Newbie to sausage making.......some observations! LAP (long ass post)

[padronman]

Well I am now fully started on my first 13lbs of sausage. I have to say that getting started was a daunting task. First there was fear......"damn am I going to kill someone with tainted meat?" Second there was a fear of something new. Now, I've gotten really proficient at Butts, ribs, Brisket, chicken, ABT's, Tri Tip etc. almost second nature when I do a smoke, but this......wow this is an involved process. Prepping, grinding, seasoning, possibly re-grinding, then damn I have to get that meat into a pig intestine? What kind of magic will I need to help me with that?

Well the trimming of the butts was fun, almost a Zen calming activity. I kept thinking to myself "I am going to transform this into something different.....amazing"! Being an accomplished cook de-boning and trimming these butts up was easy but I can see how some people can have issues with it.....my advice is this.....it's going to be ground up so beauty isn't important. Take your time and give yourself time to do it.

I mixed up my spices the night before. Sat with the wife while she watched TV. I got my journal out (for goodness sake get a journal) so I can record amounts and ingredients. If the taste is off I can check and adjust amounts. I do this with cocktail mixology as well so I can repeat amazing things and change not so amazing ones. Now I looked at about 20 Andouille recipes and decided to take the best of several and combine. I have it written down so if it's sausage GOLD I can repeat! Did the same with the Hot Links.

Today's grind went well. Followed advice of you sausage gurus and prepped well and had room to work. Yes it is time consuming but anything great requires a little time and love right? Both sausage mixes are in the fridge all seasoned and cured resting over night. I also prepped my smoker. Got 3 wood dowels sitting waiting for the links. I'll start at 100F and do the slow temp bump to achieve an IT of 160F.

So I was happy with my progress and then I remembered.....oh crap I have to deal with those casings!!! Now this was something in my head I was dreading. Having never worked with natural or colagen casings I just wasn't sure what to expect. I opened the package of 32-35mm natural hog casings and read the directions on the back. Ok seems simple enough. I took the casings out and it looked like my Christmas lights every year.....all jumbled. Ugh......well put them in water for 15 minutes and walked away. When I came back I found an end and viola it untangled right away. Opened it and flushed it and thought to myself "how can I keep from losing these ends"? A bulb went off inside my head and I grabbed 12 of our spoons. They have smooth handles and I inserted the handle into the open end and carefully wound the rest up......laid it in a Tupperware with water in it never repeated 12 times......each length is maybe 3 feet long. Don't know how many I'll need to stuff it all but I suppose I'll just re-pack the unused portion (do I just cover them in salt? ) So those casings aren't the super delicate things I thought they would be.....not don't throw them around and be a goof about it but handled them kinda normal and those puppies have some strength to them. Now I am all set for tomorrow. Test fry, Stuff, dry casings, smoke, ice bath, bloom, vacuum seal, freeze......and of course eat some of them[emoji]128539[/emoji][emoji]128539[/emoji][emoji]128539[/emoji]

So i know this is all status quo for you guys that have been tempting me with your pictures and recipes for months and months but I hope another newbie like me reads this and sees that while sausage making takes some research and know how....it's not a big scary monster we need to fear. Thanks for listening to my long drawn out post. See ya tomorrow.

Scott

 

[indaswamp]

Well I am now fully started on my first 13lbs of sausage. I have to say that getting started was a daunting task. First there was fear......"damn am I going to kill someone with tainted meat?" Second there was a fear of something new. Now, I've gotten really proficient at Butts, ribs, Brisket, chicken, ABT's, Tri Tip etc. almost second nature when I do a smoke, but this......wow this is an involved process. Prepping, grinding, seasoning, possibly re-grinding, then damn I have to get that meat into a pig intestine? What kind of magic will I need to help me with that?

Well the trimming of the butts was fun, almost a Zen calming activity. I kept thinking to myself "I am going to transform this into something different.....amazing"! Being an accomplished cook de-boning and trimming these butts up was easy but I can see how some people can have issues with it.....my advice is this.....it's going to be ground up so beauty isn't important. Take your time and give yourself time to do it.

I mixed up my spices the night before. Sat with the wife while she watched TV. I got my journal out (for goodness sake get a journal) so I can record amounts and ingredients. If the taste is off I can check and adjust amounts. I do this with cocktail mixology as well so I can repeat amazing things and change not so amazing ones. Now I looked at about 20 Andouille recipes and decided to take the best of several and combine. I have it written down so if it's sausage GOLD I can repeat! Did the same with the Hot Links.

