little chief and general sausage questions

[antileno]

so i'm relatively new in the sausage game and while i have been reading on here for hours i haven't found any answers as of yet to my specific questions. Any help would be greatly appreciated, here goes

1) when stuffing sausage what are your tricks to minimizing air bubbles? I made a batch of kielbasa yesterday and had a hell of a time keeping he sausages uniformed and keepining the air bubbles at bay. i did try to squish the meat into the stuffer the best i coud but it didnt seem to help.

2) i have a little chief smoker and while i know that it will not get hot enough to achieve the internal temperatue required it does smoke well. how the hell do you get any amount of sausage in there? i tried to rig up some wire in the vent holes to hang links but they ended up all sliding together and some got smoked more than others. can you just cut the links apart and place them on the racks rather than try to hang links? also if i do cut them into individual links prior to smoking will the meat untwist the ends and ooze out?

3) I watched a video on you tube about sausage making and they poked the sausage casing with a pin all over prior to smoking to allow meat to breathe? Is that required? what about popping the air bubbles with a pin? I read that bacteria will form in the air pockets, should i pbe worried about this with the sausage i,ve made? I have eaten some already and it seems fine .

[antileno]

Thanks in advance to any help it s greatly appreciated!

[Bear Chaser]

In one of the sausage making books that I read by Rytek Kutas written in the seventies he recommended popping the air bubbles with a needle. He also used hardwood dowels for hanging the links from.
I'm pretty sure you could finish the cooking in your oven after you've gotten the smoke to your satisfaction.

There are some fairly accomplished sausage makers on here. If you do a search of the Wild Game Recipes threads you'll find them if they don't post up advice before then.

[hunterdon]

I do a fair amount of smoking. I started years ago with a little chief also. Yes, it makes good smoke, but you can't control the temperature. Different sausages require different temperatures. And depending upon the time of year/season, as you have to smoke outside, it's virtually impossible to get the temp right.

A few years back I bought an electronic smoker on sale at Canadian tire and never looked back. It works fantastic! You can set the inside temperature and the timing. I strongly suggest for the future that you consider one of those.

As for the air bubbles, just pin prick the little visible pockets of air on the outside. Don't go crazy over this. You can't get all the air out, it will be fine. Don't cut the links, or they will break up and the meat will come out. Don't bother hanging them, your smoker is too small and awkward for that. just leave them lay on the racks. They will smoke just fine.

Also, keep in mind the longer you smoke and the hotter they smoke, the drier your sausage will become, as the fat slowly melts and drips out of the sausage. Remember you are smoking the sausage, in order to give it flavor. Not necessarily cooking the sausage. Depending upon the sausage, you will cook the sausage (example bratwurst sausage) in the frying pan. Other sausages, like salami, you won't be cooking. I usually finish salami off in a hot water bath to kill off bacteria and then hang in a cool room for at least a week or more.

Good luck!

[tomahawk]

so i'm relatively new in the sausage game and while i have been reading on here for hours i haven't found any answers as of yet to my specific questions. Any help would be greatly appreciated, here goes

1) when stuffing sausage what are your tricks to minimizing air bubbles? I made a batch of kielbasa yesterday and had a hell of a time keeping he sausages uniformed and keepining the air bubbles at bay. i did try to squish the meat into the stuffer the best i coud but it didnt seem to help.

Do not tie off the casing before you have run the sausage meat into the casing about 3 " from the end of the casing, then stop the stuffer and tie off the casing. Control the casing slipping off the stuffer nozzle so that the casing fills slightly firm or even a bit looser and watch for bubbles (should be only a few or none or you need to pack the stuffer tighter with meat)

2) i have a little chief smoker and while i know that it will not get hot enough to achieve the internal temperatue required it does smoke well. how the hell do you get any amount of sausage in there? i tried to rig up some wire in the vent holes to hang links but they ended up all sliding together and some got smoked more than others. can you just cut the links apart and place them on the racks rather than try to hang links? also if i do cut them into individual links prior to smoking will the meat untwist the ends and ooze out?

I used several split cedar about 1/2" that i made to fit and hung the links from them so they just hung off the bottom.

3) I watched a video on you tube about sausage making and they poked the sausage casing with a pin all over prior to smoking to allow meat to breathe? Is that required? what about popping the air bubbles with a pin? I read that bacteria will form in the air pockets, should i pbe worried about this with the sausage i,ve made? I have eaten some already and it seems fine .

I use very little fat so never poke to get rid of fat. The only time i poke is to get rid of an air bubble. The bacteria will only be a problem if you dont freeze it in due time, air is the enemy of all home made products.

[Phoneguy]

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php

Both are good resources. Lots to read. You will have lots more questions. If you are making a smoked sausage that has cure in it, needs to be brought up to ~160 internal, then cooled in an ice batch. If you cannot get the temperature in the smoker once you have the smoking done, you can always move them into the oven. Perhaps if you cannot keep the temperature down in the oven, keep the door ajar with a wooden spoon or something. Don't want to to get the oven temperature over about 200 when trying to raise the internal temp after smoking. I usually give about 1:40 of smoke and the rest of the time is heat in my Bradley.

James

[antileno]

If I coil them up on the racks does it matter if they are touching each other? Some of the casings I used were quite long and dont think i could get them all on one rack without them touching. I suppose I could just cut the casings in half so they fit on the racks better? I have been reading on here a ton and one thing I have seen a couple times is that you are not supposed to add smoke untill and internal temp of 120. Would it be wise to start in the oven to 120, transfer to smoker for a couple hours of smoking, then back to the oven to achieve finished temp?

Again thanks for the help!

[Phoneguy]

I usually preheat in the Bradley (think thermostat oven) at 120 for about an hour. Dries the casing and preheats. Then smoke for 1:40 at about 140F, then slowly bump the temperature up to end about 180. You don't want to get it to hot or the fat cooks out and then you have dry sausages.

When the skin touches while smoking you do not get the colour change which looks nice, and I assume the smoke flavour will not penetrate as well. I have been advised that I could put the heat up to 200 safely, as in no fat cook off. I got some metal square bar (dowel would work), and loop the lengths over that in the smoker, you could probably make something work in the chief, they just would not be that long. Put the dowel over the fittings that hold the racks? Have not looked at a Chief in a while to see how they are set up. Buddy has my old one.