Sausage too juicy

[WstTxSmokes]

I recently did a batch of sausage that came out too juicy. After cooling and reheating to 160, if i poked them with a toothpick juice would spray out. Flavor profile was great though. Also, when they were on the smoker at the very end the outsides were coated in fat i think. For reference, i did a 100% brisket sausage. Was this because the sausage mix was to fatty? Can too much dry milk powder do this (i used 1.8% to weight)? Should i have added pork fat? Curious to hear anyones comments if that has ever happened to them before.

 

[indaswamp]

So this is a smoke sausage? What is the ratio of fat to lean in the sausage? What temp. did you smoke the sausages at?

 

[indaswamp]

1.8% Milk powder is fine. They recommend no more than 3% in a smoke sausage or you can taste the milk powder.

 

[WstTxSmokes]

To be honest i didn't cut the fat from the brisket and get the ratio. I used a packer style brisket and did not trim the top very much but i did remove the deckle fat and the hard fat piece on the side. Maybe my fat to meat ratio was to high? I smoked it at 150 for most of the time and ramped to no more than 165 for the last hour. Temp'd the sausage and pulled at 160. Looking at other threads i think i should have pulled at 150.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Temp'd the sausage and pulled at 160. Looking at other threads i think i should have pulled at 150.

That was your biggest problem, the temp. 152-154 is all you need. So pulling at around 150 and resting a few minutes is sufficient, then cool, then if you poke them they won’t spray. A good sausage, like the one you made, will burst the casing at around 170. So smoking them right is important as is reheating them as to not burst the casing. Beef fat actually has about the highest melting temp so no problem with beef fat.
The trick with all beef sausage is they tend to be granular and break up easy. Lots of folks will mix fatty pork in 50-30% to help with texture and to supply the fat (use trimmed beef).

I think you most likely did just fine and just over shot the IT. How did they taste?