Today's grind went well. Followed advice of you sausage gurus and prepped well and had room to work. Yes it is time consuming but anything great requires a little time and love right? Both sausage mixes are in the fridge all seasoned and cured resting over night. I also prepped my smoker. Got 3 wood dowels sitting waiting for the links. I'll start at 100F and do the slow temp bump to achieve an IT of 160F.

So I was happy with my progress and then I remembered.....oh crap I have to deal with those casings!!! Now this was something in my head I was dreading. Having never worked with natural or colagen casings I just wasn't sure what to expect. I opened the package of 32-35mm natural hog casings and read the directions on the back. Ok seems simple enough. I took the casings out and it looked like my Christmas lights every year.....all jumbled. Ugh......well put them in water for 15 minutes and walked away. When I came back I found an end and viola it untangled right away. Opened it and flushed it and thought to myself "how can I keep from losing these ends"? A bulb went off inside my head and I grabbed 12 of our spoons. They have smooth handles and I inserted the handle into the open end and carefully wound the rest up......laid it in a Tupperware with water in it never repeated 12 times......each length is maybe 3 feet long. Don't know how many I'll need to stuff it all but I suppose I'll just re-pack the unused portion (do I just cover them in salt? ) So those casings aren't the super delicate things I thought they would be.....not don't throw them around and be a goof about it but handled them kinda normal and those puppies have some strength to them. Now I am all set for tomorrow. Test fry, Stuff, dry casings, smoke, ice bath, bloom, vacuum seal, freeze......and of course eat some of them[emoji]128539[/emoji][emoji]128539[/emoji][emoji]128539[/emoji]

So i know this is all status quo for you guys that have been tempting me with your pictures and recipes for months and months but I hope another newbie like me reads this and sees that while sausage making takes some research and know how....it's not a big scary monster we need to fear. Thanks for listening to my long drawn out post. See ya tomorrow.

Scott

Read these two tips here and it'll save you a ton of grief!

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/255662/best-practices-for-sausage-making/40#post_1700572

 

[theyankeesmoker]

Right on. You've encouraged to dive head in. Soon I hope.

 

[indaswamp]

You can figure about 18~20" of regular sized 26~30mm casing per pound of meat grind...always add 20% though in case you get a thin wall casing and it blows out on you, or you get holes and have to discard a part of one....

 

[indaswamp]

Just remember the three 'C's' of sausage making...Cold, Clean and Cure!!!

 

[padronman]

Just remember the three 'C's' of sausage making...Cold, Clean and Cure!!!

Absolutely. Thanks for following this.

 

[indaswamp]

Easiest sausage for newbies to begin with is fresh sausage, uncased. It's like making hamburger meat. I started making breakfast sauages and went from there.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

1 pound of meat will stuff about 2 feet of medium-size hog casing (32-35 mm)

1 pound of meat will stuff about 4 feet of medium-size lamb casing (20-22 mm)

Natural casing info.

North American hand pulled casings do not have threads of connective tissue on the outside (Called whiskers). They are delicate and usually have shorter strands than knife cut. They may have more holes or weak spots. Knife cut casings have the small threads of connective tissue (Whiskers). They have an extra membrane for strength. Their strands are usually longer and have fewer holes. The threads of connective tissue on knife cut casings will melt off on smoked or cooked sausage.

The number of strands in a bundle depends on how uniform the diameter of the sausage must be and how long the individual strands of casing must be. The fewer strands and the longer they are, the less uniform the casings will be. In general, a hog casing will have 14-18 strands and a sheep casing will have 12-14 strand.

Store in the cooler at 40º  or less in brine or well salted. NEVER freeze casings.

Cover unused casings in brine solution or granulated salt

Salt: 1 year or more
Preflushed in Net Pack: 6 months to one year.
Preflushed in Vacuum Pack: 6 months to one year.
Preflushed on plastic Tubes: 6 months to one year.
Colored Casings: About 6 months.

 

[tallbm]

You are well on your way!

Stuffing is much easier as a 2 man job so find another pair of hands to help if you can.

The part I dreaded most was fighting with the casings on the tube!!!  It seems that if you soak your casings for 1-3 days prior to using them that they become super silky smooth and pliable.  I hope this happens for you.  After a few years of fighting the casings I switched to buying pre tubed casings.  The casings are put on a giant tube that looks like a drinking straw.  You slide the tube with casing onto your stuffer spout and then pull the straw like tube out of the casing while holding the casing on the stuffer spout.  Done!

