25lb batch of Signature Smoked Kielbasa - Ready for smoke tomorrow
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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 LEM #8 to a LEM #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.
Jamieson22 do me a favor and next time try this smoke schedule
110* for 1 hour vents all open (drying phase)
125* for 2 hours (with smoke) close dampers to half on bottom 1/8th open on top
140* for 1 hour (with smoke)
155* for 2 hours (no smoke)
170* until IT reaches your desired finished temp. 157*-160*
Ice bath immediately -
Jamieson22 my initial thoughts would be that there may have been an air circulation issue because of an over crowded smoker. But neither looks to be an issue by your photos. Your cook schedule looks good. I don’t ever recalling my water tray going empty during a smoke or cooking session. I have used water in my MB, BGE and stick offset smoker. My guess, maybe to much moisture inside during the cook. The heated smoke is moving along the outside and steam through the middle. Just a WAG, Wild A_s Guess. Any folks that use that type of smoker have an opinion?
YooperDog said:
My guess, maybe to much moisture inside during the cook. The heated smoke is moving along the outside and steam through the middle.
Seems like a reasonable WAG. My first cook had issues as well as they wouldn’t not break past 140F and some weighed in it could be case hardening and I should use a water pan. The towel draped out of it was to mimic the “Advanced Thermal Processing” video to increase humidity. Shame to think this time I had TOO much humidity. LOL I did start it with boiling water from my electric kettle - 1.75L of it + whatever the dishtowel held.
bocephus said:
Let us know if the lighter ones have the smoke flavor.
Will check one in a bit when I vac seal. I’ll also grill up one of the “grey” ones and post pics.
JoeB said:
I can only say there is a good reason to SV bag. Do what you will, that is a lot of cleanup… Sorry. If you used cure#1 it may not have been evenly mixed.
Actually clean up was a snap. Just dumped cooler, wiped inside with some clorox wipes and then a quick rinse out with water. Took maybe 2 min. Also not sure how I’d bag up 25lb of sausage for sous vide + would take quite some time to do.
I also mix the sure cure into a bit of water in a bowl and whisk till melted. Then I add more ice water and the seasoning mix and whisk till well combined. I pour all that into my meat block and then mix till I get protein extraction. So I THINK it would not be from bad cure spread.
twilliams said:
do me a favor and next time try this smoke schedule
110* for 1 hour vents all open (drying phase)
125* for 2 hours (with smoke) close dampers to half on bottom 1/8th open on top
140* for 1 hour (with smoke)
155* for 2 hours (no smoke)
170* until IT reaches your desired finished temp. 157*-160*
Ice bath immediatelyMuch appreciated! Will definitely try this next time. Will also try to get going even earlier so time is less a factor.
How long do you hang/dry before you start smoking? I think I had these hanging on counter with a fan for a couple hours which helped quite a lot. I store them all in a covered meat lug in fridge so they definitely come out of fridge reasonably wet.
I also wet the saw dust pretty well. Basically adding water and mixing till I see some standing water on bottom. Then I drain out the excess as much as possible. For your 3 hours above with smoke, do you refill the pan at all? Also at end with no smoke, do you open and pull the pan or just assume it has burned out?
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YooperDog said:
My guess, maybe to much moisture inside during the cook. The heated smoke is moving along the outside and steam through the middle.
Seems like a reasonable WAG. My first cook had issues as well as they wouldn’t not break past 140F and some weighed in it could be case hardening and I should use a water pan. The towel draped out of it was to mimic the “Advanced Thermal Processing” video to increase humidity. Shame to think this time I had TOO much humidity. LOL I did start it with boiling water from my electric kettle - 1.75L of it + whatever the dishtowel held.
bocephus said:
Let us know if the lighter ones have the smoke flavor.
Will check one in a bit when I vac seal. I’ll also grill up one of the “grey” ones and post pics.
JoeB said:
I can only say there is a good reason to SV bag. Do what you will, that is a lot of cleanup… Sorry. If you used cure#1 it may not have been evenly mixed.
Actually clean up was a snap. Just dumped cooler, wiped inside with some clorox wipes and then a quick rinse out with water. Took maybe 2 min. Also not sure how I’d bag up 25lb of sausage for sous vide + would take quite some time to do.
I also mix the sure cure into a bit of water in a bowl and whisk till melted. Then I add more ice water and the seasoning mix and whisk till well combined. I pour all that into my meat block and then mix till I get protein extraction. So I THINK it would not be from bad cure spread.
twilliams said:
do me a favor and next time try this smoke schedule
110* for 1 hour vents all open (drying phase)
125* for 2 hours (with smoke) close dampers to half on bottom 1/8th open on top
140* for 1 hour (with smoke)
155* for 2 hours (no smoke)
170* until IT reaches your desired finished temp. 157*-160*
Ice bath immediatelyMuch appreciated! Will definitely try this next time. Will also try to get going even earlier so time is less a factor.
How long do you hang/dry before you start smoking? I think I had these hanging on counter with a fan for a couple hours which helped quite a lot. I store them all in a covered meat lug in fridge so they definitely come out of fridge reasonably wet.
I also wet the saw dust pretty well. Basically adding water and mixing till I see some standing water on bottom. Then I drain out the excess as much as possible. For your 3 hours above with smoke, do you refill the pan at all? Also at end with no smoke, do you open and pull the pan or just assume it has burned out?
