Homemade Sausage Making

Hi Croc. Yes i got the bigger one. The temp thing not a big thing. I just adjust set temp accordingly. When smoking a full ham you can either take shelves out and hang or place it on a shelf. I cut an old tent pole to size as there is a place for it. One day when i get time i will construct a larger permanate one big enough to do everything at once. Last time i killed some pigs i had 2 smokers going full time for 2 days. I had 5 sides of bacon, 4 legs of ham, 16 hocks plus other bits and pieces.

thanks again everyone for the tips.
i think i got most covered now but i came up with one very important issue, someone mentioned somewhere that smoke can be problem with neighbours till now i have not pay attention to amount of smoke in video clips but after returning to some of them i'm almost sure that smoking in typical melbourne burbs with houses around is going to piss someone off for sure.
is there anyway to keep smoke on your property to minimum, i'm hoping someone will say that one smoking method out there produce almost no visible smoke but i'm worried now that i have to wait with smoking project till i build my next house and i just been here 2 years so it will be good while before that happens

Hi Tom,
There really is very little smoke from any smokehouse. The best way to solve this problem is talking to your neighbours and explaining what you are doing.
Offer them some samples, like I did. They were over the moon, now I taught 2 of my neighbours how to cure bacon and when I fire up one of my smokers I usually smoke their pieces as well.
One of them is even thinking about building his own as he asked me to look out for a bread proofer.
You're in a small country town, 99.9% are great people.
Good Luck Mate,
Jan.

i figured there is no harm in starting my adventure with raw sausages before i get smoker organized, I got my small mincer still around and is working just fine so why not.
any pointers from people in my area were is best and cheap place to buy castings and salts etc...? i plan to make some typical polish white sausage.

Croc wrote:thanks again everyone for the tips.
i think i got most covered now but i came up with one very important issue, someone mentioned somewhere that smoke can be problem with neighbours till now i have not pay attention to amount of smoke in video clips but after returning to some of them i'm almost sure that smoking in typical melbourne burbs with houses around is going to piss someone off for sure.
is there anyway to keep smoke on your property to minimum, i'm hoping someone will say that one smoking method out there produce almost no visible smoke but i'm worried now that i have to wait with smoking project till i build my next house and i just been here 2 years so it will be good while before that happens

Hi Tom,
I had your concerns about this. Now, I only smoke at night.
Gus

crustyo44 wrote:MistyGully - http://mistygully.com.au/ - smokers, dust, spices, ingredients (found them to be expensive)

They now list Bactoferm, available to order guys/girls

i collected most parts for my project now and starting to look at next stage of building my smoker, one thing that kills me is that i seen shop with cures that sells larger quantities than the little 500gr or 1KG packs, anyone knows shop online or in melbourne with cures #1 and #2 in 2KG minimum ?
btw i got this electric flat grill that was not used in years, i think it is only about 1500watts would this be suitable as heating element?

G'day Croc, we're near Maffra so not that far from you.

Re Cure quantities, a one Kg. bag of cure will do quite a lot of product, At say 2grams of cure / kilogram of product a kilo of cure would make as an example..........500KG of product.

I always refer to acknowledged recipes before adding Cure.

It's easy to buy/find and this thread has plenty of places that sell it.

Good luck with sausage making, its a great pastime.

Hi Croc,
Pete is correct, 1 kg of cure will last you a couple of years at least. Have you purchased a good quality set of scales in 0.01 grams yet. Don't have a guess at measuring cure.
With cure # 1 and #2 you have to be spot on and if you work with unknown weights of meat, accurate weighing is IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good luck Mate, posts some photos of what you made.
Cheers,
Jan.

G'day Croc, Welcome to this site, their are a lot of very keen sausage makers here. This link will get you small quantities of cures, they will post to you.
http://www.mistygully.com.au/brines-cures-1/
In answer to your question about smoke upsetting your neighbours, well, I have been smoking almost weekly for over 10 years in a home built smokehouse, never had an issue with complaints. My smokehouse only produces a small wisp of smoke, it is not a pungent smoke like some can be, rather it's a kind of a sweet mild smell, it depends on what wood you use but generally they are all good. To get you started on your sausage making adventures I have posted a photo of 25kgs of Venison cabana I made last Sunday, hopefully that gives you something to look forward to. Generally it takes me around 2 hours to make from scratch and around 3 1/2 hours to cook and smoke. Any tips you might need on making smallgoods, then don't hesitate in sending me a pm, I am not a great distance from you, I am in the Knox area. Good luck.

that photo is going to make me hungry. (what sort of meat is it? roo?)
thanks everyone for all the pointers.

I'm almost there, one last puzzle is heating element to go with my smokai smoke generator.
is single electric hotplate enough to provide temperatures high enough to smoke sausages and other meats? or do i have to aim for something bigger, my smoke house is going to be about
1x1 metres floor and 1.9 high.

Hi Australian and New Zealand Guys n' gals!
How well do you think you know Australia? I have 15 questions about Australia for you at this link: http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?p=26083#26083
Do you think you can get all of them right without having to look them up?

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

crustyo44 wrote:Hi Croc,
Pete is correct, 1 kg of cure will last you a couple of years at least. Have you purchased a good quality set of scales in 0.01 grams yet. Don't have a guess at measuring cure.
With cure # 1 and #2 you have to be spot on and if you work with unknown weights of meat, accurate weighing is IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good luck Mate, posts some photos of what you made.
Cheers,
Jan.

like you said it is important so i thought i ask to confirm, is 0.01g scale really needed?
i have one old 1g resolution scale and new one that is 0.1g resolution.

Hi Croc,
The scales I have are 0.1 scale. I ought to check my typing sometimes.
Start grinding and stuffing Mate!!!
Cheers,
Jan.

i did kiszke ziemniaczana (potato sausage) as my test run for stuffing skills and i guess it must be in my polish blood it was so easy.

speaking of blood, anyone knows if some of the springvale butchers still sell pigs blood jelly or whatever it is called? sooner or later i will be making kaszanke

as for my progress, i have it all organized now, got new mincer, some extra plates/knives on their way as well plus my smoker body (as recommended) is coming tomorrow in form of bread prover, and to make it more exciting it got glass door plus it is fully working electric unit so i plan to rewire heating element to my own pid controller to get around 40C limit of the build in controller.
i will be drilling couple of holes in this baby, one for smokai at the bottom and one for smoke exit and i'm just wondering how important is position of that one. i would like to put that one at the back of the unit as high as i can but i'm wondering if upward facing hole could be better.
also is single 80mm hole big enough for smoke escape route?