Homemade Sausage Making

Thanks guys. Charlie, Im in Longview.

Ah, in God's country! Love me some east Texas!

Not sure what the temp will be there, but here it'll be cold smoke weather! Just wish I was closer to being finished!

Charlie

CrankyBuzzard wrote:Nick, not sure where you are in our great state, but it looks like next week may have some decent outdoor temps for cold smoking!

Look forward to the pics!

Charlie

That's ok. I wont be ready for any cold smoking yet. I have an 8 lb pork belly going into the brine in the morning and its gonna sit there for 2 weeks before I cold smoke it.

I decided to make some kabanosy for my first smoke in the smokehouse. Think I may have screwed up. About ten minutes into the smoke I open it up to take a peak and notice condensation buidling up on the sausages. They were dry when I put them in. It's been raining all morning so its pretty wet, and theres water on the floor of the smokehouse. It drains fast usually, within a day, but this may be a problem if I want to smoke on wet days.

Here's a couple shots I took with my phone.

Open the door when you are not using it and let the air circulate freely. It will dry faster and better. You are encountering the sausage below the dew point problem and they will "sweat" just like a glass of cold beer.

ssorllih wrote:Open the door when you are not using it and let the air circulate freely. It will dry faster and better. You are encountering the sausage below the dew point problem and they will "sweat" just like a glass of cold beer.

That's exactly what it was. I didn't let the sausage sit out of the fridge long enough before I stuck it in the smokehouse. I'm always in a hurry with a 2 and 4 year old around!!!

I checked it again about 30 minutes in and it had evaporated and was dry again. They're resting in my curing chamber for a few days.


Taking a cold bath:



Relaxing for a few days:

Your Kabanosy looks great atcNick. I really like your smoke house, great job

It's nice to see something that isn't steel

An important lesson I learned: don't use pine dowel rods in the smokehouse. Pine flavor doesn't taste good on sausage. I thought I was buying hardwood rods, nope, they're pine. Yuck!

Nick,

You mentioned in your first post that you wanted this to function as both a hot and a cold smoker. What is the hottest you feel comfortable running it safely?

I would like to build something similar and was curious the temp range you are able to achieve.

Tom

I have a plywood smoker that I often push to 250°F with no harm, Oak will tolerate 400°F

PAHunter62 wrote:Nick,

You mentioned in your first post that you wanted this to function as both a hot and a cold smoker. What is the hottest you feel comfortable running it safely?

I would like to build something similar and was curious the temp range you are able to achieve.

Tom

I don't plan on using it over 200°F, but when I was testing it I had spikes over 300° for short periods with no ill effects.