Summer Sausage - Best way to take temperature??

[pfalor]

I have 5 summer sausages in my smoker right now and I was wondering the best way to take their internal temperature?  They are in fibrous casings and it seems like shoving the probe through the casing would damage its storage capabilities.  Any hints?

Thanks in advance!

 

[SmokinAl]

Just put it thru the top or at a downward angle in the middle, you want the probe right in the middle of the sausage.

 

[pfalor]

I just pulled them from the smoker and moved them to the oven.  I was having a hard time getting my gas smoker at a low enough temperature.  3 of them are venison/pork and 2 are beef.  I put a probe right into the center of 1 and it read 139.  I closed the oven door and now it has dropped to 135.  How long should these things take and why am I going backwards?!?

The oven is set to 170.  Do I need to go higher?

 

[rbranstner]

How long have they been smoking/cooking for? Your temps should be just fine. Any time you take the meat out of the smoker or open the door and expose it to colder air you can have the internal temp of the meat go down. Keep the probe in it and keep the oven door closed and just wait for the internal temp to get to your target point. There are to many variables to know how long it will take for sure. The general rule  of thumb with any smoking is the meat is done when the thermometer  tells you its done. Kick back, relax and have a cold one and it will be done in no time.

 

[Bearcarver]

What Ross said, plus let's not forget that the fact that your oven is only 30˚ or 35˚ higher than your current internal meat temp makes it climb very slowly.

The closer the internal temp gets to your oven temp, the slower it will climb.

Bear

 

[pfalor]

Turns out that my oven doesn't like to work below 200.  After dropping a few more degrees in temp, I took the internal of the oven and it was only 140.  I bumped it to 200 and they finished in about 2 hours.

Now that they've rested, whats the best way to store them?  Do I need to wrap them in the fridge or is the casing enough?  Thanks for everyone's help so far!