Finally, I only made fresh sausages and started smoking meat this year.  I found that for FRESH sausages stuffing a little loose/squishy was ideal because they would not split or explode the casings when grilling.  They would plump up and fill out the casing perfectly.  This is not the case for smoked sausages.

I mention this because you will now experience the challenge of twisting your sausage while trying to avoid doing a link so tight it causes an explosion or a blow out hahaha.

TIP: Don't bother making links while stuffing, just do a big coil of sausage until the casing is all used up.  Twist afterwards.

For ease in twisting and avoiding blow outs you can do something that seems a little bothersome.  You just start twisting and you squish meat out of one end of the casing until you are done twisting.  You then take that meat and put it back in the stuffer for the next batch of stuffing.  This way you get good tight links while avoiding an overly tight twisting of a link that causes a blow out.  You just sacrifice some sausage out of the casing that will go back into the stuffer is all.

Again, I do my stuffing loose and squishy for FRESH sausages so I haven't run into the issue I mention just above for a few years.  Now that I am smoking meat and sausage I plan to do a best of both worlds approach.

1. stuff loosely into one giant sausage coil and leave about 4-5 inches of casing empty on each side of the casing.  

2. start in the middle of the sausage and twist links going out towards the ends of the casing.  Make good tight links but not ones that are too tight.  Squeeze the excess sausage down towards the end of the casing hoping I have made enough slack to not squeeze out to much sausage if any at all due to the twisting process.

I hope I haven't scared you too much about your work tomorrow and have given you some insight on what to plan for hahahhaa.  Best of luck and let us know how it goes and if any of my ramblings made any sense :)

 

[indaswamp]

 
You are well on your way!

Stuffing is much easier as a 2 man job so find another pair of hands to help if you can.

The part I dreaded most was fighting with the casings on the tube!!!  It seems that if you soak your casings for 1-3 days prior to using them that they become super silky smooth and pliable.  I hope this happens for you.  After a few years of fighting the casings I switched to buying pre tubed casings.  The casings are put on a giant tube that looks like a drinking straw.  You slide the tube with casing onto your stuffer spout and then pull the straw like tube out of the casing while holding the casing on the stuffer spout.  Done!

Finally, I only made fresh sausages and started smoking meat this year.  I found that for FRESH sausages stuffing a little loose/squishy was ideal because they would not split or explode the casings when grilling.  They would plump up and fill out the casing perfectly.  This is not the case for smoked sausages.

I mention this because you will now experience the challenge of twisting your sausage while trying to avoid doing a link so tight it causes an explosion or a blow out hahaha.

TIP: Don't bother making links while stuffing, just do a big coil of sausage until the casing is all used up.  Twist afterwards.

For ease in twisting and avoiding blow outs you can do something that seems a little bothersome.  You just start twisting and you squish meat out of one end of the casing until you are done twisting.  You then take that meat and put it back in the stuffer for the next batch of stuffing.  This way you get good tight links while avoiding an overly tight twisting of a link that causes a blow out.  You just sacrifice some sausage out of the casing that will go back into the stuffer is all.

Again, I do my stuffing loose and squishy for FRESH sausages so I haven't run into the issue I mention just above for a few years.  Now that I am smoking meat and sausage I plan to do a best of both worlds approach.

1. stuff loosely into one giant sausage coil and leave about 4-5 inches of casing empty on each side of the casing.  

2. start in the middle of the sausage and twist links going out towards the ends of the casing.  Make good tight links but not ones that are too tight.  Squeeze the excess sausage down towards the end of the casing hoping I have made enough slack to not squeeze out to much sausage if any at all due to the twisting process.

I hope I haven't scared you too much about your work tomorrow and have given you some insight on what to plan for hahahhaa.  Best of luck and let us know how it goes and if any of my ramblings made any sense :)

When I am doing a large batch of sausages to smoke, say over 100#, I stuff links 24" long and twist in the middle. I don't even bother with tying the ends. I hang these 12" long double links on the hangers spaced out about 1" apart. I can fit 150# of sausage in my smoker doing it this way. When I package, I cut the 12" links in half for 6" sausages.

If you want more of a polish sausage look, you could just tie the ends together and forgo twisting into 2 links.....then hang the sausage loops in the smokehouse.

 

[indaswamp]

I have also pushed fresh sausage through the smallest stuffer tube I have and cut into 3" links. freeze them and then package. You could put a light smoke on them if you want. No need for casings if not hot smoked. I recommend extreme cold smoking for this. I do it in winter using my old MES 30 gen1 and an AMPS....when it is below 30 degrees.....

