Sausage comes out dry

[Chris1234]

View attachment 376872 A couple questions. I’ve been making different types of sausages for about a year now. Summer sausage I have down perfect. When making any type of sausage that involves a natural hog casing, like bratwurst, Italian, etc, I struggle. Usually for every 4 pounds of meat, I add 1 pound of pork fat and it still comes out dry. Do I need to add more? Also, when grinding the meat, I use the blade on the left. When stuffing, the one on the right. I’m thinking that when the stuffing happens, (right blade) do I really need that blade in there? I’m afraid that it’s cutting up the fat too finely? Can I just stuff without a blade at all? Thanks!

 

[abetheham]

When I make brats, I'm usually going with a 50/50 mix with the pork. So if I'm making venison brats, I do 12.5 lbs venison mixed with 12.5 lbs of ground pork.

 

[bregent]

Usually for every 4 pounds of meat, I add 1 pound of pork fat and it still comes out dry.

If the meat is lean, then you're at 20% fat, which is a bit light for my taste. I usually aim for 25-30% fat. You can also add some phosphate which will help retain moisture.
I can't see your attachment so not sure what blade you are referring to. If you're using a grinder to stuff, then no need to keep a blade in there. But if you're making as much sausage as it sounds like, think about treating yourself to a piston stuffer - it's so much easier.

 

[tallbm]

Hi there and welcome!

I tried to view your attachment link but it says I do not have permissions.

4 pounds of meat to 1 pound of fat should be fine. That is an 80/20 meat to fat ration which is what I use and I make wonderful sausage like that.

I can't see your images so I can't tell if you are loosing fat due to your grinding process. You want the fat to be frozen or semi frozen when you are grinding fat that is bought separately. I personally only grind once as my mixing process continues to break down the meat to a finer texture so no need for me to grind twice at all. Heck I think I may grind larger even.

Also, you have not described your cooking/smoking process. If sausage is cooked at too high of a smoker/cooking temp then the fat melts to a liquid and out of the sausage. This is known as "fat out". Dry sausage is often called by fat out and can be fixed by following good sausage smoking/making practices AND using a trustworthy digital thermometer to actually tell what your smoker temp is. The ones built into smokers are basically all off by a bit and when it comes to sausage making you can't afford to be too far off with your temps or you get fat out.

With sausage you should bring the smoker/cooking temp up in small increments.
A good process for Cured (has instacure #1 in it) is the following:

• Put in smoker at 100F for an hour to dry the outside of the sausage
• After 1st hour bump up the temp to like 115F and begin applying smoke
• Every 45 min or so after bump up another 10-20 degrees
• Stop bumping up temp when you hit a smoker/cooking temp of 165-170F
• Let your sausage cook to an Internal Temp (IT) that is safe for you. May go to 152F -155F. If doing wild pork you better take it to 165F IT which means you will need to walk your smoker/cooking temp up to 180F

If you are cooking sausage that does NOT have instacure #1 in it then you are making fresh sausage (fresh has no cure in it). I would suggest you grill these like they are raw store bought Brats. If you smoke them then get them done to an IT of 165F in under 4 hours.

I hope this info helps some and you start making and enjoying sausages as good as mine come out :)

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[buzzy]

Do u use any soy protein or NFDM. (Non-fat dry milk). Also u should think about a stuffer. It will give u a much better end product. Others should be along to help u out if my .02 doesn’t. Keep on smoking

 

[browneyesvictim]

Ill have to agree with what has already been said. Give NFDM a try or Soy Protein Concentrate to use as a binder and moisture retainer. I personally, have found I do not like the texture the soy gave, but it works also, and you might already have instant dry milk in your cupboard. You can also use sausage phosphate. That works REAL good without any kind of "filler" of the other two options or you can use both. You can get it from Butcher-Packer or the Ingredient Store.

Leave your blade out and just let your auger stuff your casings, unless you want to grind and stuff at the same time. ICE COLD means ICE COLD! In fact its best if it is partially frozen. Put your grinder attachment in the freezer before even starting. You can even wrap your snout with an ice pack while grinding.

 

[daveomak]

Try using a pasteurization table for cooking your sausage...
In the chart below, the sausage will be perfectly safe to eat if cooked to an internal temperature of 130 F if it is held at that temperature for 86 minutes... Personally I hold at those temperatures for 2 1/2 hours to insure pasteurization if my therm is off a few degrees or smoker temps are not uniform.... No fat out and sausage that still can be grilled for a perfect sausage...

 

[Chris1234]

Sorry about the picture. Hopefully that went through. I’ve never added any phosphate or anything so maybe that will help. Usually on these types of sausages I only grill so I don’t add any cure. The summer sausage I always do smoke so I definitely add it in them. I just can’t figure these things out. Always come out dry!

