I’ve been making some different fresh sausages, but now I’m dying to try my hand at kielbasa. I’d like to make some fresh & smoked, but I only have a Weber Smokey Mountain smoker. I’m concerned about the cook schedules and how low & consistant I can keep the temp. Any pointers would be appreciated. Thanks

I’ve been making it about 15yrs now. I use an antique hand crank shredder, passed down from my Uncle to me & my Grandfather to him. I make 1 or 2 6gal crocks worth, which take about 40lbs of shredded cabbage to fill & let it go 9-10 weeks before I package and freeze it. I’m told you lose the prebiotic value, but mine always got too mushy when I canned it.

If saltiness is an issue, you should look at the Equilibrium method, then you shouldn’t have to worry about rinsing.

calldoctoday yes it stays crunchy. I used something similar to that vacseal hack if you caught that on one of these threass the other day, but I raised my sealer since I didn’t have a drawer deep enough. I’m going to try keeping some in the frig next year, if it lasts 6mo.

processhead I don’t have any issues while cooking my dry cure bacon in the oven, but definitely have to watch when I cook the Apple or Honey/Sriracha, with all the extra sugars.

The maple chipotle sounds great. I did a honey sriracha last time, but needs more Sriracha next time. I picked up a Berkel slicer at an auction and makes things so much easier than the toy I was using.

GWG8541 It used to get passed around to different family members to use & somewhere along the line the front housing was broken, but my one uncle was a machinist & used most of the original parts to rebuild it. No one asks for it anymore so it’s a little safer these days.

So again as I mentioned I’m a newbie to the site, what’s the difference between team blue & team orange?
Thanks

I paid $300 at an auction for my Berkel, very good shape except for the sharpener. Looks like they never used it to sharpen or true the blade & it was corroded & the spring is missing. I haven’t gotten around to looking for someone to fix it. The blade is plenty sharp & for what I’ll use it for, I won’t need to sharpen it for a long time.

GWG8541 I really don’t remember, that was back when I was just getting into it & still learning. Maybe next season I’ll give it a shot again & reach out to all these VERY helpful people on this site for some guidance.

Dave in AZ I definitely notice you don’t get as much splatter when pan frying the home cure compared to store bought. I can’t remember if it was a YouTube video or I read it, but they chalked it up to the injecting of the cure/flavoring.

processhead I don’t have any issues while cooking my dry cure bacon in the oven, but definitely have to watch when I cook the Apple or Honey/Sriracha, with all the extra sugars.

If saltiness is an issue, you should look at the Equilibrium method, then you shouldn’t have to worry about rinsing.

wdaly Thanks for the info, I will save that for next time. I know I didn’t heat the kraut before packing & I know the water bath was much longer than 20min, which is why it was already cooked before it ever hit the pork!

GWG8541 I really don’t remember, that was back when I was just getting into it & still learning. Maybe next season I’ll give it a shot again & reach out to all these VERY helpful people on this site for some guidance.

bocephus It was definitely mushy out of the jar & obviously went down hill from there, but taste was good so just need to pay more attention to the water bath next time.

bocephus Most of mine gets handed out for Christmas presents so I wouldn’t be seeing most of the jars again. I must have either processed them too hot or too long or both when I tried canning them. They still tasted good, but after cooking all day with a good hunk of pork, it was very mushy. I’ll have to try it again sometime, freezer space is always an issue.

GWG8541 It used to get passed around to different family members to use & somewhere along the line the front housing was broken, but my one uncle was a machinist & used most of the original parts to rebuild it. No one asks for it anymore so it’s a little safer these days.

calldoctoday yes it stays crunchy. I used something similar to that vacseal hack if you caught that on one of these threass the other day, but I raised my sealer since I didn’t have a drawer deep enough. I’m going to try keeping some in the frig next year, if it lasts 6mo.

I’ve been making it about 15yrs now. I use an antique hand crank shredder, passed down from my Uncle to me & my Grandfather to him. I make 1 or 2 6gal crocks worth, which take about 40lbs of shredded cabbage to fill & let it go 9-10 weeks before I package and freeze it. I’m told you lose the prebiotic value, but mine always got too mushy when I canned it.