 

[tallbm]

 
When I am doing a large batch of sausages to smoke, say over 100#, I stuff links 24" long and twist in the middle. I don't even bother with tying the ends. I hang these 12" long double links on the hangers spaced out about 1" apart. I can fit 150# of sausage in my smoker doing it this way. When I package, I cut the 12" links in half for 6" sausages.

If you want more of a polish sausage look, you could just tie the ends together and forgo twisting into 2 links.....then hang the sausage loops in the smokehouse.

I have debated this route.  I have only done my first two sausage smokes this past week and I laid them on the racks.  The links were already cut and vac sealed so it was my only option.  

I think this year after hunting season I will do a variety of things to see what I like but I can tell you that I want to hang sausage vs using the racks after my first two sausage smokes on q-mats and racks.

My plan is to try some big links like you do, some rings like you mention, and then the big chain link hang like the following:

f56ea80c7eabe942cfc167cbe5ea114a.jpg

• tallbm
• Jun 7, 2017

I will then know what I prefer.  Time and space will likely dictate what I ultimately do since I'm a one man shop doing all of this hahaha.

I am really hoping that the chain link method works out.  I've watched a youtube video or two where a guy does it really quickly and you get a big chain of sausages that easily hang and his did not seem to touch nearly as much as the ones in the image above.

It won't be long until I get the experience.  Hell I may just do 5 pounds to practice before my meat processing days approach :)

 

[indaswamp]

 

 
When I am doing a large batch of sausages to smoke, say over 100#, I stuff links 24" long and twist in the middle. I don't even bother with tying the ends. I hang these 12" long double links on the hangers spaced out about 1" apart. I can fit 150# of sausage in my smoker doing it this way. When I package, I cut the 12" links in half for 6" sausages.

If you want more of a polish sausage look, you could just tie the ends together and forgo twisting into 2 links.....then hang the sausage loops in the smokehouse.

I have debated this route.  I have only done my first two sausage smokes this past week and I laid them on the racks.  The links were already cut and vac sealed so it was my only option.  

I think this year after hunting season I will do a variety of things to see what I like but I can tell you that I want to hang sausage vs using the racks after my first two sausage smokes on q-mats and racks.

My plan is to try some big links like you do, some rings like you mention, and then the big chain link hang like the following:

f56ea80c7eabe942cfc167cbe5ea114a.jpg

• tallbm
• Jun 7, 2017

I will then know what I prefer.  Time and space will likely dictate what I ultimately do since I'm a one man shop doing all of this hahaha.

I am really hoping that the chain link method works out.  I've watched a youtube video or two where a guy does it really quickly and you get a big chain of sausages that easily hang and his did not seem to touch nearly as much as the ones in the image above.

It won't be long until I get the experience.  Hell I may just do 5 pounds to practice before my meat processing days approach :)

To triple chain sausages like the above pic.-you have to really be consistent on length and how firmly you pack them....at least that is what I have found.

 

[crazymoon]

Scott, I am following your sausage making saga. You will find that it isn't that hard and after a few mistakes you will be a pro at it !

 

[happypit]

PadronMan, I think you hit most of the top points that I too have been going through as I begin my maiden sausage adventure tomorrow.  The casings will be my biggest challenge.  I've read boyko's "How to handle natural casings" (http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/159729/how-to-handle-natural-casings) and that helped a lot.  I'm not afraid anymore of the "big scary" sausage monster you mentioned now that I've read a zillion posts on this forum and gained a ton of insight from very knowledgeable folks.  Thanks for your long ass post.  :)

TallBM, thanks for the twisting advice.  I was wondering how I was going to tackle that.  

 

[tallbm]

 
TallBM, thanks for the twisting advice.  I was wondering how I was going to tackle that.  

No problem.  I will have to start doing tight links again this year after hunting season now that I'm smoking sausage.  I abandoned tight links years ago after having more fresh sausage than I like bust on the grill as they plumped up.  Some even sprayed hot fat like 3 feet away lol :)   Squishy links solved that problem but make for weird looking smoked links.  On a positive note the squishy smoked links plump right back up and don't bust when grilled but no plumping when microwaved hahaha.

I think this year I'll only attempt one double/triple link rope and then do regular links on the rest, cut them and vac seal them.  It will likely save me time overall and i want to see how tight links behave in my smoker on qmats and racks and compare to the 1 double/triple link rope I hang and smoke.  This will give me an idea about how I want to go about my sausage making the following year of 2018, link and hang to smoke or link, cut, and smoke on racks.

It seems I'll also be adding a little more knowledge and adjusting my practices this year and I look forward to it :)