Alright guys, I'm in need of some advice on smoking deer/pork link sausage and summer sausage. I was gonna try my hand at it this year and need some opinions on smokers. What is your favorite smoker for smoking your homemade sausage? How long do you let it smoke? Any other tips, advice, recipes will be greatly appreciated.

i have not tried making the smoked sausage yet but i have made their pan and chorizo sausage. they give good instruction on how to do it and will help over the phone if you have any extra questions. http://www.zachspice.com/Recipes.html

Here is my smoker:
http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/u...e_H#Post1980210

It'll be in full swing again in a few months!

Im not 100% for sure on this, but pretty sure, summer sausage is supposed to be smoked as in like a brisket is smoked, actualy sort of cooked, while if you are just smoking link sausage for either fresh sausage or dry sausage you just really want smoke no heat.

matt

Summer sausage needs to be fully cooked and should include insta-cure or other curing agent to prevent bacteria growth and the problems that may happend after the fact. This website has some great information on it that you might find helpful. I've ordered quite a few products from them as well. The shipping can be a bit high, but their seasoning mixes are pretty good and simple to use.

http://www.sausagemaker.com/frequentlyaskedquestions.aspx

We always hang our sausage on rods while smoking. Not sure how well it would work laying on a grill. Here's a photo we took several years ago.

Thanks for the websites and advice guys. Hey Bobby, about how much sausage is that right there? What kind of smoker did you fit all that in?

done it both ways and it turns out fine IF you keep the heat down LOW. Remember you are just smoking and not cooking, if that is what you want to do. We always dunked ours in ice water when we took it off so solid up the fats

That was probably about a 100 lb batch. I'd guess 80 lbs. of smoked sausage (klobase) and 20 lbs. of jalapeno and cheese summer sausage. We had a smoke house built out of a old water cistern tank. A storm caught it a beat it up pretty bad and it's no longer around. My dad has since built another one that's double-walled and insulated. We just haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

I dont want to sound condecending or like I am a know it all, but have you done this before or is it a first?

We smoke our sausage in a 10' X 16' storage building. You dont want to smoke it on a smoker that is part of a bbq pit. You dont want heat at all, in fact it is supposed to stay cool to help preserve the meat. To make smoke we put mequite chips in a 1 gal coffe can inside a 5 gal metal bucket start the chips on fire with liter fluid lest burn a min or two then snuff it out with something over the top of the 5 gal bucket leave it open a little for smoke to get out and close the storage building and leav it over night, repeat the next morning and that is how we smoke sausage.

After that you leave it hang for making dry sausage or you can take it and bbq it boil it or cook it by whatever means you want, but it isnt ready to eat yet.

matt

We have an old shed we smoke it in. about 10'X10'. Put some coals in a 5 gal bucket and put oak pieces on top of that then put a piece of tin on top of the bucket. Usually smoke it twice then freeze the fresh sausage and let the others hang for dry. Depending on the weather about 2 weeks. If it gets humid you may have to wipe the sausage with vinegar to kill the mold if it starts .

It will be a first for me Redchevy. I appreciate all the advice and tips. I have a side firebox and wasn't sure if I could do it with that or not. It looks like I will need to build something to smoke them in. Thanks again for all the advice.

It doesnt take much, you can do it in a shed like we do, but something like an old deer blind would work too. I think you are going to get too much heat in the smoker unless you use a "fire" for lack of a better word like DonK and I described, then your side smoker would probably be just fine, just limited capacity.

matt

i have heard about using old frigs or freezes. anybody every try it? since sausage doesn't need high temps then a heating element in the bottom with a fire/smoke box piped in for flavor should work to control temps better.

Why not just hot smoke it. Keep the temp at 200 degrees and smoke it for 6-8 hours. You got smoked sausage and its fully cooked as long as the internal temp is 165.

That's a good question jdw. I really don't know. Do you need to add the cure if you cook it like that?

Are you related to the Ennis Kubins? The klobase looks good.

If you do this you cant make dry sausage.

Also We smoke ours and it gets the smoke flavor and then you can
-bbq it
-boil it
-dry it
-cook like breakfast sausage with egs in the morning

Alsows you to keep your options open where as once you hot smoke it you have bbq sausage and thats it.

matt

Exactly what I was thinking. I like it all ways not just fully cooked.

It tasted as good as it looked. I am an Ennis Kubin. I just don't live in there anymore. Did you see me on the cover of the Ennis Daily News last month? I was the guy holding the big catfish.

Go ahead and add the cure even if you plan on smoking/fully cooking it. If you smoke it at 200 degrees for 6-8 hours there may not be much left of it. The sausage will dry out and be more like jerky or a fat slim jim. Great for snacking, but you won't get a nice plump, juicy sausage to cook on the grill, pit or even in a pan of water on the stove top.

You do that and it would be drier and harder than a "Slim Jim"

Whatever you decide to do I think you definitely need a new kind of weapon.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Jerky Gun. This looks awesome. LOL. Anyone have one?

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/guide-gear-jerky-gun.aspx?a=826628

It doesnt turn out dry if you add water to the meat when you mix it. Then put it in the casings

I have been making sausage for nearly 20 years, and learned from a person who has made it since the great depression... the one in the 20's not now and I have never added water to sausage. Why do you smoke a brisked for 6- however many hours... because it is tuff. Sausage is pre chewed by a grinder cook it till its done and your good to go.

The longer you let it hang the drier it gets water or no water.