Need Help Troubleshooting Mealy Sausage

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thirdeye

Master of the Pit
Original poster
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Dec 1, 2019
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The Cowboy State - Wyoming
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Guys, A newer sausage-maker reached out to me about a month ago with some questions because he is having issues with his homemade fresh sausage, he has not gotten into smoked sausage yet. In a nutshell, his product turns out dry and mealy and lacks flavor. He's using ground pork butt with no additional fat, and using a Kitchen Aid grinder. The pork is pre-chilled cubes before grinding, and the meat is kept cold through stuffing. I noticed in our email of today he mentioned grinding, seasoning and immediately stuffing (which I don't do until the next day) into hog casings., so this could be a factor as often my sausage absorbs all the liquid and I wet it again before stuffing. I keep my gut really wet too adding still more water. The worst thing is, this happens for all the recipes he has tried. The photos above were the most recent batch, the recipe is Bigwheel's Texas Hot Links ( a 7# recipe calls for a whole bottle of beer) which I've made for years with great results.

I have visited with him about not over-working the meat, the importance of an icy liquid, how fresh ingredients can add moisture, not ramping up the pit temp too fast or to high so the fats and proteins don't break (but again this issue is happening on both grilled links and links that are simmered and grill finished. My last discussion was about binders like powdered milk, but he has not tried that yet. I'm kind of stumped and out of suggestions. We have not visited about adding more fatty trim, but pork butt has been very adequate for me since I stopped adding trim at least 20 years ago (however some store bought links can be 40%+ fat). Can anyone offer some help here?
 
Does his butt's have enough fat? Some places trim them pretty tight and need added fat. I've run into that from time to time.
I grind, mix and stuff all the time, but is he mixing long enough to develop a good bind? It looks like he's not. Also is he using proven recipes?
Sorry but just a few thoughts rambling thru my head at the moment.
 
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yw9ooOa.jpg

Guys, A newer sausage-maker reached out to me about a month ago with some questions because he is having issues with his homemade fresh sausage, he has not gotten into smoked sausage yet. In a nutshell, his product turns out dry and mealy and lacks flavor. He's using ground pork butt with no additional fat, and using a Kitchen Aid grinder. The pork is pre-chilled cubes before grinding, and the meat is kept cold through stuffing. I noticed in our email of today he mentioned grinding, seasoning and immediately stuffing (which I don't do until the next day) into hog casings., so this could be a factor as often my sausage absorbs all the liquid and I wet it again before stuffing. I keep my gut really wet too adding still more water. The worst thing is, this happens for all the recipes he has tried. The photos above were the most recent batch, the recipe is Bigwheel's Texas Hot Links ( a 7# recipe calls for a whole bottle of beer) which I've made for years with great results.

I have visited with him about not over-working the meat, the importance of an icy liquid, how fresh ingredients can add moisture, not ramping up the pit temp too fast or to high so the fats and proteins don't break (but again this issue is happening on both grilled links and links that are simmered and grill finished. My last discussion was about binders like powdered milk, but he has not tried that yet. I'm kind of stumped and out of suggestions. We have not visited about adding more fatty trim, but pork butt has been very adequate for me since I stopped adding trim at least 20 years ago (however some store bought links can be 40%+ fat). Can anyone offer some help here?
At first sight it looks to me like it needs a finer grind and it wasn't mixed enough.
Like you I have never had a problem with fat content of a butt and I also I let my mix set overnight before stuffing. Whether it's smoked or not wouldn't make a difference in the texture.
A binder with some water probably wouldn't hurt.
Not sure what you mean about over working the meat....
Nice links, though!
 
I'm with the others on this. Neds to mix more/longer to get a good bind. Should be sticky sticky sticky and hard to clean off your hands. Another thing to try would be using two different grinding plates. Maybe 1/4 of the pork through a fine plate and the other 3/4 through a medium plate. He can play around with the ratios to get the desired texture.
 
Couple things come to mind for me ,
Percentage of salt in his recipe .
Is he grinding the whole butt , then taking the weight he needs from the whole grind ?
( so it stays around 80 / 20 )
To much liquid can have that effect .
 
The first pic of the fresh links look a little on the lean side.
And I know ya said it was kept cold, but could the fat be smearing in the small KA grinder.
 
Too much heat in the sausage-making or cooking process can be the cause. Sausage that gets too warm too quick will “break,” meaning the fat and protein will separate from each other when cooked, and you'll get a mealy or crumbly texture to your cooked sausage.
 
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Is there such a thing as Overworked Sausage?Like Dave showed, the meat has to look like a wet Dough. Grind size seems to have little to do with the bind. My 15 pound batches of Krajana Kielbasa gets a single grind through a 1/2" plate then gets mixed until my arm gives out. Broiled or Boiled, the chunky meat sticks together...JJ
 
I vote not mixed.

Semi OT. Anyone know it if adding STPP and another grind could work instead of all the arm work?
 
Guys, thanks for all the responses. I'm going to field the replies and suggest that my online friend join this wonderful forum.

Does his butt's have enough fat? Some places trim them pretty tight and need added fat. I've run into that from time to time.
I grind, mix and stuff all the time, but is he mixing long enough to develop a good bind? It looks like he's not. Also is he using proven recipes?
Sorry but just a few thoughts rambling thru my head at the moment.
Dan, good point about an over-trimmed butt. I think I mentioned to remove the inter-muscular slimy fat or any noticeable tendons when prepping the meat. I can't answer as to the proper mixing. As far as I know he is using some proven recipes, but eventually wants to develop some on his own. I believe I mentioned the link to the Marianski brothers chart of recommended amounts.

At first sight it looks to me like it needs a finer grind and it wasn't mixed enough.
Like you I have never had a problem with fat content of a butt and I also I let my mix set overnight before stuffing. Whether it's smoked or not wouldn't make a difference in the texture.
A binder with some water probably wouldn't hurt.
Not sure what you mean about over working the meat....
Nice links, though!
I grind with the same KA grinder, and the large plates are not as coarse as larger grinders. I use the coarse grind for most sausage, and the fine plate for my hot dogs. By over working I meant grinding more than is needed or mixing too much. I've seen some people with the comb style "mixers" that go beyond the consistency in the photo Dave posted.

I'm with the others on this. Neds to mix more/longer to get a good bind. Should be sticky sticky sticky and hard to clean off your hands. Another thing to try would be using two different grinding plates. Maybe 1/4 of the pork through a fine plate and the other 3/4 through a medium plate. He can play around with the ratios to get the desired texture.
Good tip on experimenting with the different grinds. It's really hard to describe the proper texture. My neighbor and his wife got two big elk last year, and the cut order got mixed up resulting in 150 additional pounds of ground meat so we made 60 pounds (and 3 recipes) of sausage. I let them select recipes, I did the measuring, I put my buddy in charge of mixing, and his wife was in charge of packaging. He quickly understood the benefit of wearing knit gloves under the nitrile gloves because I kept saying "nope, not mixed well enough" as I added more icy water.

Couple things come to mind for me ,
Percentage of salt in his recipe .
Is he grinding the whole butt , then taking the weight he needs from the whole grind ?
( so it stays around 80 / 20 )
To much liquid can have that effect .
I don't think he is working with percentages yet.

You've gotta mix the meat to get the proteins to do what ever it is they do to keep the meat moist..
MIX-MIX-and MIX some more.... When it sticks to your hands like a girl that thinks you got money, you're golden...



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Dave, out of the hundred or so sausage photos, I don't have a hands-on mixing photo. Until now. :emoji_sweat_smile: Would it be okay to use this, with credit of course?

The first pic of the fresh links look a little on the lean side.
And I know ya said it was kept cold, but could the fat be smearing in the small KA grinder.
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I don't think I shared my smear collage with him, but I use the same grinder and even though the rate is slower than many (1# per minute), it does a good job.

Is there such a thing as Overworked Sausage? Like Dave showed, the meat has to look like a wet Dough. Grind size seems to have little to do with the bind. My 15 pound batches of Krajana Kielbasa gets a single grind through a 1/2" plate then gets mixed until my arm gives out. Broiled or Boiled, the chunky meat sticks together...JJ
I've seen it more when people do a double grind with small plates, or if they get western with a comb style hand-crank unit.
 
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If he is grinding right into the casing, he is not working the meat at all. Grinding into casings will not work, though grinder companies all say it can be done.
 
Hello All!

I am the OP's bright-eyed Padawan. First of all, HUGE shout out to Thirdeye for all the help. He has really gone out of his way to keep giving me pointers, even though it's got to seem like he's talking to a brick wall at time. Quick background: I've been smoking for roughly 10 years or so. I use a WSM and I know my way around basic and advanced techniques for general smoking. I tried my hand at sausage making a few years ago and always came away with disappointing results. Often times the patty wouldn't be too bad, but when I stuffed everything it just came out like garbage, and I mean batch-after-batch. I eventually just gave up as I was spending more money to make crappy product than I would if I just bought sausages that I actually enjoyed from the store. As I continue in my craft, I found myself wanting more variety than the brats that I find in my region (Midwest). I love 'em, but I know there's more out there. So, I pinged up some folks over at another forum and TE dropped in to help me out. Thus, the bug hath bit me again.

I have posted on this site a few times before and I'm a regular lurker. I just read through you guys' responses, and I am incredibly grateful for peoples' insights. I don't want to get too cocky, but it sounds really simple: I didn't mix enough. I just dropped TE a message explaining that I had gotten concerned about overmixing after watching a video from Walton's on YouTube. They have a TON of sausage making videos that are really well done. In this one in particular, the guy is making fresh bratwurst. Around the three minute mark, he cautions against over-mixing. He does have another video where he is making something like a smoked Polish and does say that you want to mix until it's good and sticky. For some reason I equated the "sticky mixing" with fine ground sausages that are smoked. I was shooting for a coarser grind, which is more to my liking, and aiming to just keep it fresh. That said, I may well find myself smoking sausage this weekend...

Anyhow, here is the link video that I mention. As I asked TE: am I missing something? Did I just misinterpret him? These guys make a ton of sausage, so I've got to believe he isn't just totally off the mark, but maybe he is.



Again, thank you all so much. It will be both disappointing and hilarious if a single, simple, thing like mixing enough has been the culprit all along...
 
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