First run at making sausage.

[pit 4 brains]

Had to try out the new grinder and stuffer this weekend. I picked up a copy of Rytek's book, did a little reading then commenced to makin'.

I decided to go with the keilbasa since the ingredients looked fairly simple. My pics are a little thin but it was hard enough keeping my workarea clean let alone handle a camera and my wife's enthusiasim was below grade.

Here's a shot just before I got started grinding..

These are the casings i got from my local butcher shop. I have enough to do about a 100 pounds of meat so i need to get busy..

Ok, got the meat ground, mixed up the ingredients and mixed up in the handy kitchen aid then sent back to the fridge.

Meanwhile i laid out my guts and selected a casing or two for my one batch of sausage..

Me and the boy laying out the first sausage.. I need to get this stuffer bolted down. I was thinking of getting some of that white plastics they use in kitchens and running some studs into it. Then I can quickly attach the stuffer with some wingnuts and press on.

Pumped out around 5.5 lb net of susage. Time to go warm up the smokehouse!

I let them hang in the house for a little while then they hung in the smokehouse for about a half hour to dry a little. Puttin on the smoke..

It was a good learning experience all together. I hope it comes out good...

 

[BGKYSmoker]

I'm sure it will.....Good job

 

[rbranstner]

Man you need more sausage than that with a smoker that size.

 

[pit 4 brains]

Man you need more sausage than that with a smoker that size.

I have some beef and pork ground up and a bunch of chicken as well but noooooooooooooooo... Wife is going to a play today. So I'm back to daddy daycare. No matter, i wanted to walk through the process once and figure out some of the finer points. I know one thing, I won't be grinding and mixing/stuffing on the same day again..
 

 

[skully]

good job, post some smoked pics when U done.....

 

[mossymo]

Looks like you had a great experimental test run, congrats!

What I did for mounting the sausage stuffer is find a chunk of scrap counter top to mount the stuffer to, cut it to desire length and clamp down to the counter or table you are stuffing on.

 

[pit 4 brains]

Looks like you had a great experimental test run, congrats!

What I did for mounting the sausage stuffer is find a chunk of scrap counter top to mount the stuffer to, cut it to desire length and clamp down to the counter or table you are stuffing on.

Thanxs.. I just ramped up the temp in the smokehouse with the propane burner after 3 hrs of cold smokin at 75-80 degrees. I sure hope the nitrates in the TQ went into action, I'm a little worried about that.

Do you have it setup to where you can get the stuffer off easily in order to clean or do you just remove canister and piston and clean the rest with a sanitizer?

 

[mossymo]

I've never removed it from the piece of counter top since I mounted it on there, suppose I could run a bead of caulking around the stuffer base to make it more sanitary...

 

[Bearcarver]

Thanxs.. I just ramped up the temp in the smokehouse with the propane burner after 3 hrs of cold smokin at 75-80 degrees. I sure hope the nitrates in the TQ went into action, I'm a little worried about that.

Do you have it setup to where you can get the stuffer off easily in order to clean or do you just remove canister and piston and clean the rest with a sanitizer?

Pete,

My setup is similar to MossyMO's. I had a piece of butcher block top (heavy stuff). I bolted it to that & used wing nuts. Then I throw a piece of non-slip drawer liner under it, and it won't tip or slide. I just remove the canister & piston to clean, but if I have to, the whole thing comes off easy too.

It doesn't even need clamping, because of that non-skid rubber under it, & it's too heavy to tip over.

If you want, I'll take a pic of it & show it.

Bear

 

[pit 4 brains]

I've never removed it from the piece of counter top since I mounted it on there, suppose I could run a bead of caulking around the stuffer base to make it more sanitary...

I would be very carefull about;

1. The material the stuffer is mounted to and how well you can clean it.

2. Yeah, that area under the stuffer base. if it's anything like mine, it would be the perfect place for something to grow.

 

 

[mossymo]

Here is mine mounted to the counter top and then clamped down in use.

 

[pit 4 brains]

Pete,

My setup is similar to MossyMO's. I had a piece of butcher block top (heavy stuff). I bolted it to that & used wing nuts. Then I throw a piece of non-slip drawer liner under it, and it won't tip or slide. I just remove the canister & piston to clean, but if I have to, the whole thing comes off easy too.

It doesn't even need clamping, because of that non-skid rubber under it, & it's too heavy to tip over.

