# MES 40 hanging sausage



## jwsailor (Feb 3, 2011)

What do you use to hang sausage in a MES 40. This will be my first try at smoking sausage in my new(first time use) MES 40.  Made some smoked sausage and Andouille today and plan on smoking it in the morning. Not sure what to use for hanging it? Can I use wooden dowels?


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## eman (Feb 3, 2011)

That's what most folks use , Some use stainless rods .


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## les3176 (Feb 3, 2011)

I use the top rack with stainless steel "S" hooks..Gonna build a more stable rack when the weather warms up.


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## baboy (Feb 4, 2011)

I made a sausage hanger from some oak rods, cut it so it fits on the top of the rack slides


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## jwsailor (Feb 4, 2011)

wow, that is a nice rack Baboy. I looked for stainless steel rods but could not find any other than threaded rod. I have some 1/2 inch wood dowels now I will have to make a notched rack for them. Too much blowing rain to smoke today will have to let sausage hang in fridge until Saturday morning. Thanks for the help.


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## mballi3011 (Feb 4, 2011)

Like everyone else here said that stainless is the perferred hanging rack BUT..... You should be fine with your rack. I would recommend that you use hooks for your sausage and not put the sausage on the wooden rack. I just use some good and heavy hooks for my sausage and it works just fine for me.


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## fpnmf (Feb 4, 2011)

I use a couple 1/4 inch dowels in mine

Craig


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## jwsailor (Feb 4, 2011)

well I built a rach from oak  using Baboy's picture and have my sausage drying tonight. I will begin smoking in the morning. Thanks again everyone, oh yes and here is a picture of the rack.


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## les3176 (Feb 4, 2011)

Nice looking rack!! lol


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## jwsailor (Feb 5, 2011)

Well, I started the smoker at 5:30 this morning it was up to 140degrees by 5:50 and I put the sausage in. Outside air temp 34degrees and 100% humidity(light fog) Chips did not seem to be making any smoke so I turned it up to 150deg and added some oak saw dust(from making the rack). Saw dust smoked good for a little while then quit. So iI opened the door and pulled the chip box, none opf the dry chips had burned. So I added more dust and used my propane torch to light the chips and dust, then reinserted the chip box and closed the door. Half hour later and it is still making good smoke. I can see that I may need a cold smoker to make the desired smoke for low temp sausage.


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## fpnmf (Feb 5, 2011)

The amazen is an inexpensive tool.

Works great!!

I got about 9 pounds of andouille warming up now.

Going to use pecan for the smoke.

 Have a great day!!


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## jwsailor (Feb 5, 2011)

well six hours later and they are looking good, but it has been a struggle to produce enough smoke at 150deg. Going to order an A-Maze-N  today.


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## jwsailor (Feb 5, 2011)

ok, finished with my first smoked sausage and andouille. They look good, have them cooling now, can't wait to try them. Thanks to everyone for the help.  I ordered my A-Maze-N and five pounds of pecan. I have a stack of pecan wood that I use in my Char Griller offset wish there was an easy way to turn it into sawdust.


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## fpnmf (Feb 5, 2011)

Looking  delicious!!

  Craig


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## hkeiner (Feb 6, 2011)

[*]jwsailor ,[*] [*]The AMNS is great. I have one myself and use if for most of my smokes. By the way, if your MES 40 still has the unmodded small wood tray you should consider modding it (or replacing it with the larger wood tray retro kit) for the times you may still want to use the wood tray. Below is a link describing the mod I did on my MES 40 (i.e., remove the metal panel between the tray and the heating element). It is easy to do and well worth it. It smoke much quicker at lower temperatures than the stock small wood tray did. Just my thoughts....[*] [*]http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/fo...rade-kit-inspired-mod-with-q-view#post_578295[*]


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## jwsailor (Feb 7, 2011)

I checked with the people at Masterbuilt and was told that the retro kit was just for the MES30. They did tell me that I should not preheat the smoker before adding meat or chips in order to get a longer burn time on the heating element. They said that the smoker works best at 180 degrees or higher. I told them I was smoking sausage at 140 and they said that depending on the outside temp, the heating element may not stay on long enough to provide much smoke. That is exactly what happened each time the element came on it would start to produce smoke and then the thermostat would shut of the element. So I am looking at two things to rectify this: 1. I ordered an A-MAZE-N smoker (which should solve it) and 2. remove the shield below the chip box. Thanks for the help, by the way that afternoon I smoked a brisket at 225 degrees and had sufficeint smoke. I am so looking forward to receiving my A-MAZE-N.


