Another years sausage done and cooling to go into the freezer tomorrow. It's a ton of work (4 16hr days for 2 guys) but wouldn't trade it for the world.
thanks.So you use sheep casing for snack sticks and hot dogs? I used hog for my smoked sausage and the casings turned out pretty tough, sheep would fix this?
The bottom line is... you get what you pay for. I personally don't recommend ANY of SausageMakers stuffers. I have had problems with my 15 lb. "plastic" geared one, and have resigned myself to the fact that if it needs to be repaired again, well, they can just keep the POS!!... For someone like yourself who's making the volume of sausage/brats/dogs and sticks that you make, I would look into something more commercial. Check out Koch and F.Dick stuffers. Yea, you're gonna pay a lot more but it's a lifetime investment in quality equipment that will continue to serve you well far beyond the China made products all the way!! If I made the volume of sausages that you do... I would definitely invest in a quality stuffer! Just my humble opinion....My one question for everybody is how much better do stuffers work? Doing summer sausage with the grinder is fine but the more hot dogs, brats, snack sticks I do its pretty slow. Just not sure it's worth a grand for a decent stuffer
Below is the stuffer I use. I can get 25lbs of ground sausage in the hopper and if you have a helper it will cut your stuffing time by half. I used to use my grinder like you and I was aggravated at how long it was taking to stuff summer sausage especially. Now I can pump out the sausage at a much quicker pace. I cut my stuffing time by more than half. IMO a good stuffer makes sausage making more enjoyable. The one drawback that I have found is the stuffing horn isn't long enough. I can fit about a 8ft piece of casing on the horn but I wish I could fit about 50ft at a time. All in all the stuffer is well made and easy to clean up. I just put a little crisco around the seal on the piston and go for it. This stuffer also has a valve in the piston to let the air out while cranking. You will get some air bubble out the horn but not near as much as I used to using my grinder and having to push all that sticky meat down through the grinder feeder. For as much sausage as you make you may be interested in the 32lb model.Snack sticks are ready for tomorrow.
I have 1 helper and do everything with a 1hp cabelas meat grinder. No stuffer and use a drill with a mud mixer for mixing in Rubbermaid tubs. The meat grinder is the workhorse and is worth its weight in gold. Have stuffed about 500lbs this year. My one question for everybody is how much better do stuffers work? Doing summer sausage with the grinder is fine but the more hot dogs, brats, snack sticks I do its pretty slow. Just not sure it's worth a grand for a decent stuffer
Thanks.The bottom line is... you get what you pay for. I personally don't recommend ANY of SausageMakers stuffers. I have had problems with my 15 lb. "plastic" geared one, and have resigned myself to the fact that if it needs to be repaired again, well, they can just keep the POS!!... For someone like yourself who's making the volume of sausage/brats/dogs and sticks that you make, I would look into something more commercial. Check out Koch and F.Dick stuffers. Yea, you're gonna pay a lot more but it's a lifetime investment in quality equipment that will continue to serve you well far beyond the China made products all the way!! If I made the volume of sausages that you do... I would definitely invest in a quality stuffer! Just my humble opinion....
PS. KUDOS on the sausages you made!! Awesome job Bud!!
SMB
Care to share your hot dog recipe?
My buddy made these first I tried them and loved them. Super simple.
I used hi mountains hot dog seasoning. What I did different from the recipe is went 2/3 venison and 1/3 pork. 17pds venison, 8pds pork,and added 3.5lbs shredded cheddar cheese. And used sheep casings instead of hog casings. Way better casings. I've made hot dogs before and can't beat there's. So I don't actually have a recipe it came from a box.