Water bath

[blackbetty61]

Parksider
I tried this with a couple summer sausage logs, seems like when I did it there was no flavoring in the sausage, is it possible that I simmered/boiled the seasonings out of it. I’m kinda leary of trying this again but it takes so damn long in the smoker. The ones just in the smoker had good flavoring. I thought about doing it the way Jonathon did with vacuum packing first. What did I do wrong? Anyone else chime in or have this problem? I tried keeping the temp @ 170

[Parksider]

blackbetty61 no way you cooked the spice out. Once you mix the seasoning in throw some in a pan and make sure it’s spiced correctly. I’d guess there was an error in the measuring of the spices. You can always cook one at a time to make sure you have the process down.

[chippewa]

I did 2 7# batches of sticks and the water bath worked great to finish after a 4 hour smoke.

[blackbetty61]

Parksider
We always take some outta the mixer and fry it up… we usually do #25 batches to make things easy so I don’t think it’s the seasoning…guess I’ll have to try the water bath again…kinda curious has anyone ever tried using a roaster for a water bath?

[Parksider]

blackbetty61 No sure what happened then. I’ve never had an issue with finishing in the water bath then having a lack of spice.

[PapaSop]

blackbetty61
Never tried a roaster but sounds interesting. I’d try it again. After trying Parksider water bath method I’m sure that’s what I’ll do going forward. Came out great. Not sure it’s possible to cook out the seasoning. Check your cook schedule and try again.

[Jonathon]

blackbetty61 Yeah, I agree with Parksider parksider, I have never had that issue. Has this only happened once? My thought would be for some reason you experienced a fatting out and that changed the flavor of the sausage, water alone won’t leech out that taste.

Hmmm I wonder if fatting out is more likely to occur in a water bath? Does anyone have any good way they can think of testing this, I’d be more than happy to run an experiment on it!

[Parksider]

Jonathon I actually think it’s less likely to fat out. Fatting out typically happens, at least to me, when I’m not watching the smoker and temp gets away from me. I think it’s easier to run the smoker at a lower temp, like 140-150F, get the right amount of smoke then finish in the water bath. The water is very easy to control the temp especially with a turkey fryer burner, you can really dial that in.

[Jonathon]

Parksider Right, but what if you didn’t get enough protein extraction, would the water have a reaction to the loose fat that would be greater than air?

[Joe Hell]

Jonathon I did pepperoni snack sticks for the shop yesterday and had planned on doing a water bath but I just wasn’t easily set up for it. Our cookshack doesn’t have the programming capability I wish it had so I ran at 160 for an hour and a half and approx another hour at 180 with smoke until I hit 160 followed by an ice bath. They were by far my best sticks to date.

[Jonathon]

Joe Hell Using any binder?

[Joe Hell]

Jonathon Sure Gel!

[blackbetty61]

Jonathon
Yes only happened once but I’ve only done the water bath once so far so I’m 0-1 that’s why I’m a little nervous about doing it again. Maybe the water was too hot it was quite a while ago when we did it can’t remember the temp of the water but I thought it was 170 or less. Maybe it did fat out but I don’t remember any fat between the casing and meat unless it ended up in the water. I do remember the water looking kinda greasy. Not sure what happened but I have to try this water bath process again, it takes too long just in the smoker. We’ll see what happens when we make sausage in a couple months

[akdave]

I just did 2ea 25lb batches of summer sasuage same seasonings and stuffed one batch in 73mm casing and it took 10 hours to finish cooking at max 180 degrees smoker temp and 156 degrees internal , one in 43mm meter casing with max 180 degree smoker temp and it only took 5 hours to finish cooking to 156 degrees internal so I am now going to do a lot more of my summer sausage in smaller casings as it saves a lot of time and you get the same flavor.

Dave

[Parksider]

Jonathon Oh, now you’re outkicking my coverage…too much science for me!

[akdave]

The only time I do a water bath is with cold water and Ice or throw them in snow when they reach 156 to stop the sausage from cooking any more. I have added a pan of water on top of the burner to make steam and raise the humidity but I have not found that to decrease cooking time much but will try it again with the smaller diameter stuff and see if it helps
Dave

[Jonathon]

akdave Not sure what your smoker set up is but the best way I have found to increase the humidity in a smoker is with Automotive Sponges. I detail that in this post https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/1077/cured-sausage-205-advanced-thermal-processing

Raising the relative humidity will absolutely decrease your cook times, and it prevents/combats the stall

[Screamin]

With the water temp at 170, how do you tell when the sausage reaches 160

[Screamin]

Screamin Also, doesn’t the water effect the smoke deposit on the casing?

[Parksider]

Screamin I have a dual probe thermometer that monitors both water and sausage temp. I just put the temp probe in then throw them in the water, didn’t have it set up in the pic above. I usually pull them when they hit 158F or so, plenty of carryover cooking to bring the temp above 160F even if you hit them with an ice bath.
As far as the smoke, I don’t think it impacts the flavor at all. The water does turn a brown, I’m sure some is from the casing itself and some from the smoke. The smoke is driven into the meat, it doesn’t just cling to the outside of the sausage.