcoman45]

Got a fridges smoker I'm buildin just fer sausage, bacon an ham. Electric heat an gonna build my own version a the smoke daddy, hey, I'm a cheap hillybilly, what can I say!

Will have a dual thermostat set up fer low temp smokin yet can be used as a hot smoker as well.

When I get back to work on it, I'll post up some pics, (which won't be long I hope)!

Otherwise, try to keep yer temps down, get em to high an the suasage suffers. Gas ones will work well, with mods to keep temps down, just gotta watch that yer flame don't go out.

Drums can be used to, cause ya just don't add so much coals, er ya can add a hot plate in there fer some heat to.

 

[uncle_lar]

heres a link to the thread showing my gosm filled with 20# of sticks.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...venison+sticks

 

[jerseyhunter]

I use the 20 lb electric smoker from the Sausagemaker for making my sausages.

 

[txbigred]

A home made one from a used hot box. It will do 100 lbs easy.





DAve

 

[fourthwind]

My MES does fine for sausage. When doing low temp smokes, you have to use wood shreds or dust. I have done 30 pounds of summer sausage at a time in it.

 

[mballi3011]

Well when I start smoking some sausage I'll use the one on my back porch or the one in the driveway but one of the two of them. One is gas and one is charcoal.

 

[scpatterson]

Im gonna use my Lang by God....I havent snoke dnay as of yet but I am going to very soon....

 

[hog warden]

Anybody using the vertical chamber on these three way smokers? Here are a couple examples using this design concept:

http://www.lipsmakinsmokers.com/products.asp?cat=15

http://www.tejassmokers.com/products/1628cc.htm

Curious how easy is is to maintain low temps in the 130* range for several hours with one of these.

 

[mulepackin]

I use a converted freezer for sausage and the like. However, when I first started sausage I used a plain old ECB. Had to watch it like a hawk, but still turned out some great sausage. So the one to use is the one you have.

 

[pantherfan83]

I use an MES. I don't have any problems with getting smoke at low temps. I have had problems with un-even heating on the right side, so I've been rotating the racks. Next time, I'm going to put in a tile over the heating element covering the back and right sides to even out the temps as others have done.

 

[blue]

I use my offset. I can get a good 10 pounds on it at a time and since they only take a couple of hours, I just do them in batches.

 

[rio_grande]

Hog warden I have been concidering a design similar to that just for sausage smoking.

I looked at that first horizon tonight and the way it is set up I doubt I could get much if any more sausage in the vertical chamber than my small GOSM but it may deal with the temps easier, not sure.

I am thinking an upright 250gal oil drum with 2 long runs of dowel in the top and cross pieces. would hold a bunch of sausage hanging from the rods,,

 

[fishawn]

MES...... So easy to control temps..... As mentioned before here though, I also have a "hot spot" back right over element area..... Last batch I did tonight though, I hung them from string on the top rack, all in the middle of the smoker & did not have any "hot spot spots"....

 

[DanMcG]

I use a small electric like The Sausage Maker offers, and I also have a homemade wood one for larger/longer batchs which is also electric.

 

[dangerdan]

I use an offset fridge smoker for sausages. On everything elso too for that matter.

 

[bb53chevpro]

Here is a link to the smoker I use for smoking sausage.
http://s283.photobucket.com/albums/k...0March%202009/