Having trouble getting wood to start smoking.

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smokersouth

Fire Starter
Original poster
Oct 31, 2015
30
10
Hey,

I'm using a Masterbuilt Pro Dual Fuel and am using propane.

I want to smoke some homemade sausage and have a nice steady 210 deg. temp in the box and was told to shoot for 160 - 165 internal temp on the sausage.

But I can't get the wood smoking at 210. I could crank up the heat of course but I don't want to dry out the sausage.

Whhat should I do?

Thanks
 
Phil,

This sausage is homemade with no preservatives by an old lady whose been doing it for a long time.

I told her you said 210 deg. was "WAY to (sic) hot" and she said you don't know what you're talking about. Those were her words, not mine, Phil, so don't get mad at me. :) She's a real tough old dame and funny as hell.

Anyway, she said anywhere from 210 - 225 was fine and to take it out when the "inside" reached 160 - 165. Then "leave it be" for a couple of hours.

So I guess I'm going to crank it up a bit until it starts smoking, then adjust it to 210 - 225, put in the sausage and let it smoke until the "inside" (I know she means "internal") sausage temp. gets to where she suggested.

She and her now deceased husband built a little brick smokehouse in Italy and used it for years and years. I've seen the pictures. You should see the hams they did! She told me people crossed mountains to buy those hams.

So I'm going to take her advice and do it her way.  I'll just hold off on buying any "smoke producing gadgets" because I already own one. It's called a smoker. :)

I'm hoping some other folks offer their opinions on the correct smoker temp. to smoke uncured sausage and also what the internal temp. range should for when they're done.

Say I did buy one of these gadgets;

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smokin Phil 

As far as smoke, AMAZEN. Todd has something that will work for you, I guarantee.

You guarantee it? Does this mean I could get my money back from you if I don't like it for some reason? If that's the case, I might consider it. :)
 
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I almost forgot the original question.

What's the best way to get wood smoking in a propane smoker set to around 200 - 215?

Thanks.
 
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Also, in you second post, we found out more information than we had to start. As it turns out, you're not smoking the sausage, you're cooking it. That changes everything. It's hard for me anyway to draw a conclusion without having all the information.
So you're telling me the described sausage is "cooking" at 210 degrees?

I thought 210 with propane and smoking wood would be hot smoking.

It's not?
 
Also, in you second post, we found out more information than we had to start. As it turns out, you're not smoking the sausage, you're cooking it. That changes everything. It's hard for me anyway to draw a conclusion without having all the information.
So you're telling me the described sausage is "cooking" at 210 degrees?

I thought 210 with propane and smoking wood would be hot smoking.

It's not?

The polite thing to do, when asking for advice, is not tell the recipient of your question "They are full of it".....


Smoking meats is done between 50 and 170 def. F... temps above 170 is cooking/BBQ 'ing with smoke according to Marianski....



Quotes from Marianski's Forum....


Smoking Temperatures

Smoking temperature is one of the most important factors in deciding quality. There is no steadfast rule that dictates exact temperature ranges for different types of smoking. A few degrees one way or the other should not create any problem as long as the hot smoking upper temperature limit is not crossed. Crossing this limit will significantly affect the look and the taste of the product. When smoking, the inside temperature of the smoker cannot exceed 170° F (78° C) for any extended time. At this temperature, fat starts to melt quickly. Once it melts, the sausage inside will be a mass of bread crumbs, have a greasy outside, will lose its shine, and will have an inferior taste. If your sausage:
•Is greasy on the outside.
•Contains spots of grease under the sausage.
•Is too shriveled and wrinkled.
•Has lost its shine and looks opaque.
•Is crumbly inside with little empty pockets.

It means that the internal temperature of the sausage was too high during smoking or cooking. The fats start to melt at very low temperatures and we don’t want them to boil and leak through the casings. When faced with excessive temperatures, they begin to melt, and there is no way to undo the damage.

+++++++++

Smoking Without Nitrates

For those who smoke meats without cures, it will be advisable to smoke them at temperatures well above the danger zone (>160° F, 72° C). Such a product will not be pink but will exhibit a typical grayish color of cooked meat. Adding cure to meats that will be smoked brings many benefits (explained later), one of them is preventing the danger of contracting food poisoning, known as botulism. Barbecued meats are smoked at much higher temperatures which eliminates the danger of Clostridium botulinum producing toxins.

+++++++++

Warm Smoking

Continuous smoking at 73-104° F (23-40° C), from 4-48 hours depending on the diameter of the meat, humidity 80%, and medium smoke. The weight loss varies between 2-10%, with the difference being largely dependent on the time spent smoking. The surface of the product becomes quite dry but the inside remains raw. Because of the warm smoke, the product receives more smoke in its outside layers. This dry second skin helps increase shelf life, as well as prevent the loss of its natural juices. The color ranges from yellow to brown and has a little shine due to some fat moving outwards.

Warm smoke temperatures lie within the The Danger Zone (40-140° F, 5-60° C), which is the range of temperatures where all bacteria grow very fast. We may say that most bacteria love temperatures close to our body temperature, which is 36.6° C (98.6° F). Optimum growing conditions for infamous Clostridium botulinum are 78-95° F, (26-35° C) but it will still grow at 45° C (113° F). At those temperatures the only protection we have is the sodium nitrite (Cure #1 or 2) which should be added to smoked meats. As explained later in the book, the reason for using cures (nitrite) is not only to eliminate the risk of food poisoning (Clostridium botulinum) but to obtain the desired color, achieve better flavor and prevent the rancidity of fats.
 
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The polite thing to do, when asking for advice, is not tell the recipient of your question "They are full of it".....

 
Dave,

First of all, I asked for advice on how to get wood smoking at around 210 degrees. That was the question! That was the ONLY question.

Phil never answered the question and neither have you! Instead you're both telling me how sausage should be smoked.

That aside, I never said Phil was full of it. Go back and reread thel post. And that's why I went out of my way to make it clear that those were not my words but rather the words of the lady that made the sausage!

The polite thing to do is not make erroneous accusations. :)

Now, as far as "smoking" goes, I carefully read what you listed by Marianski and I paid particular attention to the following;

"Smoking Without Nitrates

For those who smoke meats without cures, it will be advisable to smoke them at temperatures well above the danger zone (>160° F, 72° C)."

Is that not what I'm doing by shooting for 210 as the sausage maker suggested originally and going for a 165 deg. internal temp.?

Hell, maybe I will be "barbecuing them with smoke", I don't know. My main objective is to having them come out safe, tasting good and with a nice, smokey taste.

I'm going to do it today and I'm going to follow her advice. The woman began making sausage in Italy when she was in her teens. Her grandmother taught her. She's in her 80s now. She has been making and preparing sausage and other meats with smoke for maybe longer than you've been alive.

Think about it.
 
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Lower your chip pan closer to the flame somehow. My propane smoker also won't produce smoke on low. Most times I have to set the chip pan very close to the flame to keep smoke going. It's trial and error until you figure out what works best.
 
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