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## ringodad (Feb 18, 2011)

Baboy's got the bomb! I built something on the same principle, but not nearly as nice. I built a wood frame with 1x2 trim that would slide in on the top rack supports. Across that I used dowels that just sat on the frame - no slots. It worked great, and I picked up an extra couple of inches to hang sausage with. No problem at all making sausages using the 2 1/2 x 20 casings.


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## southensmoker (Feb 25, 2011)

I just went to the store and got a couple sticks of rebar and cut them to length.


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## tjohnson (Feb 26, 2011)

Do a search for "Hot Mods" and you'll find lot's of mods for your MES.

Here's the link:  http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/87723/mes-hot-mods-related-mods-or-creations  

There's a series of pics with dimensions for these sausage racks in MES Hot Mods

Todd


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## alton59 (Jan 9, 2013)

I found that Butcher and Packer company sells hickory sawdust for 5.25 for 5 pounds plus shipping. I ordered the 5 pounds and when I received it, took it and ran it through an old blender on the chop and or blend cycle to get the right powder like consistency to burn in my amazn sawdust smoker.It took me about an hour to chop/blend through the 5 pounds. I think you can find old blenders at any resale shop these days. The sawdust that you get from butcher and packer is not as fine as the sawdust that amazn smoker company sells, but will work when chopped/blend in the blender.I also found that by using a combination of 1/3 cup wood pellets *or less ( too much smoke)*, with your choice of wood chips, that my smoker will smoke like crazy and maintain a 165 degree temp. for smoking for about 1.5-2hrs. I did get the retrofit chip tray from masterbuilt, which is larger and sits lower on the heating element.........this took care of the non-smoking issues that my smoker previously had. I am not recommending that you or anyone reading this post  use wood pellets in your masterbuilt smoker or use a blender on sawdust, just something that I do at my own risk. If you do not have the retrofit chip tray, call masterbuilt, you will not regret it.


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## mike johnson (Jan 9, 2013)

I know this is a REDNECK way of doing this but I use paperclips bent to a S shape and hang them from the grate with the sausage underneath. total cost is free ( work donated them ).


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## mr b (Feb 24, 2015)

I keep seeing wooden sides in these smokers...what is the size


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## mummel (Jul 1, 2015)

Why dont people put the sausage right on the grid?  Why hang?


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## cal1956 (Jul 1, 2015)

just lay it on the racks , there is no need to hang it unless you just like the look of it hanging there 













DSCN5511.JPG



__ cal1956
__ Jun 11, 2015






 makes no difference whatsoever


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## jp61 (Jul 1, 2015)

mummel said:


> Why dont people put the sausage right on the grid?  Why hang?


Use of space.

You can smoke a lot more sausage if they're hanging. 

There's nothing wrong with laying them on the grates they'll smoke just fine, but you'll have a bunch of lines on the sausage from the grate.


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## mummel (Jul 1, 2015)

JP61 said:


> Use of space.
> 
> You can smoke a lot more sausage if they're hanging.
> 
> There's nothing wrong with laying them on the grates they'll smoke just fine, but you'll have a bunch of lines on the sausage from the grate.


Are the lines burned, or get creosote?  Who cares if my sausages have lines.  Just curious of they burn on the grid, or get stuck to it etc.


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## jp61 (Jul 1, 2015)

mummel said:


> Are the lines burned, or get creosote?  Who cares if my sausages have lines.  Just curious of they burn on the grid, or get stuck to it etc.


Depends on what kind of smoking you're talking about. If you're hot smoking and get temps too high, yes you can get "overcooked" 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






  lines. If you're cold smoking you'll have lines because the smoke can't get to the areas laying on the grate. What matters is that you care or not whether your sausage has lines or not.


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## cal1956 (Jul 1, 2015)

no lines !!!   I have been doing 25 pounds at a time and as you can see I could easily get more than that on the smoker , I too thought I would have lines but I never have

 and I smoke the sausage for about 6 hours ..besides who can taste a line even IF you did happen to get a couple ?  which I don't !!! 













DSCN5510.JPG



__ cal1956
__ Jun 11, 2015


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## jp61 (Jul 1, 2015)

cal1956 said:


> no lines !!!   I have been doing 25 pounds at a time and as you can see I could easily get more than that on the smoker , I too thought I would have lines but I never have
> 
> and I smoke the sausage for about 6 hours ..besides who can taste a line even IF you did happen to get a couple ?  which I don't !!!
> 
> ...


