Deer Summer Sausage Question

If none of our sausage folks jump in,you might shout at Joe Ames.

He is a longtime forum member, and hosts a sausage forum.

Joe Ames

muleman1 what caused this? temp? did you raise temp setings to fast, i.e. 1 hr. 130 degs door ajar till casings are dry, 150 deg 2 hrs, 180 to finish temp, casings? not likly, fat mixture? mabey, i don't like to use any more than 25%, whole hog sausage, to save a step. did you use a binder? whas this a commercial blend, if so contact them. paul

Hi muleman,

Spaerib is right. If you arent gradually bringing the smoker upto temp. you should start. Here's my thermostat operation process:

1 hr. - 100 degrees - no wood in wood box - door cracked

1 hr. - 100 degrees - wood in box - door closed

1 hr. - 125 degrees - door closed

1 hr. - 150 degrees - door closed

Turn to 170 degrees for the remainder of the time it takes to get the product to 152- 155 degrees internal.

Another thing that may be happening is that the bottoms of the 3 lb. sticks are too close to the wood box/ element.

One thing you might try is to only take the sausages to an internal of 145- 148 degrees and then submerge them in water maintained at 170 degrees until they reach the internal 152- 155 degree mark.

As for my meat mixture, say a 20 lb. batch, I will use 18 lbs. of 90% lean ground beef or venison with beef fat, and 2 lbs. of ground pork shoulder. This gives me a great texture, and it doesnt leave your fingers feeling greasy like alot of the store bought sausage.

Good luck!

It sounds like you had the temp. set too high. I generally start this type of sausage at 125f. for the first hour then gradually raise the temp. to 160-180f.in the last hour.
If you set the temp at 180f to start the temp swings in the cs will probably take the temp. up to 225f. or higher causing the fat to emulsify.
Many times I remove the sausage when the meat reaches 130-140f. and then cook it off in a water bath to bring the meat up to temp.

lol, we must have been typing at the same time Sausage Joe!

Thanks for all the input.. I think a combination of things were against this batch.
1. the temp was set too high to start off with. It sounds like 180 right out of the gate is a no-no.
2. The gut who mixed this batch used a ratio of 2 to 1 pure pork fat to venison hoping for a more moist product in the end.
I can fix most of these problems. But I cannot cook with the door cracked. On my 250 there is a contact sensor that shuts it down if the door is open. I can figure something out there.

Another question??? Is it recommended to gradually bring up the temp on all cooking so as not to get an initial temperature too high?

No muleman. Not on everything.

Usually only see that process on cured products such as jerky, sausage, pastrami, dried beef, etc.

Most people start their BBQ meats like ribs, butts, briskets and such out at 225- 250

Sounds to me like it wasn't mixed enough initially.
It's VERY important to mix the cold meat and salt long enough for the salt to extract enough myosin to encapsulate the fat and moisture. You can almost "eye ball" the meat when it's ready. When it begins to get "bouncy" and the mass begins to get sticky.
The cook the sausages low and slow til done.
You may want to consider poaching them in sub-boiling water until they float, then dry them off good and smoke them until you get the desire color and flavor.

My 2 ;-)

Joe Ames