Sausage Casing Snap

[PapaRed]

I have a history of making sausage with tough casings, and have attempted many recommendations read here and on other forums how to create sausage links with "snap". Sadly, have had very limited success. Recently I watched a video that advised adding lemon juice (at a ratio of 3/4 teaspoon lemon juice to one quart of water) to the casing rinse water increases the water acidity, therefore the PH, resulting in a softer, more resilient casing.
That procedure, along with proper stuffing and handling of sausage links results in sausage with perfect "snap". Have used baking soda in the water, but yet to try the lemon juice procedure, but maybe some experts here have, and would share their procedure that produces sausage casings with "snap".

 

[indaswamp]

Are you using casings packed dry in salt? Or casings packed in a wet brine? See this recent thread:
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/how-to-avoid-tough-skins-on-smoked-sausage.333616/

 

[PapaRed]

Well sir, you are no doubt correct. The casings I use come to me packed dry in salt. Usually a couple days before making sausage, I thoroughly rinse what I intend to use in running water and leave them in fresh water. The remaining casings remain dry packed in salt.
As of now, I will thoroughly rinse them all and then store them in a 25% salt brine. Thank you!

 

[SmokinEdge]

First is case prep as has been outlined. Next I’ll say at least for me, smoke then do a poach or steam finish. It’s a game changer for hot smoked sausage.

 

[Cajuneric]

Well sir, you are no doubt correct. The casings I use come to me packed dry in salt. Usually a couple days before making sausage, I thoroughly rinse what I intend to use in running water and leave them in fresh water. The remaining casings remain dry packed in salt.
As of now, I will thoroughly rinse them all and then store them in a 25% salt brine. Thank you!

Hey PapaRed. In the video you watched where the lemon juice was added there were 2 types of casings shown. One was white and the other was yellowish. The white casing was originally salt packed (came from the sausage maker) and the yellowish tint casings were originally brine packed which I personally separated and salt packed them in individual bags as you saw in the vid. The white casing (that was salt packed) was super tender all we did was a water soak for 14 hours while the yellowish casings (originally brined packed) were very tough.

When it comes to tough casings i believe that how it comes packed is only one small piece to the puzzle. I think that you have to also consider the source of the casings, the age of the pig they came from, the diet of the pig, how the casings were cleaned, and so on. At the end of the day no amount of water soaking is going to make a tough casing tender (trust me I know as I've let brine packed "tough" casings soak for 3 weeks with no benefit). In my opinion the more predictable way to ensure that you have a snappy casing is to change the molecular structure of the casings themselves. One way to do that is to change the ph of the soaking solution. 3/4 tsp of lemon juice or vinegar will bring the ph of 1 quart of water down from 7 to 4 (ish) and once your ph is at 4 the casing will start to undergo a physical change where the collagen fibers will start to absorb water, swell, and loosen. If the ph of your soaking solution is the same as the isoelectric point of your casings (7.2 - 7.8) then the cellular structure will never loosen as the collagen molecule are wanting to expel moisture. The best that will happen is that the casing will only get rehydrated and (as you already know) it will either be tender or tough.

I know how frustrating it can be to make a great recipe and have it ruined by tough casings. Hopefully this tip might help you get more consistent results in having a tender and snappy bite!!

 

[PapaRed]

Thank you..... your description is the same info I understood from the video. I'm definitely going to try the procedure hoping it (with other known processes) will result in a great tasty sausage.
Many members on this forum comment that their procedure produces one with great firm snappy, tasty sausage, however the water PH hasn't been mentioned.
Here in the Arizona desert water is very hard with high levels of chlorine. I usually let a container of casing rinse water stand on the counter for 24 hours before using. I'm thinking hard water may be a contributor of tough chewy casings?