We ground and seasoned our summer sausage on Thursday evening. Stuffed Friday morning, and into the smoker Friday at 5pm. Ended the smoke at noon on Saturday, continued with only heat. Pulled it out of smoker at 5pm Saturday with internal temp of the meat at 155. Since the air temp was 23 degrees we did not cool in a ice water bath, set up saw horses outside and let the air cool it. These turned out awesome. Smoker cabinet never went above 174 degrees.
20171209_200219.jpg
That is a thing of beauty!!
Just curious….. do you guys smoke to save money or is it more of a hobby type thing?
Both. I do it for comoradery with the friends I do it with, more than the savings. You can save allot of money also doing your own. I also just like putzing with this kind of stuff. I have all the equipment so why not.
I did buy meat tote bags this year. They fit into my meat totes and they are the cats meow! Anyone that does their own processing or puts meat into a meat tote would love these. No fat or meat touches the meat tote. Meat will not stick to the bag. Really a slick item.
15129588180212015304345.jpg
15129587525551022935929.jpg
Where’d you pick up the tote bags? I have a utility tub in my shop for dishes but would still be nice to avoid those tubs when I’m busy. Just packaged 25 summer and 25 snack sticks tonight.
That looks awesome !
You must have a big smoker?
Sure would like to see a pic of that if you have one?
Now I’m hungry !
I’m just impressed by the quantity. I think I counted over 70 sausage logs. I’m guessing you split this among your fellow smoking friends? That’s a lot of “Schnittwurst”… 
The smoker is a beast. I’m envious, but then I would have to shoot about everything I see to justify the space the thing has. lol
If the weather forecast holds together I’m doing hot dogs this week.
River, Do you use any culture in your recipe to give it that what I call Wisconsin Tang? Here in Minnesota the meat markets simply add spices, stuff and smoke. Nothing used to beat Pat’s Summer Sausage from Arcadia or today you can get good stuff at Gunderson’s from Mondovi.
Just in Fountain City, wife has family upriver near the high school. Didn’t make it in time to stop in Mondovi, however.
Cultured sausage requires some really stringent temperature and moisture control and I think most people stay away from making it. A couple things can be used to add tang to the sausage. Encapsulated citric acid can go in just before stuffing but the sausage has to go right into the smoker. There’s a heat sensitive coating that disintegrates at about 150 degrees, releasing the citric acid into the meat after the meat has cooked a little. Citric acid released into the meat before some cooking will turn the meat greyish. The other option is to put a 12 ounce canister of powdered buttermilk in a 25 pound batch of sausage. This is what I use and it adds a nice tang without any fear of screwing up a whole batch using the culture or citric acid product. The powdered buttermilk is available in larger grocery stores.
Where’d you pick up the tote bags? I have a utility tub in my shop for dishes but would still be nice to avoid those tubs when I’m busy. Just packaged 25 summer and 25 snack sticks tonight.
If you goggle meat tote (lug) liners there are lots of company’s that sell them. A friend of mine bought them and we split a case of 500. It comes out too about .15 cents per bag.
That looks awesome !
You must have a big smoker?
Sure would like to see a pic of that if you have one?
Now I’m hungry !
Here is a picture of our smoker. The smoker is 4X6. We built it on a trailer for convenience. Works slick.
I’m just impressed by the quantity. I think I counted over 70 sausage logs. I’m guessing you split this among your fellow smoking friends? That’s a lot of “Schnittwurst”…
Yep. 5 of us split this batch. We do keep everyone’s meat separate so everyone gets back the meat they brought.
River, Do you use any culture in your recipe to give it that what I call Wisconsin Tang? Here in Minnesota the meat markets simply add spices, stuff and smoke. Nothing used to beat Pat’s Summer Sausage from Arcadia or today you can get good stuff at Gunderson’s from Mondovi.
Just in Fountain City, wife has family upriver near the high school. Didn’t make it in time to stop in Mondovi, however.
We do not use any culture. It seems to be like by everyone that tries it. You should have stopped in if you were passing through. This weekend is 200# of baloney and pork bellies for bacon. If you come through town the smoker is in front of the house.
Cultured sausage requires some really stringent temperature and moisture control and I think most people stay away from making it. A couple things can be used to add tang to the sausage. Encapsulated citric acid can go in just before stuffing but the sausage has to go right into the smoker. There’s a heat sensitive coating that disintegrates at about 150 degrees, releasing the citric acid into the meat after the meat has cooked a little. Citric acid released into the meat before some cooking will turn the meat greyish. The other option is to put a 12 ounce canister of powdered buttermilk in a 25 pound batch of sausage. This is what I use and it adds a nice tang without any fear of screwing up a whole batch using the culture or citric acid product. The powdered buttermilk is available in larger grocery stores.
You have questions Tom is the guy with answers. He seems to know his stuff. I dabble and try too learn from everything I can read. Tom puts out sound advise.
Shawn
20171211_193704.jpg
Well I got the pork bellies done tonight. 6 bellies and they got 10ish hours of smoke, minus a beer or two.
Freeze and slice for bacon.
20171215_215148.jpg
The baloney went in for the smoking. 190#. Good help makes it go easy!
20171215_195947.jpg
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
