Uneven vertical smoker temperature.

[wgiles]

The smoker is double wall with a glass door. I don’t know whether there is any insulation between the inner and outer walls or just air space. Wind could be a factor, especially in the flatlands of central Illinois where the wind never stops, just changes direction. I set the smoker up in as sheltered a location as I could, but it has to be outside and, being electric, it has to be near an outlet. Now that I am aware of the issue, it isn’t really a problem. If I see that the meat temperature isn’t rising, I just finish it somewhere else. Once the smoking is done, it really doesn’t matter. I had thought about a water bath, but didn’t have one set up, so I used what was available. Since this is a relatively tall vertical smoker, I had let the snack sticks get pretty long, about 24" doubled over. This works fine in that smoker, but doesn’t fit much of anything else, save the oven. For the next batch, I shortened the snack sticks to about 18" doubled and this is much easier to work with. When I get time, I’ll set the smoker up with several oven thermometers on different racks and see if I can duplicate or change the phenomenon. One thing that I can see is that water is condensing on the glass door panel and running down it as I cook. The water pan never completely dries up even after six hours of continuous use. I don’t see any condensation on the snack stick casings, which would indicate that the glass door panel is colder than they are. I had thought about putting a piece of aluminum foil over the glass door panel to try to reflect some of the heat back in. this may show how things are made to look good, but not necessarily work well.

[Jonathon]

wgiles The good thing is that you are able to get them to 140° F in the smoker, that is the key. After that period you can absolutely pull them from the smoker and finish them in an oven but a better idea might be to finish them in water. Parksider changed the way a lot of people do stick and summer sausage here a few years ago when he said he smokes to 130° (or so) pulls them from the smoker and finishes them up in water. He does his in a big pot with an adjutable burner but there are countless ways to do this. I have done it with a sous vide cooker (just know that since the sous vide circulator sucks the water in and heats it before recirculating it that you need to vac seal you meat or risk ruining it) on a stove and in roaster. Get your water to around 170° and you will be done with sticks in about an hour and a half or so.

I don’t even use bags anymore unless I am using my sous vide circulator (reason above) it took a while but Parksider finally convinced me that it does not leech out the smoke or seasoning flavor from the meat. Queue his celebration dance!

[wgiles]

Jonathon I have a water bath that I could use for that and I have seen where a roaster has been used. Since I don’t have a vacuum chamber machine, I would prefer not to vacuum bag the sausages or snack sticks and I would still want to use my internal temperature probe.

[Jonathon]

wgiles Yeah as long as you have something where you don’t have to worry about the water being sucked into a filter and then heated and put back in you should be fine. My worry with that is that fat and oils will build up and destroy that type of unit. If you dont have a vac sealer but still want to use bags, you can also use good thick zip lock bags. Just leave the top open, push it under water until just the zipper is above it and then zip it closed. It’s not perfect but it does work!

[wgiles]

Jonathon You’ve given me several ideas to work on, thanks.

[craigrice]

Jonathon I have used a water bath in the past in a large pot on the stove and it worked very well and I put a candy thermometer in it to check temp .

[smokinbubba]

Sous vide 1000% I stayed away from 2.5" casings for summer sausage in the past due to the insane time in the smoker. I now smoke to 130deg and finish naked in the water. may never use 1.5" casings again! Use a elcheapo cooker from amazon and a 40qt storage tote.(didnt want to drop a lot of coin till I was sure it would work) Going to use a cooler next time. Takes a while for the little 1k watt cooker to heat the water.

[Fat_Bob]

smokinbubba Use a cheap electric roaster like Grandma used to cook turkey’s in. Works great!

[smokinbubba]

I don’t know if I can get 7 2.5"x24"(15lbs) bologna logs in one and that’s the normal batch for me. I will try it on small test batches tho.

[Jonathon]

smokinbubba I’ve done it in the huge red bologna casings. Works great, it just takes a little longer obviously. I set it just a few degrees above the target temp and prepared for a few hours. Had many people say that was the best thing I made up to that point and I sort of agreed. 130° in the PK gets enough smoke in my mind, not all smokers are going to be the exact same though.

[Fat_Bob]

smokinbubba I can get 25# of sausage in mine. $40 at Wally World for the big one.

[Jonathon]

wgiles Your dog in your profile is insanely cute by the way!

[wgiles]

That was his baby picture around 2004. He was a happy dog.

[Christopher Beach]

smokinbubba Do you vacuum seal the 24" logs before sous vide in the tote? I’m wanting to finish my snack sticks this way but don’t have reasonable capability to vacuum seal long sections of sticks.

[Jonathon]

Christopher Beach That’s a matter of choice. IN my opinion, if you cook them up to 130 before you put them in the water then they dont need to be vac sealed. Direct exposure to the water does not water log it or remove the smoke or seasoning flavor. If you pull it before 130 I cant say for sure. Also, if you have a sous vide cooker that has a pump that draws water in, heats it and then shoots it back out you might want to vac seal it to prevent any fats or pieces of casings to clog the filter.

[smokinbubba]

Christopher Beach I do not. naked for mine