Hanging Summer Sausage

[cbrhunter]

I recently did a batch of summer sausage and hung them vertically in my smoker. They came out great but I found the last two/three inches or so closest to the heat ended up wrinkled and the fat cooked out of them.

Is there something I should be doing with the sausage to keep the bottom part closest to the heat from wilting? The sausages were made with the large fibrous casings and was I using a gas smoker. I kept the temp inside around 130/140 then slowly raised it up to get up to 162 internal so it wasn't blazing hot inside.

Thanks!

 

[beer-b-q]

What kind of smoker are you using?

How close to the heat source were they?

Sounds like they were too close.

You may need to lay them horizontal on the rack to keep them away from the heat source...

 

[cbrhunter]

thanks for the reply, I guess the simplest answer is usually the right one :-)

I don't remember how close they were to the heat source but I'll shorten up the casing by a few inches next time and see if that solves the problem.

thanks!

 

[richtee]

Have you tried a heat deflector below the sausage?

 

[cbrhunter]

Never heard of that, what does that entail?

Thanks!

 

[bmudd14474]

What smoker do you have?

 

[mballi3011]

I'm not a sausage guru but I have benn doing alot of sausage lately. It sounds like you could be alttle close to the heat source so maybe you should try laying them down next and see how they come out then.

 

[mulepackin]

Few different variations can be used. A sheet metal panel perforated with 1/4 in. holes, slightly curved is pretty common. This helps with heat dispersion within the smoker cabinet. I'm working on one for my freezer conversion. I'll post up pics when I'm done.

 

[rambler]

I have a 30" MES and like most of them there is a hot spot in the smoker where the heat comes up the corner. I have been laying the summer sausage on the racks instead of hanging them and I have been having pretty good success. They seem to be smoked the same without much variation in them.

 

[cbrhunter]

Oh boy, well here is my "newbie-ness" coming through...I'm not really sure. I picked it up at Bass Pro last year but I don't see a mfg label on it. Here are a couple of pics of it

 

[bmudd14474]

It should of come with a water pan that will go above your heat source

If you put that in there it will be a deflector of the heat for you and will help alot with the sausage.

 

[mulepackin]

That looks like a Camp Chef Smoke Vault to me. Don't know much about them specifically, but Camp Chef makes good gear.http://www.campchef.com/store/item/2..._vault_18.html

 

[que-ball]

I have a homemade fridge conversion, so I have good separation of my hanging summer sausage from my heat source, but I also use a homemade disposable heat deflector. I wrap a lower rack with aluminum foil, then punch several holes through the foil from the bottom up. This also helps to catch any fat that might render out of the sausage and keep the bottom of the smoker cleaner.