First attempt making sausage

[kevinwi]

I have 5 butts and a brisket thawing in the fridge for this weekend.

Going to make Texas style smoked sausage, breakfast sausage, and possibly some Italian, sticks or summer sausage....

Probably biting off too much...but that's what I do.....wish me luck.

 

[02ebz06]

I've been toying with the idea of doing the same thing.
I have 30#'s of pork, 12#'s of beef, and about 10#'s of pork fat.

Best of luck...

 

[GatorAGR]

Good luck! I took my maiden voyage a couple weeks ago and it turned out great. Already planning my next round. Just follow the steps and stay patient and everything will be great. Can't wait to follow along.

 

[smokerjim]

You'll be fine, as mentioned stay patient and double check your measurements.

 

[Fueling Around]

Good luck!
It is a lot to bite off. Waiting on your results

 

[kevinwi]

I have been resisting for a long time to make my own sausage.....but I started doing math on what I spend on snack sticks or summer sausage and honestly I think that convinced me.....I'm not sure there is a ton of savings for breakfast or smoked sausages....but maybe for snack sticks and summer sausage it can be a good savings.
I have a #12 grinder with foot pedal, one shot grinding head, meat mixer, 5lb stuffer and a new Chamber Vacuum sealer....plus enough spices to choke a ...well...a pig....
If that's not enough equipment to make it right, I think I'll cry.... lol

 

[Fueling Around]

...
I'm not sure there is a ton of savings for breakfast or smoked sausages....but maybe for snack sticks and summer sausage it can be a good savings.
I have a #12 grinder with foot pedal, one shot grinding head, meat mixer, 5lb stuffer and a new Chamber Vacuum sealer....plus enough spices to choke a ...well...a pig....
If that's not enough equipment to make it right, I think I'll cry.... lol

Hit the wrong key stroke
There is a HUGE savings in making your own breakfast sausage. Last I priced it was over $5/lb for commercial and the last batch I made was under $2/lb in bulk pack including the vac seal bags.
The best advantage is the quality of your home made versus commercial stuff that is loaded with preservatives and binders to add water weight that you you cook away.
I've yet to do snack sticks, but the prices they charge ...

 

[DougE]

Mighty ambitious to do all that on the first go.

 

[kevinwi]

Mighty ambitious to do all that on the first go.

well...I staged my defrost like this....
three butts and brisket I started on Tuesday.
Two butts I pulled out on Wednesday.
My plan is to do 25lbs of Texas smoked sausage on Saturday ....half regular and the other half boosted with jalapeño and cheddar cheese.....after making during the day, I put in the fridge for 24 hours to let the cure work....then fire up the smoker and start smoking on Sunday....while they are smoking, cut up and make the breakfast sausage links, and Italian....neither of which needs to be smoked....just packaged and into the freezer...... that's the plan anyway.

 

[DougE]

If you have never made sausage before, the breakfast probably would have been the place to start to get you a handle on mixing to get good protein extraction, then moving to cased/smoked sausage, but carry on.

 

[kevinwi]

Hit the wrong key stroke
There is a HUGE savings in making your own breakfast sausage. Last I priced it was over $5/lb for commercial and the last batch I made was under $2/lb in bulk pack including the vac seal bags.
The best advantage is the quality of your home made versus commercial stuff that is loaded with preservatives and binders to add water weight that you you cook away.
I've yet to do snack sticks, but the prices they charge ...

I'm not sure how.....pork butt (around here anyway) is around $3.44/lb...so that's the starting point for cost per lb....now you have to add in spices, casing, packaging...and you are near $4.50/lb...

But yes...the satisfaction of doing it yourself is big....
Now...if you are going to be doing big game....triple the price..... LOL.....

 

[Fueling Around]

I got my last pork butt at $1.50 / lb in a Costco spot sale, normally $1.99 / lb. Boneless, too.
The pack was around 16 pounds and I made a lot of sausage. Anymore than 2 butts at a time is overwhelming in the amount of meat to process for a single person. Trust me. I ran out of freeze space very quickly.
Spices are near negligible in pricing. Most of my fresh sausage is patties, frozen, and vac packed.

 

[kevinwi]

I got my last pork butt at $1.50 / lb in a Costco spot sale, normally $1.99 / lb. Boneless, too.
The pack was around 16 pounds and I made a lot of sausage. Anymore than 2 butts at a time is overwhelming in the amount of meat to process for a single person. Trust me. I ran out of freeze space very quickly.
Spices are near negligible in pricing. Most of my fresh sausage is patties, frozen, and vac packed.

Those are good prices. My local sams club had 1 butt....ONE!!! lol
I forgot to mention.... One of my tenants is moving out and gave me her mini-chest freezer...probably can hold a 1/4 cow......plus I have a full size chest freezer (with a 1/4 cow and 8 racks of ribs), an upright freezer and of course the freezer on my fridge...so freezer space is not a problem...lol

 

[Florida Chris]

I have 5 butts and a brisket thawing in the fridge for this weekend.

Going to make Texas style smoked sausage, breakfast sausage, and possibly some Italian, sticks or summer sausage....

I have a #12 grinder with foot pedal, one shot grinding head, meat mixer, 5lb stuffer and a new Chamber Vacuum sealer....plus enough spices to choke a ...well...a pig....
If that's not enough equipment to make it right, I think I'll cry.... lol

I admire your ambition and have the same equipment line-up as you. And I have also never made sausage (yet). Please share your "lessons learned" when you're done.
I tend to go all in too, but I'll also welcome some of the "don't do what I did" stories before I jump in!

 

[agcrock2005]

That's definitely a lot to bite off at one time, especially for your first go, but I'm sure you'll have a blast!

 

[Brokenhandle]

You're gonna need a beer or two!
Good luck, and have fun!

Ryan

 

[kevinwi]

Cold Beer vs Cold water (for hot links not the chef).

What do you think or prefer?

 

[Brokenhandle]

Cold Beer vs Cold water (for hot links not the chef).

What do you think or prefer?

Water for the links... beer for the chef.

Ryan

 

[chopsaw]

. beer for the chef.

He's not gonna have time to take a drink .

 

[agcrock2005]

Cold Beer vs Cold water (for hot links not the chef).

What do you think or prefer?

I don't see any reason to waste a beer in your links. I use heavy whipping cream rather than water in my linked sausages. I find it helps with the protein extraction.