Jamieson22 don’t go dry, another user had their pk100 build too much pressure and he went dry. Just too volatile.

Damp it is!

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.

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.

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.

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 immediately

Much 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?

End result is far from what I am after - so could def use some advice. The majority came out looking like they were simply steamed not smoked as casing has very little color. Even those that got what I am after have sections that look grey/steamed.

I used maybe 2/3 - 3/4 of a sawdust pan (wet) and kept it in till it was fully burned out. Do I just need to plan far longer than I am expecting a batch to take? I pulled these after 7h 45m and IT was close to 150F. Only finished in sous vide as it was getting late.

I am sure they will be delicious once grilled, just not sure where I am going wrong on proper color/smoke adhesion. They were hung/dried with fan for a couple hours before the drying phase in smoker.

Kinda sad looking smoked kielbasa:

Nicely color part was probably top rack closest to door or back wall. Inner sausages all seem grey. Nothing was touching and had plenty of space between.

Other side of sausage above:

Here is what sous vide water looks like after 25lb batch:

I can already tell I didn’t get that beautiful smoke coloring evenly on the entire batch (even more apparent in water). Also not sure why I can’t seem to finish a batch to 155-160F IT in smoker. Am I just not giving it enough time?

Turned up to 130F, closed vents down to 1/2 open, added water pan with hot water, and 2/3 bowl of damp hickory sawdust. Since I don’t have a wicking towel and couldn’t drape towel on 2nd lowest grate (sausage hanging below it slightly) I just put two terrycloth towels over the side of the water pan onto the drip tray. Hoping it gives me a similar evaporative effect.

Any input on temp schedule from here? Was planning:

• 130F for an hour
• then 145F for an hour
• then 160F for an hour (close dampers 100%)
• finally 175F till 155F IT?

Some years later, they got away from strings and tying. The precut, stuffed ring casings were clipped with a pneumatic clipper. Then they were hung on sticks for smoking. This method could probably be duplicated with a couple of hog rings instead of a pneumatic clip fairly easily for a small scale home operation.