If you want, I'll take a pic of it & show it.

Bear

No need for the pic.. i know exactly what you are talking about with the drawer liner, I had a bunch in my camper. I like the butcherblock idea as well but do you have any problems with the stuffing horn being so far off of the surface?
 

 

[pit 4 brains]

Here is mine mounted to the counter top and then clamped down in use.

Man that is cool! I'll bet you could split firewood with that thing if ya weren't making sausage.. That's about the size of a base I had in mind to. I have a few bar clamps that I used to hold down my grinder that would work for this as well.. Thanx!
 

 

[Bearcarver]

No need for the pic.. i know exactly what you are talking about with the drawer liner, I had a bunch in my camper. I like the butcherblock idea as well but do you have any problems with the stuffing horn being so far off of the surface?
 

Actually that might be why you might want to see a picture:

We mounted it above the piece of butcher block top, through the use of spacers, so I could actually slide a piece of wax paper between the butcher block & the base of the stuffer. This way it is not raised at all above the surface you would be shooting it out on.

Also the piece of top is about the same size "width by length" as the cutting board in the picture with you in it.

Bear
 

 

[pit 4 brains]

Actually that might be why you might want to see a picture:

We mounted it above the piece of butcher block top, through the use of spacers, so I could actually slide a piece of wax paper between the butcher block & the base of the stuffer. This way it is not raised at all above the surface you would be shooting it out on.

Also the piece of top is about the same size "width by length" as the cutting board in the picture with you in it.

Bear
 

Ok.. fire it up.. I'm open to all ideas.
 

 

[Bearcarver]

Here ya go. 

Mrs Bear wasn't ready to watch the movie anyway, so I put a rush on these pics.

These pics should show how we did it.

Like I said above. With that rubber stuff under it, it won't slide around at all, and that heavy little piece of Butcher block counter top will never be tipped.

Having been a cabinet maker for over 20 years, I get gun shy about clamping on my beveled wood edge counter top.

Even the rubber footed squeeze clamps can be slid off a little (operator error), instead of carefully removed, and screw up your edging. This way---No clamping needed.

From above---I lied---We didn't use wing-nuts, but all you have to do to remove the whole thing is remove the top 4 nuts.

I used Stainless Steel bolts, nuts, and washers. Counterbored the bottom of the butcher block, so the bolt heads don't touch the counter top.

The bolts will stay right in place for when you put it back on after washing. Just drop it on & spin the 4 nuts.

Side View--Note space under, for sliding any kind of paper you might want to drop the sausage on:

Business end view:

Bear

 

[pit 4 brains]

Great lookin setup Bear! That is exactly what i had in mind except for the stand-off nuts. I think I will incorporate those in my setup just so i have a positive backing behind the mounting nuts, which will be wing nuts in my case... Thanx again. I'm sure someone else will benefit from this as well..

 

[Bearcarver]

Great lookin setup Bear! That is exactly what i had in mind except for the stand-off nuts. I think I will incorporate those in my setup just so i have a positive backing behind the mounting nuts, which will be wing nuts in my case... Thanx again. I'm sure someone else will benefit from this as well..

I don't remember why we didn't use wing nuts. That was my original plan. I think it might have been because wing nuts with that thread size had wings too wide. I think they might have hit that bottom hood on my stuffer. Another reason could have been because my son gets that size SS nuts, bolts and washers by the thousands, so they're FREE to Pop!  

He doesn't use wing nuts on cell phone towers.  LOL

Bear

 

[pit 4 brains]

I don't remember why we didn't use wing nuts. That was my original plan. I think it might have been because wing nuts with that thread size had wings too wide. I think they might have hit that bottom hood on my stuffer. Another reason could have been because my son gets that size SS nuts, bolts and washers by the thousands, so they're FREE to Pop!  

He doesn't use wing nuts on cell phone towers.  LOL

Bear

Stainless is important to have where it will be permanent. I'm sure i can use a standard chrome wing nut since it will be removed and cleaned along with the stuffer. I have a handy supply of various aircraft hardware so I'll be ok in that department...

 

 

[Bearcarver]

Here is mine mounted to the counter top and then clamped down in use.

BTW Mossy,

That's a heck of a stuffer you got there. Looks like you could stuff a Buffalo into a duffle bag without much effort with it!

That one looks like it would have to be clamped down---monster stuffer!!

Bear