I’ll let you know if I ever decide to offload, but now that I’ve mated it with the PID controller, it’s doing everything I want.

Thanks Jonathon. My smoker isn’t capable of anywhere near that degree of precision. I’m ordering a digital temp controller and I think that is going to remedy the smoking schedule / temperature situation. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks Joe1. That’s the system my research has led me to. It’s great to hear that it works as advertised. I thought about upgrading my smoker too. Only problem: it’s built in to an outdoor cook center and nothing else would fit. Sounds like the Auber Instruments is at least part of the solution. Thanks!

sidpost I decided to install the Auber 1500 PID controller and keep the existing cabinet. So far so good. Much more accurate than the old analog control and a lot less expensive than replacing the cabinet. Thanks.

I posted a while back about tough natural skins on smoked sausage. Thank you for your much needed advice that I have put into practice. I purchased an Auber temperature controller (a great product) to more precisely control temperature and employed Jonathan’s smoke schedule:
125 - 1 hour
140 - 1hour
155 - 1 hour
175 to 160 degrees internal
The sausage has a fantastic flavor, but skins are still leathery to the point of being unchewable. I pretty much follow the procedures shown in the Meatgistics recipes and videos. I rinse and soak the fresh casings overnight before stuffing. I humidify the smoker cabinet with a water pan. This last batch, I soaked them in an ice bath after they reached the proper internal temperature. That helped a little, but not nearly enough. The skins are still inedible. FYI, we do enjoy a snap, but these don’t snap, they tear. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Jonathon - Thank you for that info. I do use a water pan, but at the prolonged cook times below 150, I don’t know that it gives off that much moisture. I’ll check it out.

For what it’s worth, I use the Auber PID controller in my old Cookshack analog smoker and it gives me great temperature/time control. I’ve been battling tough hog casings all along, but less so since I’ve used the following: Temp 115 for 45min; 140 for 60min; 155 for 60min; 170 until internal temp reaches 140 degrees. Then into the sous vide cooker at 165 for one hour, then into a water bath to cool down. It’s a bit of a process, but the casing turns out much less tough (but still more tough than my wife and I would prefer - we like a snap, but not “tough”). Still trying to improve on it, so any suggestions much appreciated. The sausage I make is smoked Keilbasa. I do use a pan of water for humidity.