Question for all the smoked sausage DIY’ers

[Grizzly1]

I’d like to find the average answer on a few questions on how you smoke your link sausage. When we smoke sausage we have the fire in the smoke box going for about 21/2-3 hours to smoke the meat then let it burn out. We have a cinder block smokehouse that we keep at 160-165 degrees for 10 hours for cooking the sausage.

I’m sure different smoke houses may perform differently but please give your input on these two questions.

1.) How long do you keep your fire/smoke going when smoking sausage?

2.) What temperature do you keep your smokehouse while smoking the sausage and for how long do you leave the sausage in the smokehouse to cook?

[AntlerCollector]

Temps will vary greatly depending on if your intention is to cold smoke it leaving mostly raw or fully cooked the smoke sausage. That's all a matter preference. I prefer cold smoking it, and only cooking it when I'm ready to eat. Anything else is just reheating leftovers

[Walker]

I cold smoke all mine. The last I did was.in a smoke. House made of pallets wrapped with painter plastic.and smoke was made with chips in a coffee can. ,3 to 4.hours of smoke is.plenty.

[Grizzly1]

Temps will vary greatly depending on if your intention is to cold smoke it leaving mostly raw or fully cooked the smoke sausage. That's all a matter preference. I prefer cold smoking it, and only cooking it when I'm ready to eat. Anything else is just reheating leftovers

Can you please give the temps and process you use for cold smoking.

[bowhntrmatt]

For my fresh smoked sausage, we hang in cold smokehouse (42 degrees with coolbot running) and smoke for an hour or so, then package and cook before eating.

For fried sausage, basically the same thing except there is cure in the mix and I may smoke twice, but temp never gets above 45 and sausage hangs with a dehumidifier running. Usually takes 7-10 days to dry to my liking.

[AntlerCollector]

I will save my venison and usually pick a clear cold day in February. It's much easier to cold smoke when it's cold outside. The risk of the temp getting too hot is lessened. I love the smoke flavor and will keep them on 4-5 hours. Keep the temps below 90. I'm just trying to add smoke and not enough heat to cook them. 50-70 is where I prefer to be. That will also depend on your smoker. I can't get mine much cooler than that and still infuse smoke.

[ColinR]

I also cold smoke. Not sure what temp as I don't even monitor it. I start a fire in an old wash tub, once it's going good I place a piece of tin mostly over the fire to smother it so it just smokes, set the wash tub in the smoke house and go to bed. I do this on a really cold night. By morning all the wood is gone and the sausages are ready to be vacuum sealed.

[WBA2000]

I also cold smoke. Not sure what temp as I don't even monitor it. I start a fire in an old wash tub, once it's going good I place a piece of tin mostly over the fire to smother it so it just smokes, set the wash tub in the smoke house and go to bed. I do this on a really cold night. By morning all the wood is gone and the sausages are ready to be vacuum sealed.

Pretty much the same here!

[Strummer]

I cold smoke mine until I see the color change I want . Might be 3 hrs maybe 7 or 8 .

[Jason]

I’ve always smoked mine at ~225 till the internal temperature of the sausage is 150 degrees.

When y’all cold smoke, how do you know when to pull the sausage?

[merlin]

We cold smoke, preferably on a cold, at least cool day. Build fire outside, soak chunks of wood in 5 gallon bucket of water, add coals/wet wood to a covered metal bucket inside smoke house. Plan a day, about 8 hours. Cook a couple during that time and enjoy with cold beverage.

[Smart]

I’ve always smoked mine at ~225 till the internal temperature of the sausage is 150 degrees.

When y’all cold smoke, how do you know when to pull the sausage?

Do it long enough and you know the look and feel. It has a darker hue and color change and the casings have a dryer feel. 200-400 lbs for us is the norm and on a cold night with low humidity I can put 5-6 hours of smoke on it, put one final load of wood in the firebox and go to bed. It will be perfectly smoked and cooled by the morning where we then vacuum pack. Plus you can pull a link, boil it and you can see the red smoke ring if its done..


We do not bring our sausage to temp until the first time you grill it so it gets that first fresh fat rendering cook. My smoker rarely gets over 80 degs. We make 200-400 lbs and don't want to vacuum seal and freeze that many lbs of leftovers which technically when you bring it to temp is what one is doing..


#1 thing to remember....Humidity is bad for cold smoking. It is the number one variable. It will not allow the casings to take smoke very well. Humidity can be the difference between a 5 hour smoke and a 17 hour smoke....and I've been a part of both...

[BitBackShot]

Is there a danger of the sausage rotting while it's cold smoking? Or does the salt and smoke pretty much take care of it?

[Smart]

Is there a danger of the sausage rotting while it's cold smoking? Or does the salt and smoke pretty much take care of it?

There is a danger of it spoiling if you do it without cure on a warm day or too high humidity like after a rain or heavy fog. See the 17 hour talk above and you can understand why. I prefer to not use cure but will if needed. The best time for us is after a blue norther with low temps and low humidity. I like it to be in the 40-50s during the day and drop down into the 30s at night when smoking. Because of that it is hard to get everybody to DFW to make it on the same day. You plan for several different weekends and hope the weather is right....worst case, you pull out the cure and do it on a 60 degree day.


We've been making it a long, long time and have never had a batch spoil though when following those simple guidlines