Deer brat pics and a question.

[12ring]

I made 6lbs of deer/pork brats. I bought the High Mountain brat kit from Cabela’s. I used 3 pounds of Deer, 1lb ground pork and 2lbs pork fat. The hog casings came with the kit.

When we pressed the sausage I felt they were to fat. I barely held pressure on the casing while pressing. When I pinched it off to twist it into links, I was having a blow out by the 3rd to 4th link.

Im new to sausage making so I assume it was operator error but could it have been the casings? They were hog casings. I guess it makes sense that size will vary but these were fat. What can I do next time to avoid this problem?

The brats were great though.

 

[SunnyDC]

That looks amazing! I sure miss having access to venison.

 

[jimmyinsd]

what was your procedure on prepping your casings?

 

[12ring]

what was your procedure on prepping your casings?

I took them out of the package, rinsed them off, soaked them in warm water for a hour, rinsed them again before putting them on the tube.

 

[jimmyinsd]

I took them out of the package, rinsed them off, soaked them in warm water for a hour, rinsed them again before putting them on the tube.

I think they likely could have used a longer soak. I will soak mine at least 3 to 4 hours in warm water and change the water hourly. I will often do that a day before I will use them and then put them back in the fridge in water over night and then back into warm water about a half hour before I use them the next day. those smaller packs of casings are typically a little crappier quality to begin with. I gave up on those home packs of casings and have been buying mine from a local butcher or I would be using syracuse casing or one of the other specialty shops that are widely recommended on here. better luck next time.

 

[crazymoon]

12R, Your sausage looks great! I soak my casings at least 12 hours before stuffing to make them more pliable. They don't looked overstuffed but maybe add a bit less meat to help with the link making? Look at this link for some great tips https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/how-to-handle-natural-casings.159729/

 

[tropics]

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/how-to-handle-natural-casings.159729/

 

[indaswamp]

When we pressed the sausage I felt they were to fat.

You probably over loaded the casing with meat paste. When you are going to twist 6" links, you need to fill the casing about 3/4 full so that you have room for the casing to swell when you twist the links. After a while, you will develop a feel for when the casing is too stuffed. As you start twisting links on one end, if the casing looks to be getting too full, you can 'push' the meat paste with your fingers by squeezing. Start at the opposite end (other end from the links) and squeeze the meat paste forward. Work your way all the way down the coil to where your next link will be made.

 

[LanceR]

Those are darn good looking sausages. I hope they taste a good as they look.

Like indaswamp I suspect that the chief culprit was overfilling. If they are ever a bit to loosely filled you can tighten them but giving them a few more twists. As the casings came with the kit I can't speak to what you might have done differently to prep them.

For years now I've gotten all my natural casings from Syracuse Casings. All you have to do with their casings is rinse them well under running water and soak them in lukewarm water for 10 minutes or more. Two weeks ago we made sausage and stuffed around 55 pounds of it (there was more bulk packed). We had two new sausage makers learning with us and I s that most of the 5-6 blowouts we had were just part of the learning curve. There are definite differences in quality between casing brands and the smaller "home packs" are almost always of lesser quality than the 100 yard hanks.

 

[Winterrider]

They look very good. All other posts pretty much have you covered completely. Trial and error...

 

[archeryrob]

By my calcs your sausages were 38% fat. I use 5# deer to 3# pork butt and 2# pork fat to get 29%

3# deer/2# pork butt/1# pork fat would drop you in 27% and probably where you'd like to be.

They do look nice though.

 

[Murdy]

Takes a little practice to get the feel of it.

 

[Hawging It]

Now that looks like some tasty eatin!!!