The Smokehouse

OP
92xj

92xj

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Can anyone see that picture? I'm trying to figure out how to post pictures again since all I have known is photo bucket.
 
OP
92xj

92xj

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Thanks ff.
Can anyone see the picture posted now? And is it big enough to see detail?
 
OP
92xj

92xj

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What about this one? And which fomat looks better on your (whoever's) device?

 

skindaddy

Lil-Rokslider
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Mar 16, 2016
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michigan
Is that smoke tube the only smoke source? Seems like would need more. Also are those steam pans outside the drip pans?
 
OP
92xj

92xj

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Yep, that tube is all that is needed. It produces plenty of smoke for all the cooking I do in there. I originally planned to run chips and chunks in the cast iron skillet on the burner, but the tube is much better and I don't have to get in the chamber to refill the smoke tube.

All the foul and tray are more for defusing the heat and smoke. I don't over heat my smoker, so no drips from rendering fat. I also never run steam trays or humidity in the smoker. Have never needed to and feel like my product is dialed to be the best it can be.
 

skindaddy

Lil-Rokslider
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michigan
Thanks, a few more if you don't mind. And maybe more to come lol
1. Looks like just pine wood?
2. Where'd get burner?
3. What temp do you do for the big sausage
4. Do you create own recipes, those snack stick look great too.
5. Looks like you have a vent on left bottom also? Do you crack that open
Sorry for the list.
 
OP
92xj

92xj

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Yep, pine. Wanted to do cedar, but that wasn't in the budget. Pine tongue and groove is dried so much/well I have no issues at all with it. And it's so seasoned on the inside now, the wood doesn't even matter.

Burner came from amazon. For my dimensions, the two burned is needed.

The summer sausage, salami and bologna all start the process at 120 degrees then bump up 10 degree increments to 170-175. Never ever ever go over 179 degrees, your product will turn to crap. You will rendering out all the fat and have a crumbly product.

I buy spices from Walton's inc.

I crack both lower air intakes open to supply the oxygen for the burner and smoke tube. Then play with all my exhaust holes to regulate smoke and air flow over product.

Keep asking questions
 

skindaddy

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Mar 16, 2016
Messages
224
Location
michigan
thanks again,
i am just learning about making my own snack sticks and summer sausage,so alot of this is new to me. hopefully in a couple weeks i will have an elk and want to do all the meat myself if i can.
anyway i see on waltons a couple options are the Encapsulated Citric Acid and mention carrot fiber,do you find this stuff needed?
i really need to find some videos/book to watch to understand all this.
how many smoke tubes do you go through in a run of sausage?
also i notice you have 2 thermometers??
 
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OP
92xj

92xj

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The hardest part is to not over think things.

Most of the spice mixes you buy will come with the already measured out cure packet with them.
I use what comes with it.
Some folks will tell you how you will die if you use cures and get cancer and your wife will eat your skin if she eats the cure and your kids will grow up with some educational disease; do want you want but I like not shitting water if something isn't cured or cooked correctly.
I have not met someone that has had any negative effect from curing.

I actually run 5 total thermometers when the smoker is running, the 2 in the door and then electronic remote probes throughout the smoker. I am anal when is comes to temp and I like the challenge of getting all the thermometers to read within 5 degrees of each other in such a large smoke chamber. Is it needed, no but being anal creates the best product. I eat, host and gift a ton of product and want the best stuff going out the door.

Whenever you get to doing it, try not to over think things. It's super easy to do!

Here is a quick write-up that I did on another post that will get you started...

As for the folks that are writing me asking how my product looks so perfect, and why is theirs full of holes and crumbly, that’s all in the cooking process. Well, maybe under 5% is in the stuffing process. When you load your stuffer, load it in small, hand size chunks and press all air pockets out of the meat, once in the stuffer, before stuffing the casing.

Now, the other 95% of it comes in the cooking process. Never, and I mean never, let your smoker or cooker get over 180 degrees, period. Fat begins the rendering process around 140 degrees but takes an incredibly long time at that temperature. Over 180 degrees’ fat renders a lot faster than your meat will be cooked and you will lose all your fat out of your meat creating holes and losing your binding. You will have drips in the bottom of your smoker. If you look at the bottom of my smoker on the foil, you will not see a single drip, this is because I stay low in temperature. Cooking these types of meat; Kielbasa, imitation bacon, summer sausage, etc take a long time, be patient. I smoked the kielbasa for around 10 hours. When I do summer sausage it takes around 14 hours. Do not rush it, you will get a grumbly product and be disappointed. You can choice to not listen to this advice and learn by mistake, which I have done, and get a crap product or just take the advice. Every time I post pictures of this, I get the same questions, I tell the same answer and then people question my answer. Do what you want.

I start my smoker around 125 degrees for an hour, then 140 for 2 hours. After that, I bump the temp up 10 degrees every hour until I am riding around 176-179 degrees. Once there, I leave it and wait for the internal temp of the meat to hit 152 degrees. At 152, everything comes out and they go into an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Pull out, dry off, sliced to whatever serving/freezing size you want and then I vacuum seal. I seal all mine in serving sizes enough for two folks.

As far as hanging meat, the Kielbasa’s were rolled and flat this time around because I used fresh casings. If I use the smoked/mahogany collagen casing or fibrous casings, they all hang. Fresh collagen (white) or hog casings, they do not hang as they are not strong enough and will break.

Below is a picture of how I packaged the kielbasa. When I want to eat some, I throw the package into my sink with some water in it, it will thaw in about 20 minutes, I will then eat as is, slice and cook in a skillet, or grill, however you chose will work. The meat is already cooked and safe to eat.

The 2nd and 3rd picture are from my last batch of summer sausage. You can see no drips on the casings and also no holes or crumbles in the final sliced product on the counter top. The summer sausage in front is loaded with cheese and the stuff at the back right is actually a deli type salami.

Hopefully this helps and answers all the PMs in one place. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask me, I will help and give advice. Just don’t tell me I do something wrong. I don’t care about your opinion on how you do it.

And, since I forgot in the above wall of text. This mix was 70% deer 30% of the leanest pork shoulder I could find which was well under 50/50, I'm thinking closer to 60/40. So, my product is around 12% fat at the max yet still very moist but does not coat your mouth in that grease feeling, which I hate.

Hopefully this helps, if not, please ask me, I will really try and help.

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jmez

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Piedmont, SD
I learned the hard way as well smoking summer sausage. I do mine similar except I start at a lower temp. I use electric and 179 is my last setting. I start it around 5am and generally pull it around 10pm.

First two years I'd turn it up to 200 because I was impatient. Ended up with crumbly stuff covered in grease.

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