# smoking sausage... hang it or cook it flat??



## dalton (Aug 19, 2011)

ok so i am going to try some summer sausage.  I have a premade spice package for my first try.  we will see how this "stuffing" thing goes.  here is my question. 

when I cook the sausage in my smoker (treager texas) is it better to hang it or can I lay it flat on the grates?  all the QVIEW i have seen always shows sausage hanging but I saw some yesterday with it laying flat on the cooking racks.  as i type this i am thinking what the benifits of haninging might be.    maybe the metal grates get hot and damage the casing?  maybe it is just about the marks left by the grates?  or maybe it is just about looking nice and round which might change if you cook it laying flat on the cooking rack?

enough speculation on my part how about we let the experts chime in??

thanks in advance for all your help as always!!

dalton


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## roller (Aug 19, 2011)

My sausages are smaller than summer sausage so I just lay mine on the racks when I smoke them. I used to hang them but would get off color..


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## coffee_junkie (Aug 19, 2011)

I doesn't really matter, you get grill marks if you lay it flat and that is about it.

I hang my salami, and lay my polish kielbasa flat.


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## SmokinAl (Aug 20, 2011)

It looks cooler hanging!


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## couger78 (Aug 20, 2011)

I've discovered a few things:

• laying flat: UPSIDE- easier & quicker when doing a large load. DOWNSIDE- tray/grill marks on the sausage surface; sometimes it can be difficult to get uniform color (smokey red) on the sausage where it contacts the rack. Need to flip or rotate more for uniformity.

• Hanging: UPSIDE- looks cooler (
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






), I can store MORE vertically in my smoker, better uniformity of smoke-color. DOWNSIDE: More work to string 'em up to hang properly (unless I just drape them over poles) so they don't touch one-another in order to avoid pale splotches. Sometimes need to rotate, depending if one has 'dead' areas in the smoker (less smoke).


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