hang summer sausage or lay on racks?

[Wvfarmin]

Doing my first batch of summer sausage in my new 3d tomorrow.  I can stuff into casings either 10 or 20 inches long.
I know I can't hang the20 inch ones, but I think I can hang the 10 inch ones - but it would be nice to use the larger longer casings . I have never done them in my old smoker on the racks- would I get rack marks if I did? Would the smoke also not penetrate where the rack touched? Would I have to turn them during smoking? Wanted to stuff them tonight to smoke tomorrow but now I am gonna wait to stuff them  and see what everyone here thinks before I decide on which casing to use. My gut says laying on the racks would be so much easier but since I have never done that don't know how much different they would turn out. Thanks in advance for letting me know your opinions (and yes I KNOW a 4d would make this a moot point but I didn't have the extra coinage to go bigger..sob. Oh,  and yes , I have a jerky drier and plan to use it after the first 2 hours for the rest of the smoke.

 

[BedouinBob]

Hi Diana, I doubt that laying them on a rack will make an appreciable difference in the result. Go for it and let us know how they turn out. I am thinking about doing some sausage in my #2 as well.

 

[NDKoze]

Unless you have a #4, my opinion is that sausages smoked in a #1, #2, or #3 should be smoked horizontally. The reason is to ensure that the sausages get an even amount of heat. Unless they are really short, the bottoms of the sausages are going to get done before the top if you hang them.

 

[Wvfarmin]

Well, I had to make the sausage before I got replies so I chickened out and hung them - I put the rack on the tippy top above the actual rack supports to get more height and hung the 10 inch casings. I used the jerky drier after the first 2 hours - it took a solid 24 hours to hit internal temp of 150, I was worried with that much time they would be shriveled up nuggets, but they were fine. I should have used some chips instead of chunks, the smoke flavor is barely there, but for a first time they are really good and the electronic controls make are really easy to use and worked perfect. I'll try to attach some pics. It was a 25 lb grind, made 36 little chubs. I now know to hang that is the max amt of meat I can do and I have to keep the casings no longer than 10 inches before stuffing. dont ask me why the images are not right side up...they looked fine before I attached them :

 

[NDKoze]

Well, they look pretty dang good. Nice job.

Did you have short casings or did you have to cut them way down? I am used to making 3 pound chubs that are probably close to 20" long. So, the German in me that does not like to waste, would have had a hard time cutting half of my casing off to make short 10" chubs. I suppose you could cut a 20" casing in half and make two casings out of them.

These look fantastic though.

 

[Pork Belly]

Those look good, I know your done but I thought I would make a couple of points.

Laying the meat on the racks is fine I have done it many times.
After a few hours of smoke you can move them to a 200 degree oven to come to temp.
Combining the smoker and the oven is helpful if you have piles of meat to process.
I always use chips for jerky and sausage.

 

[Wvfarmin]

Do they get dented from the racks when you lay them on there? As for the casings yes I can get already shorter 10 inch types they just aren't quite as wide as the 20 inch casings, so I didn't have to cut the big ones in half!

 

[NDKoze]

Yeah, you would get a little bit of denting, but nothing I have ever worried about. Here is a pic of the slight denting that I get on my snack sticks.

Those 10" chubs are pretty cool, though. I cut my 20" chubs into 2 or 3 pieces prior to vacuum-sealing. But, the 10" chubs could be sealed whole just like you have. I may have to contemplate some of these the next time we do summer sausage.

 

[Wvfarmin]

thanks for the picture- as they say, worth a thousand words. You can get the shorter casings on Amazon, Mine were 18 to a pack, I bought 2 packs in anticipation, and would up using them all plus 2 more I had as spares. And that is positively, absolutely all you can cram in the #3  hanging without touching using that size casing with that much meat. Trust me...lol. It was a close call