 

[crazymoon]

C1234, Your ratio is right or you can just use 5 pounds of pork butt and have decent sausage. Grind once and then use a 2 hole spacer plate with no knife to stuff.

 

[Chris1234]

C1234, Your ratio is right or you can just use 5 pounds of pork butt and have decent sausage. Grind once and then use a 2 hole spacer plate with no knife to stuff.

Would you happen to have a picture of a 2 hole spacer plate? Sorry I’m still new to all of this

 

[chopsaw]

Like CM said , your grinder should have a bean plate for stuffing , no blade needed .
Might help to post your recipe . The meat / fat ratio is only part of the end result .

 

[chopsaw]

The black spacer in your pic is what you want to use , with no blade .

 

[tallbm]

Could be over grinding, I agree with removing the blade upon stuffing.
Also when cooking try to avoid overcooking the sausage. If they start to wilt or shrink in size then you are on the downward side of them being done.

I like to pull them when they are plump and juices run clear. A thermometer would also help as well if you want to probe one to ensure it is cooked well on the grill.

I bring this up because I know people that cook the hell out of their grilled sausages and are always disjointed but love when I grill sausages because mine come out so "juicy".

Also another tip here. If you are making fresh sausage that you grill, you can stuff them a bit loose and they will plump up when grilled WITHOUT splitting or cracking. This is my little secret for good looking plump grilled fresh sausage ;)

I hope this info helps :)

 

[zwiller]

tallbm Those meatloafs... Just stumbled upon Marianskis recipe for loaf and it called for cure #1. Looks like you used it on yours. Big difference? Also, never smoked one. Worried the girls wouldn't be into that.

 

[crazymoon]

Would you happen to have a picture of a 2 hole spacer plate? Sorry I’m still new to all of this

C1234,Here is a definition:
Kidney Plates (3 hole) are used with a knife if you want big chunks for stew meat, for your first grind or when making chum.
Spacer Plates (2 hole) are traditionally used to hold the feedscrew centered when stuffing off a grinder using a stuffing tube. You remove the knife, install the spacer plate and stuffing tube and commence stuffing.
Here is a pic of the spacer plate:

 

[tallbm]

tallbm Those meatloafs... Just stumbled upon Marianskis recipe for loaf and it called for cure #1. Looks like you used it on yours. Big difference? Also, never smoked one. Worried the girls wouldn't be into that.

My cured loafs you are for sandwich meat slices. The loaves are drastically different from a regular smoked meat loaves in both texture, flavor, and cooking process. I cook those loaves just like they were sausage or bacon.

I guess you could get away with adding cure#1 to a meat loaf and cooking/smoking it like a traditional meatloaf but I'm not sure how it would come out.
Here is what my regular smoked mini meatloafs (no cure#1) look like and they are amazing!

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• tallbm
• Feb 18, 2018

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• tallbm
• Feb 18, 2018

(Sorry if I'm hijacking the thread but the public wants to know lol :D )

 

[Chris1234]

Awesome! Thank you guys!

 

[Gwanger]

been making different sausages for many yrs, don"t need fancy stuffer, just use spacer plate with no knife, never had any complaints.Sure beats the additional work of cleaning a stuffer, you already have your grinder out and with meat particles in it. Just remove knife and plate and replace with spacer plate and stuff away, always remember to keep grinder head and meat as cold as you possibly can to avoid fat smearing which will give an undesirable result.Stuff on!!!

 

[daveomak]

tallbm, afternoon.... FWIW, ground meat will be one of the most contaminated pieces of meat you will ever come across... cure#1 would be a good safety check on some pathogens that you probably don't want to feed your family..,.

My cured loafs you are for sandwich meat slices. The loaves are drastically different from a regular smoked meat loaves in both texture, flavor, and cooking process. I cook those loaves just like they were sausage or bacon.

I guess you could get away with adding cure#1 to a meat loaf and cooking/smoking it like a traditional meatloaf but I'm not sure how it would come out.
Here is what my regular smoked mini meatloafs (no cure#1) look like and they are amazing!

DSC_9054[1]

• tallbm
• Feb 18, 2018

DSC_9058[1]

• tallbm
• Feb 18, 2018

(Sorry if I'm hijacking the thread but the public wants to know lol :D )

 

[daveomak]

If you have never used a dedicated stuffer, a vertical stuffer for ~$99 is a valuable tool and makes sausage stuffing really easy...
I know I quit making sausage because of using a grinder for stuffing... I found this forum, learned about vertical stuffers and have never looked back... I appreciate it's simplicity, ease of cleaning and the beautiful final product it makes... It turned me into a "professional sausage stuffer" so to speak... Some grinders have a fairly large gap between the auger and housing... Regrinding meats is very difficult as the meat squeezes out between the auger and housing..