25lb batch of Signature Smoked Kielbasa - Ready for smoke tomorrow

[Jamieson22]

Stocked up a bit when butts were on sale for $1.49/lb which is cheapest I’ve seen in some time. Made 25lb of Jalapeno Cheddar Brats earlier this week and today did 25lb batch of Signature Smoked Kielbasa with the rest of it.

Just upgraded my L*M #8 to a L*M #22 so got to use it for the first time. Made my batch seem small with how fast it tore through it. Used a 10mm plate and then reground maybe 1/3 of it back through the 10mm plate. Stuffed into 42-45mm hog casings. Shooting for a chunkier texture.

Any advice on smoking them tomorrow? Plan to hang and dry at room temp with a fan for an hour or so before starting. Then figured 120F for 1 hours, 135F for 1.5 hours with smoke (and water pan), 155F for an hour, 165F for an hour, then 175F till done? Am using my PK100 but pretty new to smoking sausage.

Also, I turned them all into rings by basically stuffing till 17" (can see my green tape on counter to measure) then extending some extra casing before starting the next one. Then cut to separate them. give a few twists, then tie both ends of casings together to form ring. Is the an easier way?

Also a bonus pic as I bought three 2-packs of butts to cover my two batches. Deboned and cut into chunks last night to prep for today and one weighted in at 11lb7oz after deboning. So I had an entire butt left-over. Fired up my smoker and did an overnight cook on it for pulled pork.

[YooperDog]

Jamieson22 nice looking pork butt and sausage rings. There are some pretty good videos about sausage linking on the web/YouTube. Once you get the technique it is pretty easy. Your smoke schedule looks good.

[Jamieson22]

YooperDog Thanks. Am pretty good with normal links - it is these rings that seem to be more effort than I’d like. Will head to Youtube to see if I can find some help!

[Surg]

Jamieson22
They look great. Can’t wait to do a bigger batch like that. Wonder if you could twist them and secure with a small hog ring. The casing may just slide through though. Or twist then tie with butcher twine. Pork butt looks delicious.

[cdavis]

Jamieson22 great looking sausage and butter. It doesn’t look like you’re new to the sausage game they look professional to me. Great job

[Jamieson22]

Surg For these I just did a surgeon’s knot and then another reg knot on top. Seems to hold, just sucks working with casings that can simultaneously be sticky and slippery when trying to tie knots. I do see many people with butcher twine hanging their rigs so will need to dig to see how they do it.

Currently all laid out to dry courtesy of of basement shoe racks.

[cdavis]

Jamieson22 looks like a good tool for the job.

[Jamieson22]

cdavis Amazing what a difficult time I had finding two equal-sized/height items that can hold 25lbs and will fit on my kitchen counter. I ordered a pair of cheap saw horses though they won’ t be here till tomorrow.

[bocephus]

Jamieson22 We stuff the whole casing then cut to size (a couple of inches longer than what you want) then squeeze a small amount out of each end. We let them lay out overnight before smoking and do not tie the ends. I made a template using PVC that I capped and then cut in half with my bandsaw and mounted the halves (using stainless carriage bolts) to boards longer than the pipe and use for cutting board (pipe cut at 18", when done ring is 16"). Comes apart for cleaning.

[processhead]

I like the simplicity of your system for tying the rings. The only problem I would have personally would be getting a tight knot knowing that my eyesight and dexterity is not getting any better. I always tell myself I am going to build a temporary rack for holding smoker sticks while loading them with sausages for the smoker.

[Jamieson22]

bocephus

Sounds like we are doing it in similar way but I waste some casing and you get a few extra snack patties to cook up. Guessing yours is faster way though.

processhead

Could probably even build it simply out of PVC - would just need some upright supports depending how long your span is (and how small a diameter PVC you use). Would allow you to easily break it down to hang on wall in garage vs storing a PVC cube.

[cdavis]

Jamieson22 saw horses sound like a good idea .

[processhead]

About 50 years ago, I remember watching actual sausage makers cutting beef rounds to predetermined lengths for rings and then tying one end with string. Then they would stuff them. After stuffing, someone else on the line would tie the loose end of the string to the open end of the stuffed casing.
At that point, the finished ring was ready to hang on a smoke stick and load on trucks to go in the smoke house.

Some years later, they got away from strings and tying. The precut, stuffed ring casings were clipped with a pneumatic clipper. Then they were hung on sticks for smoking. This method could probably be duplicated with a couple of hog rings instead of a pneumatic clip fairly easily for a small scale home operation.

[Jamieson22]

Just finished my 1 hour dry at 120F with vents fully open. Sausages reading 90F IT.

Turned up to 130F, closed vents down to 1/2 open, added water pan with hot water, and 2/3 bowl of damp hickory sawdust. Since I don’t have a wicking towel and couldn’t drape towel on 2nd lowest grate (sausage hanging below it slightly) I just put two terrycloth towels over the side of the water pan onto the drip tray. Hoping it gives me a similar evaporative effect.

Any input on temp schedule from here? Was planning:

• 130F for an hour
• then 145F for an hour
• then 160F for an hour (close dampers 100%)
• finally 175F till 155F IT?

[bocephus]

Jamieson22 We have done about 500 lbs of venison sausage at a time this way, stuffed, cut and laid out in about 3 hours. Had lot of help, hunting group annual get together.

[cdavis]

Jamieson22 schedule looks good. Awesome looking smoker. Maybe 1 of these days I’ll have 1. Sausage looks great . Congrats on all.

[Jamieson22]

Well at a bit over 7 hours I noted it had been stalled at 149F for some time. Opened smoker for first time and my water pan was empty and my wicking towel scorched to the tin foil lining the drip-tray. So refilled with boiling water and wet the towel but IT had dropped down to 143F and was taking some time to recover. So at 7h45m and 146F IT I moved the batch inside to finish sous vide.

I can already tell I didn’t get that beautiful smoke coloring evenly on the entire batch (even more apparent in water). Also not sure why I can’t seem to finish a batch to 155-160F IT in smoker. Am I just not giving it enough time?

[zbigjeff]

Jamieson22 Looking very good. That will fill up the freezer for sure. There’s many meals in those rings.

[zbigjeff]

Jamieson22 Totally looks like it had enough smoke. The sous vide did the trick. Now, just enjoy.

[Jamieson22]

zbigjeff Thanks.

End result is far from what I am after - so could def use some advice. The majority came out looking like they were simply steamed not smoked as casing has very little color. Even those that got what I am after have sections that look grey/steamed.

I used maybe 2/3 - 3/4 of a sawdust pan (wet) and kept it in till it was fully burned out. Do I just need to plan far longer than I am expecting a batch to take? I pulled these after 7h 45m and IT was close to 150F. Only finished in sous vide as it was getting late.

I am sure they will be delicious once grilled, just not sure where I am going wrong on proper color/smoke adhesion. They were hung/dried with fan for a couple hours before the drying phase in smoker.

Kinda sad looking smoked kielbasa:

Nicely color part was probably top rack closest to door or back wall. Inner sausages all seem grey. Nothing was touching and had plenty of space between.

Other side of sausage above:

Here is what sous vide water looks like after 25lb batch: