First time using casings

[Leonard114]

hey everyone so I’m going to smoke some venison bologna and jerky tomorrow and I’m using casings for the bologna and this will be my first time using casings and I noticed one end of my casings have a tie around them and the other end is open so how does everyone close up the other end just tie it like a balloon or how??? Thanks!

 

[Sowsage]

What kind of casing is it? Or what material is the casing made of?

 

[chopsaw]

hey everyone so I’m going to smoke some venison bologna and jerky tomorrow and I’m using casings for the bologna and this will be my first time using casings and I noticed one end of my casings have a tie around them and the other end is open so how does everyone close up the other end just tie it like a balloon or how??? Thanks!

I tie with string . I have hog rings and pliers use those sometimes , but not very often .
Get urself some kitchen twine , or butchers string . You can buy it at the grocery store .

 

[pc farmer]

I hate casings that are already tied at one end. I cut it off. Load on the stuffer tube then tie. Gets the air out.

 

[Leonard114]

They are the fibrous ones and I’ll have to go look for that string tomorrow

 

[Sowsage]

They are the fibrous ones and I’ll have to go look for that string tomorrow

Butchers string or twine is what i use. Im pretty sure its all cotton string. Just pack them tight ...give them a good twist or two and tie them up. You'll be good to go. Let us know how it goes.!

 

[Leonard114]

I just got some string so will do!

 

[Omnivore]

I've actually used little zip ties in a pinch when doing summer sausage in fibrous casing. Especially when I don't have a 2nd person helping.

 

[jac63]

Been using one of these for 35-40 years now. We used to make 300+ pounds of deer sausage every year and this thing was a time saver and works great. Probably not worth the cost for a 5-10# batch every now and then but if you wanna make a bunch at one time you won't regret having it. Yes you can't stuff your casing quite as full and still staple but if it costs 2 or 3 extra .65 cent casings over 300# of sausage it's well worth it.
https://www.waltonsinc.com/p694-bs-bag-sealing-stapler

 

[Leonard114]

might look into that thanks!

 

[chopsaw]

Use twine most of the time , like I said above . Just wanted to add , I save all the twist ties from bread and buns . I use them sometimes too , but they come in handy when doing different types of sausage . Say you have regular and spicy or some with or without cheese . I use the different colors of twist ties to mark the sausage . Red = regular , blue , hot , yellow cheese .

 

[Leonard114]

Thanks guys I made out pretty good using the twine today did 9 pounds of bologna and 2 pounds of jerky all very good! Did notice they shrunk in the casing a little bit but turned out good!

 

[DanMcG]

Did notice they shrunk in the casing a little bit but turned out good!

Did you cool them in an ice bath after they came up to temp.
A quick cool down will prevent the shrinkage.
Glad it worked out for ya!