Hanging Smoked Sausage with Adjustable Rig?

danguba78

ive been internet stalking the adjustable rig on Ceramic Grill a Store for weeks and am almost ready to pull the trigger on the two-tier setup for my XL Egg. I know all about the great things it can do and how many possibilities the AR opens up, so it's not really a matter of being convinced, but rather just pulling the trigger. I've emailed Tom a couple of times, and he's provided plenty of advice about uses and different options. I know the stuff is quality because I ordered the Woo and skipped the PlateSetter from the start. 

But i had some scotch last night and came up with a possible, other use for the AR--using it as rack to hang sausages for smoking. I know I can lay the sausages flat on the multiple tiers, and that may be the way I end up going, but hanging Sausage is how I grew up.  (Insert jokes here.) My Eastern European family had a smokehouse in the backyard where we'd smoke freshly stuffed sausages and drink plum brandy and listen to completely crazy stories about fighting Nazis and Communists in the same day while walking uphill both ways. For nostalgia's sake, I'm thinking I might try to recreate the look for the next generations using the egg. Anyone ever try it? I'm thinking about either using extra crossbars or dowels on the top of the AR, from which to hang the sausages, with the AR set on top of the Woo to get enough height. Any reasons this wouldn't work?

 I think there may not be enough clearance, or maybe it isn't worth the work.  The sausages my family makes are usually 6” long (insert more jokes), called kranjska kobasica (a/k/a Croatian smokies, pork sausages with a ton of paprika and garlic).  But I don't have an AR (yet), so I don't know the full height if you include the Woo. 



Or has anyone made jerky using a similar setup? 

Or or is this just a wild idea, the result of too much scotch last night? 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

You should be able to rig (sorry) something up. You could either use the crossbars to hang or you could buy something like this ($12.99 on Amazon) and set it up high on a grid with the hooks hanging through or on crossbars. The Rig is a very versatile tool.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

I just measured for you- It's 5" from top grid to the stone on a basic AR setup. I have the extender as well and that is exactly 6" from the top grid to the stone. I would recommend getting the spider and small stone to get the stone lower. That will give you plenty of room to hang sausage. If you really want to. Seems much more simple to use multiple grids and lay the sausage flat but if you want to hang it, you can with a few mods. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

never mind- I have a large- not sure what the measurements of ther XL rig are but the spider and stone should give you plenty of room if you want to hang sausage

Legume

FWIW, with an XL, the AR won't sit on the woo by itself, you have to top the woo with the OEM grid and set AR on top of that, otherwise the AR has to sit on the fire ring.

lkapigian

Smoking in the Egg can be done but far different than the good old Smokehouse ...it will be a bit warmer unless you just use an Amazing Smoker..also its a bit tougher in the beginning as the humidity is high in the Egg..please post pictures 

jaydub58

Great looking sausage pics!
Plum brandy?      Slivovitz!!!

Theophan

danguba78 said:

... My Eastern European family had a smokehouse in the backyard where we'd smoke freshly stuffed sausages and drink plum brandy ... The sausages my family makes are ... called kranjska kobasica (a/k/a Croatian smokies, pork sausages with a ton of paprika and garlic).

I've met a number of people from Eastern Europe in my church, and have gotten interested in Eastern European cooking.  I've made Pljeskavica, Kebabcheta (grilled them, but didn't make the sausages), cevapi, and a few kinds of shashlik.  Any recipes you feel like posting, I certainly would enjoy reading!

I bought a bottle of Slivovitz, once, and really enjoyed it.  Don't know if that's exactly the same as the plum brandy you were talking about, but it was good!

danguba78

Thanks all for the responses.  If the AR won't sit on the Woo, then my plan won't work--I would need the full clearance from the top of the AR to pizza stone sitting low, I think, to replicate the old smokehouse.  I don't think it's the end of the world to lay the sausages flat, but because that's not the way the did it in the old country, I'm sure certain uncles and cousins will have opinions.  More for me and mine, I guess.

