I tried the sous vide finish demonstrated in the venison summer sausage video following a 2 hour cool smoke. One of my logs had a noticeable dry edge about 1/8" thick. What can cause this?

Howdy from Wyoming. I’ve been smoking foods, curing meats and making sausages for around 40 years. I cook on a vintage Big Chief smoker, two drum smokers, two Big Green Eggs and a SNS kettle. I joined the community because I never stop learning and like experimenting with different methods.

I have made jerky from home corned brisket, but I’m using an equilibrium brine with a salt percentage at 1.5%. Most of the commercial corned beef producers use a stronger cure and a combination method (injecting then into a brine tank). I have made plenty of pastrami from pre-corned brisket flats and I always do a soak-out on them, usually 6 to 8 hours depending on thickness.

Looks great. I’ve never used the cellulose casings, what is your opinion or pro’s and con’s? Does smoke flavor penetrate? I’ve only used sheep casing on my dogs.