The first modification was to buy an Amazin` tube smoke generator, model AMNTS, which solved the problem of long-duration smoke generation. Next was to cut down the amount of charcoal in the firebox, so as to reduce the temperature. I start off with a half-chimney of charcoal, and add a dozen charcoal briquettes every 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
And third was to add some "smoke sticks" to hang my sausage in. Horizontal smokers present challenges. Unless you put your sausages on racks and move 'em around every hour or so, nothing fits, and even then, smoke is applied unevenly.
My solution was to install two 36-inch long, 5/8 inch diameter steel rods. The smoker barrel is 34 inches long. Perfect! Drill holes in the ends of the smoker, shove the rods through, secure them so they don`t dump sausage every time the pit is disturbed, and you`re all set.
For spacing, I figured I`d allow plenty of room for the smoke to permeate, so I scribed a horizontal line across each end of the 16 inch diameter barrel. Then, I marked the center, then the centers of the line halves. This gave me marks which, if you mount a rod above both, leave two spaces for sausage, each 4 inches wide on either side at the wide point of the drum. Sausages hung from above form rings, kinda-sorta, so the cross-sectional layout is pretty close to optimum.
Having laid out the horizontal line and divided it into four sections, draw two vertical lines upward to locate where the rods should be. (Don`t bother drawing a center vertical.) Where, along the verticals, should the holes be? At first, I tried to locate the point where the vertical line was an inch away from the curve of the metal barrel. However, this doesn`t make much sense- - sausages hang downward, and do not wrap above the rod. I moved up, mounting the rod one inch down vertically from where the line intersects the top of the barrel.
Here`s the result:
I drilled four holes 5/8" in diameter, two in each end, and inserted the metal rods. The rods are thick enough that they flex very little, even when loaded with sausage. There needs to be some way of holding the rods stationary once loaded, or sometimes while being loaded, so I bought four cheap clamps at the local hardware store.
A more elegant solution will be to drill a hole in the smoke-box end of both rods, fit a washer and a removable pin/clip/cotter key, or maybe even thread the ends of the rods and attach washers and nuts. I`m away from my home, though, and have only portable tools with me. For now, I have to remove the clamps temporarily to open the firebox door. ...but what the heck, spring clamps are easy to use.
Here's some Polish sausage, some Andouille, and some Tasso. They turned out great.
One item of caution: Make sure that the rods will clear any internal obstructions. The stack projects into the barrel a small amount. I had to bend a small portion of it out of the way. (To be honest, I got lucky.) The other projection, a long-stem dial thermometer, cleared the rod but just barely. It will pierce a sausage if I`m not careful. I will replace it with a short-stem version, maybe. (These things are so inaccurate that I may not bother.)
Results: the Polish sausage (Marianski recipe, of course) was devoured last night at a party, the Andouille and Tasso were vacuum packed and frozen for our next Cajun cooking binge, and now, the pit`s working well for smoking sausages, at last.
Lessons learned:
(1) A light coat of mineral oil will keep your sausages from sticking.
(2) A confession, of sorts: When the sausages plateau in the 130's temperature range, if I've smoked 'em for two hours or more, I pull them out, wrap them in foil, insert a temperature probe, and put them in a 180 degF oven (as low as it will go). If your oven (like mine) has a temperature probe, set it to cut off the oven at 150 degrees. Internal meat temperature will coast to 155 deg.F.
Ooooooo!
Good goin' pard.