New WSK owner and a sausage question

[GautamR]

Hi all!

I just joined the WSK club, as I want to spend a lot more time smoking and grilling and this seemed like a great choice. Thanks for all the help and advice I've already seen on this board so far.

In the last week or so, I've warm smoked some bacon and done a pulled pork (over 10 hours). Both turned out very well, even I couldn't really stop myself continuing to tweak the vents and temperatures all the time on the pork...

I already stuff and dry out my own salami and I'd like to get into sausages on the grill. The recipe I'm looking at says to smoke at 150F for 2 hours, presumably until they reach that internal temperature but no higher. Is it possible to hold my WSK that low without it spiking? Looking for any tips for how to do that!

Thanks in advance.

 

[Brett-EDH]

Yup. You’re going to have to use lower density fuel though. As in possibly a smoke tube filled with pellets as your heat source.

I once meant to cold smoke salmon in the WSK and it became a hot smoke session instead of cold smoke session.

I used a smoke tube filled with pellets. That generated enough heat to hot smoke at around 140-150 to cook my salmon.

If you’re going to use briqs, don’t make them dense. A snake stacked in 2 bricks might be enough fuel to get down to and stay at 150.

Or just try a smoke tube filled with pellets and manage the airflow. A smoke tube should yield around 2 hours fuel at a normal burn rate.

 

[GautamR]

Thanks Brett! I've got the equivalent of that I think - a maze smoker that uses wood dust. But I don't think that will produce enough heat. Maybe I use that alongside a little charcoal in one of the baskets?

 

[Brock Gingery]

Thanks Brett! I've got the equivalent of that I think - a maze smoker that uses wood dust. But I don't think that will produce enough heat. Maybe I use that alongside a little charcoal in one of the baskets?

Not a wsk owner, but do a test run with your maze only. I would also try your maze with pellets and see how it does. Whether or not it has the length of time to run, at least you will know after a test.

 

[Brett-EDH]

Thanks Brett! I've got the equivalent of that I think - a maze smoker that uses wood dust. But I don't think that will produce enough heat. Maybe I use that alongside a little charcoal in one of the baskets?

Maze smoker is insufficient.

I use this and it hot smoked my salmon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JGVBKN3?tag=tvwb-20

One CB will get you way above 150°F.

I would recco using the smoke tube above, with pellets and cinch down the top vent to hold heat while keeping the bottom vent at smoke setting for air inflow to keep the pellets burning.

That’s how I accidentally did my hot smoked salmon.

There’s not enough fuel density is the maze/sawdust method to generate enough heat for the time needed to get to the 150° temp and to fully cook your sausages.

Since 150° is a dangerous temp to be at, should you fail to get there and stay there and cook the sausages, I’d strongly recommended the pellets in this tube.

 

[GautamR]

Great thanks all - I’ll give a maze with pellets a go, and if not try the proper pellet tube route without charcoal.

 

[GautamR]

Actually another idea might be to cold smoke it with the maze/wood dust combo for say 6-8 hours at much lower temps so it's uncooked, freeze the ones I'm not using and then just cook at 250f when we're ready to eat. Would that work?

 

[Brock Gingery]

Actually another idea might be to cold smoke it with the maze/wood dust combo for say 6-8 hours at much lower temps so it's uncooked, freeze the ones I'm not using and then just cook at 250f when we're ready to eat. Would that work?

I would check the instructions for the cure you used. If it specifies cooking it to activate the cure and stabilize the meat, go ahead and cook it. If the cure won't lead to a tougher or worse off product from sitting and freezing, then I don't see a problem with cooking day of. Just depends on the ingredients you have in them.

 

[GautamR]

Thanks for all the advice! The pellet smoker worked pretty well for the smoking part, but the final cook took a bit too long as I think I didn't have enough charcoal to control the temperature well enough. Still trying to find the right balance to not waste charcoal but have enough to work with!

 

[Brock Gingery]

Thanks for all the advice! The pellet smoker worked pretty well for the smoking part, but the final cook took a bit too long as I think I didn't have enough charcoal to control the temperature well enough. Still trying to find the right balance to not waste charcoal but have enough to work with!

Glad it worked well for you.
FYI, since you are using a WSK and not a WSM, You can fill more charcoal than what you need and reuse the leftovers after shutting your grill down the next time. I do it with my kettle grills all the time. The more you track roughly how much each item takes to do a cook the more you can tailor your charcoal needs accurately. Early on though, use more than what you need and you won't be hurting anything... Within reason of course.

Congratulations on your success.

 

[Brett-EDH]

Glad it worked well for you.
FYI, since you are using a WSK and not a WSM, You can fill more charcoal than what you need and reuse the leftovers after shutting your grill down the next time. I do it with my kettle grills all the time. The more you track roughly how much each item takes to do a cook the more you can tailor your charcoal needs accurately. Early on though, use more than what you need and you won't be hurting anything... Within reason of course.

Congratulations on your success.

Exactly. Just recycle the unconsumed coals (not briqs as the briqs usually just turn to ash/dust very quickly.

And since you should burn off the grill for 5 minutes post cook, that extra fuel will go to good use. This burn off is key to stop your grill from smelling and rotting as you’re cooking off the fats and grease.