The plum brandy is indeed slivovitz, although we call it šljivovicija (and we really just say "SHLEE-voh" because after a while you *can* have too many consonants next to one another).  There's a whole art to making the stuff, which my family never really mastered.  I had friends growing up whose dads would make versions with apricots, figs, or other assorted fruits.  It'll all get you to where you need to be, and pretty quickly, too.  

Full disclosure: The pics are courtesy of Google.  I wish they were mine.  Once we do it, I will definitely post pics and a report.  I'm going to be making changes anyway, from the old style, because I won't be able to manage 2-3 days of slow/cold smoking.  Someday, maybe, when I'm retired.  

danguba78

Theophan said:

danguba78 said:

... My Eastern European family had a smokehouse in the backyard where we'd smoke freshly stuffed sausages and drink plum brandy ... The sausages my family makes are ... called kranjska kobasica (a/k/a Croatian smokies, pork sausages with a ton of paprika and garlic).

I've met a number of people from Eastern Europe in my church, and have gotten interested in Eastern European cooking.  I've made Pljeskavica, Kebabcheta (grilled them, but didn't make the sausages), cevapi, and a few kinds of shashlik.  Any recipes you feel like posting, I certainly would enjoy reading!

I bought a bottle of Slivovitz, once, and really enjoyed it.  Don't know if that's exactly the same as the plum brandy you were talking about, but it was good!

I will have to go through the recipes and post some.  My family is from the northern mountains of Croatia, so a lot less Italian and Turkish influences than our cousins from the coast further south.  One thing my wife and I are trying to perfect now is ajvar (red pepper/eggplant spread: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajvar), which is available mass produced but oh so much better homemade.  Once we dial in the ratios, I'll let you know.  

Legume

danguba78 said:

Thanks all for the responses.  If the AR won't sit on the Woo, then my plan won't work--I would need the full clearance from the top of the AR to pizza stone sitting low, I think, to replicate the old smokehouse.

You could probably use fire bricks on edge on the fire ring and set the AR on that, you would need to mess with it a bit, but you could make that work.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

What about the spider instead of the woo? Spider sits down, rig sits on the ring. Stone in spider? It's half the cost too. 

Legume

That would work, you just don't get to elevate the bottom of the AR to the felt line.  I can measure later and take a pic.

jdkeithbge

My AR will kinda sorta sit on the spider without the OEM grid, but I agree with @Legume it's a little iffy.  You might give it a whirl.  I would possibly trust some hanging sausages with that setup but not a large brisket.  Now there's a weird statement.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

jdkeithbge said:

My AR will kinda sorta sit on the spider without the OEM grid, but I agree with @Legume it's a little iffy.  You might give it a whirl.  I would possibly trust some hanging sausages with that setup but not a large brisket.  Now there's a weird statement.

The spider sits in the slots of the ring and should not affect how the AR sits in any way. I do see how you red the grid on top of the woo, but I'm talking about the spider only

danguba78

Does the Spider sit lower than the Woo? I always thought that with the Woo I was getting the benefit of the Spider with the ability to grill at the felt line.  

Legume

Spider is the bottom part of the woo without the rings that raise the grid level.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Legume said:

Spider is the bottom part of the woo without the rings that raise the grid level.

Right- if you have the rig then you can raise the grid level with that. In my mind, you would not need the woo and rig but I have not done all the math on the different configs that would result from having both. I have spider, stones, and R&B combo rigs with extenders for both eggs. 

JustOneOfTheGuys

Too bad there wasn't some sort of donut shaped grid which was open in the center that would act as an interloper between the woo and the AR.  Something like that would let the sausage links dangle from small S hooks hung from a grid.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

JustOneOfTheGuys said:

Too bad there wasn't some sort of donut shaped grid which was open in the center that would act as an interloper between the woo and the AR.  Something like that would let the sausage links dangle from small S hooks hung from a grid.

They have that (spider) but if you want to deflect the direct heat (as you would to smoke sausage), you would want a stone in between the lump and the sausage. 

danguba78

I finally gave it a shot, and reported in the cook here:  http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1209806/sausage-fest-making-croatian-kobasice-smoked-sausages-with-bge-ar

Canugghead