Wood or stainless steel rods in smoker ?

Gulyás · Post by **Gulyás** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 20:02

I'm going to cut some new rods for my smoker.
What is better, wood or steel ? Mold is what I'm concerned about. My stainless steel pipe is 1' O.D.=(25 mm. diameter.)

crustyo44 · Post by **crustyo44** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 20:47

Gulyas,
I have used wooden hardwood sticks in my smokers for years, Never had any trouble with mould. In our humid climate we have encountered mould on leather shoes and jackets, saddles and clothes but I have never seen mould on the smoker sticks.
Regards,
Jan.

orf · Post by **orf** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 21:22

I've also had mold on my wooden sticks and the nice folks here recomended just burning out the smoker with a hot fire which I did and it worked fine

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 21:41

It is that time again when we put onj our thinking caps and consider what conditions we need for growing mold.
We must have a nutrient source. We get that with the residue from the sausage links.
We must have enough moisture to support growth. More than 20%.
And it must be warmer than 32 degrees. Below 32 degrees F the water is not available because it is ice.
If the air temperature at night falls below the daytime dew point we will get condensate in the smoker when the air warms more quickly than the surfaces of the smoker.
The chemicals in the smoke inhibit the grownth of mildew which is why we don't have wall to wall mold. The sticks don't get smoked where the sausage hangs on them. Thus we get patchy mold on the smoke sticks but not over the entire surface.

Gulyás · Post by **Gulyás** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 23:17

Thank you all for the answers. It's much easier to work with wood, and that's what they used for thousands of years, so that's what I'll too. I'm going to smoke it good to start with, nothing hanging on it.

Gulyás · Post by **Gulyás** » Tue Oct 09, 2012 00:23

I'm going to use 1 and 1/4"=32 mm. oak wood dowels, because that gives me more spread/space between sausages for the smoke to circulate.

Baconologist · Post by **Baconologist** » Tue Oct 09, 2012 00:24

I carefully and lightly char the smoke sticks with a propane porch, that will prevent any potential mold problem.

Gulyás · Post by **Gulyás** » Tue Oct 09, 2012 00:25

Thank you Baconologist, that's a good idea.

sawhorseray · Post by **sawhorseray** » Tue Oct 09, 2012 12:47

Gulyás wrote:I'm going to use 1 and 1/4"=32 mm. oak wood dowels, because that gives me more spread/space between sausages for the smoke to circulate.

I would think a rod with such a wide diameter would cause the sausage to hang splayed out to the sides rather than hanging straight down, putting a lot of pressure on the casing where it contacts and hangs from the rod. Just a thought. RAY

Gulyás · Post by **Gulyás** » Tue Oct 09, 2012 14:08

Thanks for the thought RAY.
I like the idea of spreading the sausages apart, because in natural cases they are curved, but than again there are many ways to hang them. I plan to leave plenty of casing in between the links. Probably cut some grooves lengthwise too. Some people use angle iron.

Some pictures of hanging them.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/1032 ... ng-sausage

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Tue Oct 09, 2012 16:53

The stick needs only be strong enough to carry the load of the sausage. For hams you would need larger sticks. Ladder rungs on a wooden ladder are only about an inch and a quarter.