Anyone know the diameter cellulose casing for a standard hot dog?

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Danblacksher

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Jul 15, 2022
481
614
Brandon, Mississippi
I wanted to make some foot-long hot dogs and wondered what size casings to buy. I can only find one chart that shows 21mm. Any help would be appreciated.
 
25.4mm is 1 inch.... so just divide the measurement given in mm by 25.4mm and that will give you inches.

I would go with natural 29-32mm hog casings....unless you want them straight.

They do make peel off non edible hot dog casings though....
 
I prefer natural casings almost always and I SV finish to final temp. I also do dogs in 32mm and 42mm for ring bologna. Love the stuff.
 
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I have hog casings I use for sausage they would make an outstanding dog as well. If I do a foot long I want it to be a smaller diameter. Bun length I want it thicker. I may have to do some of each.
 
If you do cellulose, or collagen casings, you're better off tying your links off with butcher cord rather than trying to twist like with natural casings. Hotdogs are on my list of things to do, but I haven't got to it yet.
 
I bought a hotdog kit from curlys last year with cellulose casings and they turned out way better than I ever imagined they would.
 
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I just looked it up and they send 28mm casings with their kit. It was a nice size and the casings are surprisingly real easy to remove
 
I wanted to make some foot-long hot dogs and wondered what size casings to buy. I can only find one chart that shows 21mm. Any help would be appreciated.
I use and LOVE cellulose casings for making skinless hot dogs and sausages.
I use 25mm and 32mm cellulose casings.

I would not go smaller than 25mm for a hot dog. The 21mm cellulose casings would make something closer to a breakfast sausage link size.

LEM has 25mm casings in stock but only like 4-5 atm and theirs work well:


You can smoke em and the key to removeing the casings is that you still have to ice water bath them and when they are cooled off they will slice right out of the casings and if needed u can use a little knife to slide right up the casing between the meat and the casing and it will cut the casing and shoot the sausage out.

If they dont want to come out easily then you havent soaked/cooled them enough.

I prefer the 32mm size so I dont have to stuff as much but you will see what I mean as you do this :)

I recommend u getting a pack of each and then u will get hot dog size as well as jumbo dog/sausage size :)

I'm sure you will love the outcome and yeah you MUST tie each link with butchers twin unless you do a chain link technique. These days I Just do big long links and cut them and vac seal them. Here's some picks of my jumbo and hot dog sized hot links:

32mm on the left, 25mm on the right.
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Jumbo bottom, hotdog size top:
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I like using natural casings. If you like a lot of meat on the dog 25mm or bigger is going to be a good size hot dog. 22-24 mm is usually the go to size for hot dogs. Using natural casings 20/22mm casings can be a little hard to load as they are really small in diameter. You wont have any problems loading if you choose the cellulose and its a good choice to start with.


Boykjo
 
looks like i will try to find some 25mm
I use the 25mm cellulose casings for skinless hotdogs . Easy to use and makes a great sausage . Don't let the phrase peel off casings worry you . The sausage comes right out .

The cellulose will stretch , so the end size depends on how tight you stuff them .
These are all the same 25mm casings ,

Breakfast sausage . Just enough pressure to fill the casing .
20201028_075243.jpg
Take note of the size .
20201101_085254.jpg
Hot dogs , moderate pressure .
1659529438045.jpeg
Bun length these would be about a No. 5 hot dog .
1659529514803.jpeg
Heavy pressure , casings stretched tight .
1659529648736.jpeg
For comparison , one sausage stuffed at moderate pressure . This was all the same run of 25mm casings . The bigger ones would be about a No. 4 sausage .
1659529759241.jpeg
I also use 22 - 24 sheep casings .
1659530034545.jpeg
 
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