thank you

@mbroos I think a few hours is too long, you run the risk of drying out the outside of the sausage and then it won't be able to pass heat into the center of the sausage. I'd say start at 120ish in your dehydrator for 30 minutes, that will begin to condition the temp of the meat and will dry the outside a little but not too much. Then, I would move to the oven and i would seriously consider finishing it up in water like a lot of users here do. For more information on that check out these two articles/videos https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/1099/cured-sausage-205-advanced-thermal-processing/ https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/1108/cured-sausage-206-advanced-cured-sausage-processing

Will be making summer sausage next weekend. My pellet smoker does not go below 150. Thoughts on using a dehydrator for a few hours and then transferring to smoker to smoke and finish the cooking? I can adjust the temp on my dehydrator. Thanks for thoughts.

@srsmith123 So, we had luck propping our oven door open once and could get the top rack to stabilize at 120, which was 30 degrees cooler than the lowest setting that oven will do. That is what I would recommend but failing that then yes, your plan sounds about the only thing you can do. Adding a water pan will add some humidity but not a lot, try adding some large automotive sponges to the water pan to try to raise the humidity even more in there. Some more info: https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/1099/cured-sausage-205-advanced-thermal-processing https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/1108/cured-sausage-206-advanced-cured-sausage-processing

Any tips to making this summer sausage in my home oven? Lowest setting on oven is 170 degrees. My thought is to let it go at 170 degrees for about 3 hours, see how it's doing and if needed bump it up to 175 degrees until internal temp of 160 degrees is reached? Should I also add pan of water to oven to control humidity? All suggestions are welcome.

@gChart Good answer!

@Doug-Benton If you're using a cure accelerator like Encapsulated Citric Acid (ECA) then you don't need to let them cure overnight. Make sure you wait until the last 60 seconds or so of mixing to add the ECA so as not to break down the encapsulation. If you aren't using a cure accelerator, then you *need* to hold them overnight to give the cure time to work. Note, things like Sure Cure and pink salt are cures, not cure accelerators.

Thanks for clearing that up this is my first time making summer sausage. One more question can you stuff the casings let them set in refrigerator overnight then smoke them the next day? Or do they need to smoked immediately after stuffing.

@Doug-Benton What @gChart Says is true, 2 qts mixed in the meat but that's maximum, I generally say 1.5 qt if you are using a binder. It will stuff like a dream with 2 qts but your cook schedule will be longer than it needs to be as the meat cooks off some of that water

@Doug-Benton Mixed in with the meat and spices. You may not want / need a full two quarts, especially depending on the type of binder you're using (assuming you're using one). Check out the recent Meatgistics livestream for Jonathon's explanation: https://youtu.be/y9Ffmd873HY?t=1246 This link starts at the water discussion, but it's worth watching the entire thing.

In the how to make summer sausage the ingredients call for 2 quarts of water is that mixed in with the meat and spices or is it used to cool the sausage down after smoking?

@BRagland1 So here is some good information that might not be well known, the mm and fraction plates are 2 ways of saying the same thing. 3mm = 1/8 10mm = 3/8 4.5mm = 3/16 5mm = 1/4 (this is a very odd size and you wont see many) Now, depending on your grinder not all plates will fit. You need to take into account how it locks in, do your plates have 1 or 3 holes around the outside? Is one or two sides shaved off? Also, some commercial style plates are too thick to fit on retail grinders (found that out the hard way with @papasop) but some DO fit. The Weston Pro 22 will take a commercial plate and knife but the #12 and #32 will not. Crazy and I wish it was all more standardized.

I believe you recommend a 3mm plate for your final grind. The smallest one I have is 4.5mm. is that too big for summer/venison sausage.

@PapaSop I got my grinder from Cabela's several years ago. They only carry three plate sizes 4.5-7-10 mm. So I'll just keep my eyes open.

@BRagland1 Lol. Yep, got my 3mm plate from a local Fleet Farm.

@Jonathon Good, because my next question was going to be, why can't I find any #22 3mm plates on Walton's sure. Haha

@BRagland1 Yup, your 4.5 will be fine! And thanks @papasop for helping another community member out!

@BRagland1 I'm sure you'll enjoy it just fine. Good luck.

@PapaSop thank you. Wasn't sure how much difference in texture it makes.

@BRagland1 That will be fine. Have used a 4.5 many many times.

@kroc It's not 100% the same BUT [Hickory Smoke Powder](https://www.waltonsinc.com/hickory-smoke-powder) does a great job of replacing the flavor. In fact, there was a while were @austin and I were doing our Will it BBQ videos and we would smoke something and then try that same thing with hickory smoke powder and we often couldn't tell the difference. Hmmmm smoked ice cream! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ky17U-ClJI

sounds good. I will give it a try. I live in apts. so i can't use a smoker.

@kroc I'd use that hickory smoke powder. I haven't used it, yet, but it sure does smell both good and authentic. I know that liquid smoke actually is made from smoke, but it always strikes me as acrid and just "off" for smoke.

making summer sausage in the oven. Can I use powdered hickory smoke to give it the smoke flavor or liquid smoke.

thank you