Sausage temps

[dollarbill]

I've got 20 lbs of sausage I need to get smoked. How long should it take?

What temp? 165*? I've never smoked sausages before. Thanks.

[oompappy]

Well, it depends on the sausage. What is the product? Cured? Fresh?

[dollarbill]

Originally Posted by oompappy

Well, it depends on the sausage. What is the product? Cured? Fresh?

It's all fresh all pork.....I read in Charcuterie earlier to take it to 150* exactly then pull em' . Once again, i've never done this before. I can't wait to learn it though!

[Rag]

The trick is to bring the internal temp up to 167* without raising the outside temp too much to where the fat melts. So the cook chamber temp starts out at 130* for 2 hours to dry the casing, then raised gradually to a max of 172*. This all takes many hours which means the meat has to have a cure mixed in. The sausage will be in the temp danger zone way-to-long to be done without cure.
I may have the temp numbers wrong by a little bit (memory). Someone on here can correct them, or check a reference book.

[bigwheel]

Wrap it in cheap bacon held on with toothpics and slow grill it. Thats how the big boys do it. Its edible when it hits 160 which will roughly coincide with when the bacon gets done. Dont use the high dollar thick bacon. Takes it too long to get done.

bigwheel

[dollarbill]

I've got 20 pounds BW. Id rather eat all that bacon by itself.

I started it out at 140* for 1.5 hours then cranked it up to 200* after talking to Cookshack. They are at 100* now. The guy at cookshack said I should be fine. Does anyone see any issues with that? Thanks.

[bigwheel]

200 is too hot. Will give you tough cases. Get below 200 and stay there. 170-180 in an ideal world. I pull at 153 but some say to go to 160 which is most likely a good plan for health conscious folks.

bigwheel

[oompappy]

Originally Posted by dollarbill

It's all fresh all pork.....I read in Charcuterie earlier to take it to 150* exactly then pull em' . Once again, i've never done this before. I can't wait to learn it though!

The 150* internal (152* in most recipes) is for sausage meat that includes some sort of cure like Morton's TenderQuick or Cure #1 or etc. Usually those are smoked at lower pit temps (165* to 180*) than some might consider safe for "fresh" or uncured meat.

For Fresh sausage I just do normal Low and Slow BBQ temps 200* to 235* indirect with smoke 'till about 165* internal. Some recipes take low & slow quite well while others turn to sawdust in a casing so it's always a good idea to sample as you're cookin'.

[dollarbill]

oompapy - I did them at 150 for a couple of hours then turned it up to 200* for awhile. I thought since these sausages came from a hole in the wall place that cranks em out that "automaticaly" they would be usin' the pink salt? Shows my intelligence on this subject huh? haha. This is why I love bbq-4-u.com .

BW - You were right, the casing was a little snappy/harder but I can honestly say the first bite was so damn good I thought I was gonna pull my pants down....hahaha

thanks for the help everyone.