wrinkle sausages

[Fordmanf150]

Have a question I'm new to this site, i just built me a smoke house, and have had trouble keeping the temp the same thought out the smoke house even on the same rows the temp read one thing on the left and something different on the right. For about two hours my suasages seem to cook well but after that they seems to stop cooking, get soft and start to wrinkle up real bad have any one had this problem with there smoke house, do i need to insulate the inside of it or add some planks to hold the heat in it more please advise.

Thanks

 

[DanMcG]

We need more info to help, what's you heat source, what temps are you running, things like that. Your sausage looks good but it may have been to hot, it looks like some fat collected in the bottom of a couple of them.

Were the sausage wrinkled when you took them out of the smoker, or did they wrinkle while cooling?

Some causes of wrinkling are under stuffing the casing, low humidity in the smoker, and to much air flow. If they look good when you take them out and then wrinkle while cooling you needed to dunk them in a ice water bath until the IT is down to under 100°.
If they're still wrinkled after the cold water bath try dunking in hot water for a minute, it will tighten the casing back up. I've had mixed results with this, but usually works.

 

[indaswamp]

Did you add any water to the meat paste prior to stuffing the links?

 

[Maple]

Can't help you with the wrinkles.

As for the temperatures. How are you distributing the heat at the bottom? You might have to put a baffle of some sort to diffuse the rising heat so it doesn't channel. This is also true for the top where you vent.

By the way like your smoke house can you post more photos?

 

[indaswamp]

What temp. did you smoke the sausage at? Though there are many causes for extreme wrinkle links, the most common would be either cooking them hot too fast, or cooking them over 180 which causes fat to melt out of the links.

Hot too fast makes the link tighten up and squeeze the moisture out of the link before the meat 'sets' and locks in place.

The key to good smoke sausage is low and slow.

 

[PerazziMx14]

Please remove

 

[indaswamp]

I lined mine with 1/4" hardi panel. Holds heat like steel. Once shes up to temp, 4~5* temp. difference between top and bottom probes. Very easy to hold constant temps.

 

[Fordmanf150]

I'm using propane burner for my source of heat, my temp is running between 180-200 usually start at about 180 for a couple of hours then get if up to about 200. Yes they do start wrinkling before i even take them off and also have wrinkle when i have turn the fire off for the cool down. Yes i do add a little of water to my season when mixing them up. My sausages look great for the first two hours then after that they tend to want to wrinkle up and be soft, if i test the temp in the sausages its give all kind of reading across the row, when i though that they should be the same or close to the same. Maybe i will try closing off my air stack and closing one of the vents on the bottom, what do you'll think about that well here are some more of the photos of construction of my smoker and thanks for the info

 

[DanMcG]

Ok Fordman, here's what stands out right off the bat to me.
Never let your smoker get over 170-175° it will cause "fat out", or render the fat and cause it to collect between the meat and casing. start around 120° for an hour to dry the casings. then hit the smoke and raise the temp to 140° for an hour, then 160° for 2 hours, then 170°-175° till you get an internal temp of 155°

You'll also want some sort of moisture throughout the whole smoke.

For air flow, leave you exhaust damper wide open and adjust the intakes to regulate air flow

 

[indaswamp]

^^^What danmcg said.
two problems- One, when you put cold sausage into a 180* smoker, the meat tightens up which squeezes the moisture out. Two, Temp. above 175~180* causes fat out, which is the melting of the hard fat inside the sausage that you worked so hard at preserving by keeping the meat VERY cold while grinding. Those two issues are why your sausage is wringled.

put the links on and start the smoker @90*~100* for 30 minutes to dry the links and form a pellicle. Add wood and bump to 120* until INT reaches 100*. This allows the meat passte to heat up slowly, and also allows the pellicle to soak up smoke by keeping it below 140*. Bump temp 10* every hour or so trying to keep the temp. 25~30* above the INT temp. When you get to 170*, hold the temp @170~175* and do not go any higher. Pull the links when the INT reaches 154* for 12 minutes as per USDA rules. You DO NOT need to go to 160*

 

[indaswamp]

One more tip-do not use dial thermometers. Get digital. Dials can be off by 15~25 degrees which is not acceptable when smoking sausages. You can find accurate digital thermometers for about $9 bucks at wal-mart.

 

[indaswamp]

Find one of the fattest links and insert a temp. probe to monitor the internal temp. during the cooking process. Yes, some will hit the mark sooner than others, smaller dia. ones before the larger; but you use the large dia. as a baseline for where the entire batch is at cooking.

 

[indaswamp]

Now, you can cook sausage above 180*, but it has to happen at 225* or above, and the cooking time is usually about 30 minutes so you are cooking them hot and fast before they wrinkle up, and you will not get much smoke onto the links. This would be grilling though and not smoking the links.

 

[indaswamp]

Can also smoke the links @120* for 3~4 hours then pull them to finish them in a 170* water bath. This works for small batches, but not practical for large ones unless you have some specialty equipment to handle the volume of sausage.

 

[Fordmanf150]

well guys, just finished adding plywood to the smoker, hoping this will solve my problem my wrinkling of sausages i used 1/4" thick plywood. When i smoke some sausages i will post the out come thanks for all the info here are a few picks of what i have done

 

[jaxrmrjmr]

The insulation will help stabilize temps. Let us know if it helps.

My take, based on the photos of your end product is:

1 - You are cooking your sausage instead of smoking it. This renders (melts) your fat. I try not to let my box get over 165° when I'm smoking sausage and I pull it when I can't find an IT lower than 156.

2 - You may be under stuffing your casings. They need to be nice and tight when full. Properly hydrated casings is a must to allow them to be fully filled! You need to soak them overnight.

3 - You might be adding too much water. I use about a cup of water to dissolve my cure and seasoning in before adding it to 5 #'s of ground meat. I don't use a binder as the fat works just fine to hold everything together as long as you don't melt it.

Also, take them directly from the smoker to a cool-cold water bath to cool them down quickly and that should stop any wrinkling.

I learned from Boykjoe on this sight, and I've made the best sausage I've ever made since picking his brain at a get-together a few years ago. Keep It Simple Stupid works great with sausage.