Sorry, my bad.


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## tropics (Jul 1, 2015)

I made a rack not knowing this post was here.













sausage rack.JPG



__ tropics
__ Jul 1, 2015






Easy to make 

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/174140/sausage-rack-mes40-w-step-by-step


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## cal1956 (Jul 1, 2015)

nothing wrong with hanging them , I just figure its a pain in the a$$ to have  to take them out and put them back in when you don't have to , after you use the rack even once it will be greasy and dirty

hell why bother !!!!

another thing , if you hang them there is a chance that the casing will break at the contact point , this can't happen if you lay them


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## mummel (Jul 1, 2015)

What IT do you take your sausages too?  I was reading 160F.  I wanted to make some pork and beef combination sausages.


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## cal1956 (Jul 1, 2015)

start at 140 and near the end I take it to 160


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## dr k (Jul 1, 2015)

cal1956 said:


> just lay it on the racks , there is no need to hang it unless you just like the look of it hanging there
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Your right.  Probably for looks so there are no grill marks where the smoke didn't hit them.  I don't know if also increases the capacity of sausage the MES will hold.


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## jp61 (Jul 1, 2015)

Dr K said:


> Your right.  Probably for looks so there are no grill marks where the smoke didn't hit them.  I don't know if also increases the capacity of sausage the MES will hold.


Different strokes for different folks....

Yes, it's done mainly because of looks. That's part of smoking/cooking.

It held in my 40" MES....... in the end that's all that really matters.


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## cal1956 (Jul 1, 2015)

i'll let you know about the capacity before to much longer , I have been doing 25 pounds at a time but , next batch is going to be 50 pounds


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## jp61 (Jul 1, 2015)

cal1956 said:


> i'll let you know about the capacity before to much longer , I have been doing 25 pounds at a time but , next batch is going to be 50 pounds


Have fun! Making sausage at home is fun and rewarding!

Your 40" MES looks a bit different than mine


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## cal1956 (Jul 1, 2015)

Your 40" MES looks a bit different than mine 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





I have no idea what that is other than a smoker of some kind ,

mine is a commercial model that I bought at Sams club many many years ago and its propane

but most all of them are about the same size , what made mine so damn expensive is all the stainless steel , at that time I had to have something that I was sure to

meet or exceed health dept. requirement's otherwise I would have bought a much cheaper one


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## jp61 (Jul 1, 2015)

cal1956 said:


> Your 40" MES looks a bit different than mine
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Looks like a really nice one! I guess you get what you pay for...


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## jp61 (Jul 1, 2015)

What brand is your smoker?


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## cal1956 (Jul 1, 2015)

I just went outside and looked for a mfgr . tag and failed to find it . all I could find is a label that has an M logo and says "professional "  this is an OLD smoker and I haven't seen another one like it in years


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## jp61 (Jul 1, 2015)

cal1956 said:


> I just went outside and looked for a mfgr . tag and failed to find it . all I could find is a label that has an M logo and says "professional "  this is an OLD smoker and I haven't seen another one like it in years


No biggie, I was just curious.

Looks like you're set for life with the smoker being all stainless.

Enjoy!


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## cal1956 (Jul 1, 2015)

its not fancy but it get's by ,  just 3 settings low , med and high  but I have done a ton of cooking on it over the years . being 3/4 blind now I have a little bit of a hard time

seeing when its lit but that's what my wife is for ..lol


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## jp61 (Jul 1, 2015)

cal1956 said:


> its not fancy but it get's by ,  just 3 settings low , med and high  but I have done a ton of cooking on it over the years . being 3/4 blind now I have a little bit of a hard time
> 
> seeing when its lit but that's what my wife is for ..lol


As long it gets the job done, that's all that matters.

Sorry to hear about your vision.

We're all bouncing around on the same wagon getting bumps n bruises. The older one gets the harder it is to hang on.

Enjoy the ride!


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## Biggy1 (May 12, 2019)

cal1956 said:


> just lay it on the racks , there is no need to hang it unless you just like the look of it hanging there
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## Biggy1 (May 12, 2019)

cal1956 said:


> just lay it on the racks , there is no need to hang it unless you just like the look of it hanging there
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Those sausages look good, can you share your recipe?


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