Kiebasa

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Rag1

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Here's a Wittdog question, or anyone who wants to chime in.
I have made one run on kielbasa with the smoking method of chamber temp at 130*, moving it up as the sausage temp rises. Ending with chamber at 200* and sausage at 160*.
I did this with all wood. Some felt it had too much smoke flavor.
Now.....my buddy wants to make about 60 pounds of kielbasa next week and smoke it. I know he won't want that much smoke so I'll use lump. But what temps do I run? Should I have the chamber at 240* and let the meat come up to 151* or 160*? would that be better than low temp long cook?
He had a butcher smoke his before and I bet the butch didn't do a long slow, bump the temp up slowly, type cook.
So will the 240* charcoal come close to the butcher's results?
I don't want the trash-out 60# pork meat.
 
If your recipe uses a cure and some kind of binder the lower temps are the way to go. Keeping the temps low won't render out the fat while smoking.
It can be difficult to do the slow temp rise in a regular BBQ pit without a thermostat so maybe just trying to keep the temps under 195* will give you a suitable kielbasa.

If your not using the cure, cooking at 240* would be more appropriate. You will end up with a fully cooked sausage but a lot of fat will be cooked out.
 
Lump or briquettes alone don't produce much if any smoke flavor on the groceries except that of grease hitting the fire..sorta like a gas grill. Would not hurt to use the charcoal by itself the first hour in the low 100's temp range just to dry the cases. At the end of the hour if you want smoke flavor it's time to add some wood or nutshells or whutever it is you use that gives the smoke flavor you want and start increasing the temps. In an ideal scenario would suggest a smoke chamber temp of 175-180 and a terminal temp of the sausage in the low 150's with an immediate dunk or shower with cold water when it reaches that point. Smoke chamber temp of 200 and sausage temp of 160 is too high on both counts and will purty well assure you of tough cases and a dry wrinkled sausage. A water pan in the smoke chamber will give you a superior product..softer bite etc. Treat it the same way whether you use cure or not. Hope this helps.

bigwheel

Rag said:
Here's a Wittdog question, or anyone who wants to chime in.
I have made one run on kielbasa with the smoking method of chamber temp at 130*, moving it up as the sausage temp rises. Ending with chamber at 200* and sausage at 160*.
I did this with all wood. Some felt it had too much smoke flavor.
Now.....my buddy wants to make about 60 pounds of kielbasa next week and smoke it. I know he won't want that much smoke so I'll use lump. But what temps do I run? Should I have the chamber at 240* and let the meat come up to 151* or 160*? would that be better than low temp long cook?
He had a butcher smoke his before and I bet the butch didn't do a long slow, bump the temp up slowly, type cook.
So will the 240* charcoal come close to the butcher's results?
I don't want the trash-out 60# pork meat.
 
Good advice. I can control the pit temp easily using my Guru. The lower temp approach seems best. I'll chuck some wood in for some smoke. Thanks.
 
I have read that if you smoke sausage above 170 that the fat starts to melt at that temperature and you will get dry sausage. You can see the oil from the fat start to deposit on the outside of the casings. I haven't smoked above 170 so I can't tell you if the book is correct or not.
 
Well you are mighty welcome. Sure you get some good conflicting suggestions here of course:)

bigwheel
 
Well as oompappy say with his suggestion of 195..with the imprecise control mechanisms some of us are stuck with using consistent temps in the anywhere below 200 range..within reason of course..will normally produce some purty good sausage or at least has for me and apparently him too. At one time I was smoking in the offset with the sausage hanging in the upright and using as small of a fire as could be maintained in the firebox and was tickled to death to keep it hovering around 190-195. When it broke 200 I started to get worried. Water pan really helps to keep up the moisture levels in such scenarios.

bigwheel


cleglue said:
I have read that if you smoke sausage above 170 that the fat starts to melt at that temperature and you will get dry sausage. You can see the oil from the fat start to deposit on the outside of the casings. I haven't smoked above 170 so I can't tell you if the book is correct or not.
 
cleglue said:
I have read that if you smoke sausage above 170 that the fat starts to melt at that temperature and you will get dry sausage. You can see the oil from the fat start to deposit on the outside of the casings. I haven't smoked above 170 so I can't tell you if the book is correct or not.

This is correct. These are instructions given to me by Dave Witt. They worked perfect!

Place sausage in smokehouse preheated to 120*. Keep for an hour or until casing are dry.
Gradually raise temp of smokehouse to 165* Apply heavy smoke for about 4hrs.
Continue to cook sausage until the sausage’s internal temp is 152*
Remove from smokehouse and cool with cold water until internal temp is 110* Allow to bloom till desired color is reached.
Place in Fridge overnight. Then cook or vac pac.

I ran 1 pan of sawdust for smoke and I thought the smoke flavor was great!
 
If you do the sausage at temps higher than 185* you will render a great deal of the fat out...you can hot smoke the sausage at BBQ temps but you will end up with a different type of finished product then one done at the lower temps...I'm also a fan of the 3 cycle smoke...drying cycle, smoke, then a cooking cycle
 
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