Handload Summer Sausage

Preparation

1. Rinse casings and soak in warm water for 30 minutes.

2. Grind beef (or venison) and pork together through a 3/8” plate and through a 3/16” plate.

3. Add seasoning and mix until incorporated.

4. Mix cure with water, then combine with meat.

5. Continue mixing until the meat becomes tacky.

6. Stuff the meat into casings and tie off and the ends.

7. Line the smoker drip tray with fresh aluminum.

Standard Smoking Procedure

1. Preheat the smoker to 100°F with dampers closed.

2. Once smoker preheats, hang summer sausage in the smokehouse, ensuring no pieces are touching.

3. Insert meat probes to monitor temperature.

4. Open dampers completely and dry the sausage for 1 hour at 100°F.

5. After an hour, fill a pan 2/3 full with sawdust, dampen thoroughly, and form it into a funnel shape. Place it on the smoke burner.

6. Raise the smoker temperature to 110°F with top damper 1/8 open and bottom damper to 3/4 open.

7. Smoke for 4 hours at 110°F.

8. After 4 hours, remove the sawdust pan and add a new one, filling it 2/3 full. Raise the temperature to 170°F.

9. Continue smoking at 170°F until the internal temperature reaches 158°F.

10. Once internal temperature is reached, immediately transfer the sausage to a cold-water bath for 20 minutes, cooling it to 110°F.

11. After cold-water bath, dry at room temperature.

12. Store finished summer sausage in a cooler.

Fermented Sausage Smoking Procedure - If you are using encapsulated citric acid in a shelf-stable, fermented sausage product, follow the smoking procedures below.

1. Preheat the smoker to 100°F with dampers closed.

2. Dry for 1 hour at 100°F with dampers open.

3. Smoke overnight at 100°F with 2/3 pan of moistened sawdust and small pan of water for humidity. Top damper should be 1/8 open and bottom damper 3/4 open.

4. Smoke/Cook at 170°F with 2/3 pan of moistened sawdust until internal temperature reaches 158°F. Top damper should be set to 1/8 open and bottm damper 3/4 open.

5. Once internal temperature is reached, remove summer sausage and place in a cold water bath for 20 minutes.

6. Dry at room temperature and then store in cooler.