Looking for advice from fellow sausage makers

Marge-m, Ive made a lot of jerky in my 150, temp swings arent a problem, I do it in the heat of the summer to the cold of winter.
I smoked an entire whitetail deer that was cut into jerky for a friend. Im definately not at expert at anything but everyone said the jerky turned out awesome.
How can I help?

Bull

marge,

Here's a thread with pics of a batch of summer sausage I did this past spring. Hope it helps.

venison summer sausage

thanks for the pics..I can see then that it will be no problem using it for sausage..it looks great.. ONe of the kinds I am eager to try .Interesting idea to use cheese in it..I did that with some wild rice sausage I made, but never thought of it for summer sausage.thanks also bbqbull..I am relieved I can keep my smoker and use it for this! So you mainly just regulate the heat by opening the door alittle is that it? Or do you just put it on the heat you want and smoke away? I was worried about the heat being a problem as far as when I first started out and wanted to try maintain a low enough temp. (100)So do you smoke your jerky and summer sausage at 100 then 150 for another hour, then 200? these are the temps I am used to using. About how long did the jerky take? A whole deer for a friend!! He must be a really nice guy..I though I was being nice by doing 10lbs.. for a guy.Thanks for any advice..although I have had a few smokers the only one I have used for jerky ect..was an old wall oven my husband converted into a smoker for me..so I am kinda stepping out of my class with this one :-).

another question..can you fill the racks all the way to the edges?and do they all cook evenly? do you switch the sausage or the jerky around in the smoker? move the position of the racks..change the top to the bottom ect.

marge,

With the jerky you'll more than likely find you have to rotate the racks if laying the meat down on them. With hanging jerky and sausages I, personally, never do any switching.

You'll want to leave enough space between the meat strips and around the edges to allow the smoke and air to circulate. It prolly wont hurt too much if they touch at 1st because, as we all know, jerky meat has more than a 50% shrinkage ratio.

Do a search for qdoggs jerky method. I think it may even be listed in the forums as jerky101. It explains the opening and closing process.

When I do sausage I never take the smoker above 170. I follow the time schedule listed in the link above. Its towards the bottom of the thread.

Keep in mind: One person's way isnt necessarily the only way, but it may give you a place in which to start from and develope your own technigues.

Above all. Have fun!

GeiyserQ,

I just looked at your sausage pictures, I though I give a plug for the sausage stuffer. Thanks for turning me on to it. Over the holidays I saw some commercial stuffer on the tube, much, much bigger, but worked on the same water pressure principle. The sad thing is that I haven't had time to use it as much as I would like.

Hi Jerry!

Thanks for the plug.

If you havent had time to make any sausage then you're just to darn busy!

I'm fixin' to make some brats and some cheddarwurst here about next weekend. I have a hankerin for some spicy pork.

marge m, Im sorry for not responding back to you sooner. I missed your question about regulating heat via opening the door.
No, I open the door after the smoke quits coming from the exhaust vent. I open the door and swing it wide open and close and relatch it.
By doing it that way. I want the smoke flavor, and when the smoke is done. I just dump the excess humidity. Also gives me a quick chance to look at the jerky. Ive smoked well over a hundred pounds of jerky in the last year and have had pretty darned good results. I know some folks leave the door ajar for a certain time period. To me its just a waste of electricity. The standard rule is everytime you open the door, it takes a half an hour to rebuild your set temperature. And I agree with the senior veterans. If your a lookin, its no cookin.

Bull