Cold Smoking venison sausage

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cold smoker

Newbie
Original poster
Nov 17, 2014
20
10
Wisconsin
I love cold smoked sausage. We use curing salt and mix, grind, and stuff  all our own venison sausage. We have always taken our sausage to a local farmer but now have built our own smoke house. It is 4' x 4' and 8' high. It has a fire box off to the side and the smoke is piped in. I have also added a "turkey fryer" inside the smoke house with a 100 lb lp tank, so if I need to add heat I can at any time. I would love to here how everyone else cold smokes (how many days, how much smoke, temperature, etc) I will send pictures of the smoke house soon.
 
Welcome......

Very nice smoker..... Got pics of it in operation and meat hanging... Maybe you noticed.... WE LOVE PICS...(Q-Views).....

Dave
 
Looks great and perfect weather for cold smoking :)   Fill her up and make us hungry!  Yea, we all love pictures.  
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Well cross your fingers for pictures in operation. Our hunting season begins this Saturday in WI so hopefully my boys and I will bring home the "bacon"  I have been smoking it empty for the last two weeks to get it somewhat "seasoned before we hopefully hang sausage in it. Does anyone have any advise on time to smoke sausage. My plan right now is to smoke it all day (around 70 degrees or less) and let it go out at night to let the smoke cure through. I plan to do this for about 7 days.  Kielbasa will be for about 12 to 14 hours then done.  What does everone think about that idea?
 
Nice looking smoker. I am not sure what kind of sausage your making. About what size casing are you using? 7 days seams like a little much. While I am saying that I give my bacon about 40 hours, 10 hours at night then in the fridge for the day and repeat.

Happy smoken.

David
 
Dave, Our sausage sticks are the 2 1/2 inch casings. I think around 3 lbs a piece. The Kielbasa is about a pound per ring. 
 
I form a pellicle on the casing and cold smoke for 4 to 6 hrs. Good enough smoke for me. I like a light smoke flavor of apple wood to accompany the sausage
 
I form a pellicle on the casing and cold smoke for 4 to 6 hrs. Good enough smoke for me. I like a light smoke flavor of apple wood to accompany the sausage

Yeah, I don't think I would go much longer than 8 hours for your first batch. Give it a try after letting it rest in the fridge overnight, and if you want more smoke, do another 8 hours. I only cold smoke my hams for about 16 hours, and they are plenty smoky for me.
 
Interesting? I have smoked sausage in a Bradley smoker a few times. I could get about 15 sticks in it and would smoke it for about 2 days straight. Then I would hang it in my garage (which is about 50 degrees for 5 or 6 days to let the smoke pull through it. I hope we get enough meat this year so I can try a stick a day LOL.
 
I remember as a kid we did smoked sausage rings, whole ring fit in a cast iron skillet when we cooked it, I think all they used was salt peter, salt and pepper and garlic, I would like to get that recipe it was a good one. Nice build on the smoker

Good luck and let us know 

A full smoker is a happy smoker 

DS 
 
Anyone have an idea where I can find a door for a fire box on my smoke house? I would say about 12" x 12" or so.
 
Great hunting season ended up with 4 deer for my 2 sons and I. Now time to make the sausage and start smoking. Very excited to try out the new smoker!
 
Well we made sausage, hot snack sticks, venison bacon, and chilli cheese wieners Sunday. Got all the hots sticks and bacon smoked and now I have around 300lbs of sausage in the smoker. I will continue to smoke that for at least a week. Then once it is done smoking I will hang it in my garage for a week or so to let the smoke draw thru. The smoker stays at about 50 degrees. I will post some pictures when my son gets home from school today. Simply because I don't know how to do it. LOL
 
I use the 1 1/2" x 12" fibrous casings ( holds 1 lb). I have only cold smoked the past two years, and have never allowed the heat to go over 80 degrees. I smoke the meat 24 /7 for 60 - 72 hours, then let it hang or refrigerate for a couple of weeks. I was very skeptical of not bringing the heat to a higher temperature (165 to kill bacteria), but i was told numerous times from different people that the cure and smoke will take care of that.  I am a big fan of cold smoked sausage vs regular summer sausage and everyone who eats this sausage absolutely falls in love with it.

I guess I'm doing it right, no one has gotten sick yet :-)
 
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