Thank you all for the great suggestions, people starting out in sausage making would not be successful without you all, it would end up in frustration, wasted money, meat, time and effort. Every time someone helps out a beginner, it is appreciated more than you know.

Going to make my attempt at making venison summer sausage but have a couple questions.

1)I will be using Pit Boss vertical smoker, everything I have read says no smoke for 1 hour, that’s not possible with vertical pellet smoker.

2. Lowest temp on the smoker is 150, so what should my schedule look like with 150 being lowest available.

Given these 2 critical elements and I can not follow, is making a good SS still possible and what if any changes should I make to ensure good product? Thanks for any available help and input guys.

processhead

I will be smoking on a Traeger so the lowest I can get is 180 degrees and so therefore I can’t do the typical low n slow temps in smoking. I was hoping to stuff then smoke a few of them to eat tomorrow at our BBQ, most of them will be put in the freezer however. I wanted to make sure it is okay to stuff n smoke with the cure, wasn’t sure what the reason is behind holding overnight without ECA.

Planning on making some hot links sausage tomorrow, I don’t have ECA and dont have the time to hold overnight. My question is should I skip the cure all together then? What is the reason for holding overnight before stuffing when cure is used?
Thanks guys

Thats for everyones ideas and comments, love the help this community provides esp to people just getting into the hobby!

Anyone here use a Traeger for their smoking? Trying to find a way to smoke sausage on it and follow the temp schedule.

Good question, I have also wondered about left over seasoning as I always do small batches. How do you guys store it?

TexLaw

They were “okay”, I ended up doing antelope, beef brisket, ghost pepper cheese and pork shoulder with Hot Link seasoning. There was just something different about them that I can’t place a finger on. Was my very first time doing any sausage making.

YooperDog thanks for the heads up, appreciate it.

YooperDog

WHEW!!! Thanks for putting my mind at ease and letting me know im good, really appreciate u taking the time to respond. Have a great night.

Have a question, shortly after I got all my pork butt, antelope and pork fat mixed up, I got an emergency phone call that I needed to go to hospital as my brother had been involved in a car accident due to shitty road from our lovely winter storm the past few days. I know its not ideal but Im going to have to pack these tomorrow. The plan is to do 15 pounds of sausage links and the rest of the breakfast sausage will be pack in game bags at 1 pound bags. So What problems am I going to face and is there anything else I need to do? Might be for the best anyways as I cooked a sample patty when I got home and had good flavor but was little dry so need to add another 1.5 pounds pork fat.
ANY help is greatly appreciated as I dont want all this money and time on the batch go to waste. So please HELP!!!
THANK YOU!!!

These will be fresh sausages and brats by the way and just pulled from freezer and cooked on grill. Does that make a difference on if a binder is needed?

Thanks guys, l’ll add some pork fat to it.

A couple questions from a rookie making brats for the first time. Plan to make some venison Hatch green chili brats, fresh so no cure will be used, plan to freeze then grill at another time. Forgot to buy a binder and wondering if this will be an issue and if so what can I buy as a replacement. Also wondering how do I know how much water to use based on weight of batches? My plan is to use 50/50 venison and pork butt, which to my understanding would give me approx. 70/30 ratio but I know some brats and some sausages like Texas Hot links should be in 60/40 range. Was going to add some pork belly to get 60/40 ratio but no idea how much I need to add. Thanks guys

Jonathon your reply stated 0/50 mix with untrimmed pork butts, could you please clarify. Thanks for the help.

This would be amazing, if you find the magic trig let us know.

Bare with me guys as I am rand new to this and know nothing, but have a few questions.
First is I would like to make a small batch of jalapeño cheddar antelope brats, I don’t know what pork I should use and what ratio. I was going to use 3 pounds of antelope meat that already has 10% fat added so as it sits, its a 90/10 ratio from the meat processors.

Second question is I cant ever find the type of sausage I used to smoke and would just cut up and eat with spicy BBQ sauce so I want to make my own. Would be shaped like a polish sausage but had a different flavor. The good old fashioned kind you get on your plate at a bbq restaurant is what I am after. However all I see is seasoning for brats or Italian seasoning. If I haven’t confused you yet, I hope you can point me in the right direction here. Thanks guys.

3rd and final question, I just became very interested in the hobby the other day after helping my brother do some things with his elk. Im just looking for recommendations for meat grinder, sausage stuffer and meat mixer. Plus anything else you may suggest I need. Thanks for a great place to get started!