Jamieson22 I do not pre dry by hanging at room temperature. I go straight from fridge to smoker. However I also have a bigger unit with two burners, but I would be curious to try it half and half if able to, to see if there is a difference. All your really wanting to do is evaporate the outside so the smoke will adhere to the casing and start penetrating the meat. I have a fan in my smoker so that helps accelerate the drying process.
My opinion is your getting the sawdust too wet, I get them damp and that’s it. I add some water and grab a handful of dust from the bottom of the pan and smoosh or squeeze in my hand and turn the pan at the same time to get it all absorbed evenly if that makes sense. If it feels a bit dry I add a little more but not saturated. Dig out a small dish in the center of your dust to help the burning start a tad bit faster. Leave about a half inch of dust in the middle to start the embers.
The key is to not open the door unless absolutely have to, with that being said I have a big square opening for my dust pan to fit through the door where you don’t have that option. I also have a 10” pan so one pan is enough for the 3 hours of smoke schedule. I’m thinking you probably got a 7” with your unit? I don’t like a lot of smoke so I only do a half pan, if you fill yours I think it would be plenty.
With not opening the door I also don’t put in a water pan for humidity, I probably should try it one of these times just to see what I’m missing.
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So learned my Vac Master 350 does NOT like sealing sausage rings. Had to cut them into links to seal and ended up with 3 bags of short cuts consisting the round part of each ring.
Here is my lamest looking smoked sausage before and after cooking. Once grilled it looks really nice (did on my gasser so no extra smoke added). Also an interior shot of a cold piece. Really happy with the 10mm rind “rustic” kielbasa - just what I was after.
bocephus said:
Let us know if the lighter ones have the smoke flavor.
Everything had a very prominent smoke to it.
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So learned my Vac Master 350 does NOT like sealing sausage rings. Had to cut them into links to seal and ended up with 3 bags of short cuts consisting the round part of each ring.
Here is my lamest looking smoked sausage before and after cooking. Once grilled it looks really nice (did on my gasser so no extra smoke added). Also an interior shot of a cold piece. Really happy with the 10mm rind “rustic” kielbasa - just what I was after.
bocephus said:
Let us know if the lighter ones have the smoke flavor.
Everything had a very prominent smoke to it.
Jamieson22 color and particle definition looks good. Did you get a good bloom after letting them sit after smoking? Sounds like you got good smoke flavor. Maybe some rings never got dry enough for smoke to adhere.
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Jamieson22 color and particle definition looks good. Did you get a good bloom after letting them sit after smoking? Sounds like you got good smoke flavor. Maybe some rings never got dry enough for smoke to adhere.
YooperDog said in 25lb batch of Signature Smoked Kielbasa - Ready for smoke tomorrow:
Maybe some rings never got dry enough for smoke to adhere.
twilliams said in 25lb batch of Signature Smoked Kielbasa - Ready for smoke tomorrow:
My opinion is your getting the sawdust too wet, I get them damp and that’s it.
I think I agree with you both on potential issues. Next batch I’ll follow the smoke schedule posted by twilliams and go far lighter on water on sawdust or just use it dry.
My biggest fear is that the PK100 can’t handle 25lb of sausage, though they state it can. In addition they say it can do 100lb of summer sausage so I’d hope it has enough power to cook what I am doing. It certainly didn’t seem close to be overloaded as there was plenty of space all around the rings.
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YooperDog said in 25lb batch of Signature Smoked Kielbasa - Ready for smoke tomorrow:
Maybe some rings never got dry enough for smoke to adhere.
twilliams said in 25lb batch of Signature Smoked Kielbasa - Ready for smoke tomorrow:
My opinion is your getting the sawdust too wet, I get them damp and that’s it.
I think I agree with you both on potential issues. Next batch I’ll follow the smoke schedule posted by twilliams and go far lighter on water on sawdust or just use it dry.
My biggest fear is that the PK100 can’t handle 25lb of sausage, though they state it can. In addition they say it can do 100lb of summer sausage so I’d hope it has enough power to cook what I am doing. It certainly didn’t seem close to be overloaded as there was plenty of space all around the rings.
Jamieson22 don’t go dry, another user had their pk100 build too much pressure and he went dry. Just too volatile.
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Jamieson22 don’t go dry, another user had their pk100 build too much pressure and he went dry. Just too volatile.
twilliams said:
Jamieson22 don’t go dry, another user had their pk100 build too much pressure and he went dry. Just too volatile.
Damp it is!
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So learned my Vac Master 350 does NOT like sealing sausage rings. Had to cut them into links to seal and ended up with 3 bags of short cuts consisting the round part of each ring.
Here is my lamest looking smoked sausage before and after cooking. Once grilled it looks really nice (did on my gasser so no extra smoke added). Also an interior shot of a cold piece. Really happy with the 10mm rind “rustic” kielbasa - just what I was after.
bocephus said:
Let us know if the lighter ones have the smoke flavor.
Everything had a very prominent smoke to it.
This post is deleted! -
So learned my Vac Master 350 does NOT like sealing sausage rings. Had to cut them into links to seal and ended up with 3 bags of short cuts consisting the round part of each ring.
Here is my lamest looking smoked sausage before and after cooking. Once grilled it looks really nice (did on my gasser so no extra smoke added). Also an interior shot of a cold piece. Really happy with the 10mm rind “rustic” kielbasa - just what I was after.
bocephus said:
Let us know if the lighter ones have the smoke flavor.
Everything had a very prominent smoke to it.
Jamieson22 they look good to me. If they taste as good as they look
you’re all good.
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