Hi there and welcome!
If smokes = a sausage like a brat then you should be good with regular sausage techniques.
BUT, if u are using a
jerky gun to make sausages just be prepared for doing some extra work.
If its not over 4 pounds or so (about 2 tubes worth of the LEM jerky cannon volume) then no big deal.
If you plan to do over 5 pounds then get ready to do a lot of refilling haha.
After this experience I think you will undrestand why I usually recommend looking into a vertical sausage stuffer and I always recommend you get one that holds a little more volume than what you normally stuff. So if you normally do 10 pound batches of sausages then get stuffer that claims 11-12 pounds because they are always a pound or more short of their claims.
As for the casings no matter where u get them or what they are (hanks or the horrible home packs) soak them suckers in water in the fridge for at least 5-6 days and u can change the water every 2 days or once in that period. Casings that are not soaked in this method will be a major pain in the ass to work with. They dont want to slide and move, they want to blow out easier, etc. etc. If you soak the casings this way (not the crappy method on the package) then you will have casings that are a million times easier to work with.
With you using a
jerky gun you could use a little less work in all areas of your process hahaha.
Finally, if smoking sausage is done at too high of a smoker temp then the fat melts to liquid and runs out of the casing leaving u with dry crumbly sausage... this is known as "fat out".
The approach for properly smoking sausage to avoid fat out is to work the SMOKER temp up slowly and to stop at 170F or when doing wild game and needing to kill micro-parasites you can safely go up to 180F... I do with any sausges I make that have wild pork in them. This works the temp up slowly without a blast of higher heat melting the fat out. You take the sausage to an internal temp of 152-155F (this can vary) and then u start the process of water/ice bath to cool down then dry and hang to bloom.
The sausage smoking/cooking approach is some variation of the following but don't do the 200F thing u are reading about!
- Put sausages in to dry for 1 hour at 100F WITHOUT smoke
- Next bump up the temp 15-20 degrees for an hour or so and begin applying smoke (I personally don't ever wait an hour but i do around 40-45 min to bump up the temp)
- Continue to bump up temp every hour (or interval close to that) until you reach a smoker temp of 170F (180F for wild game sausage that needs it)
- Hold at smoker temp at 170F (or 180F) until your sausage hits the internal temp you are wanting/needing. Apply smoke for as long or as little as you like. I dont think sausage nees more than 2-3 hours of smoke personally and do pork franks as little as 30 mins for light hint of smoke.
- Be prepared for a full smoker to take 8-9+ hours of smoking if doing a good load of brat-like sized sausages, do not underestimate the time as it may even go 12+ hours who knows
- When you hit the Internal Temp of the sausages u need to hit, throw them into a cold or ice water bath to cool them down quickly. This prevents wrinkling and skin/meat separation.
- Then set sausages out and let dry for a while to bloom. I usually dont go more than 2-3 hours blooming IF i even do it much at all.
Again don't do a smoker temp of 200F unless you want the fat and cheese to melt out.
I hope this info helps! :)
