Snack Stick Help

[Davejr7979]

I'm currently using an 8mm stuffing tube to stuff 19mm snack stick casings. It's so hard to crank but it's the only horn I can put the while sleeve of casing on. Anyone else have this problem...I thought maybe I can use more water but I don't want to ruin my mix. I use about an ounce of water per lb. Any suggestions

 

[JckDanls 07]

Yes.. Let the meat sit on the counter for a couple of hours to come up to room temp... The meat is much easier to work with rather than it being cold and stiff straight out of the fridge..

Also a little more water won't hurt anything...

I strongly suggest to use a bigger tube (1/2") ... It's not necessary to get the whole sleeve of casings on the tube at one time...

 

[SmokinEdge]

8mm is a very small tube. Most complaints come from a 10mm tube. But a 12mm tube will fix your situation, plus what Keith said above about warming the farce a bit and maybe a bit of added water if needed.

 

[indaswamp]

All suggestions above are solid advice. also, do not try to slide the compressed casing on as is. unravel the Casing on a larger tube. Bit of a PITA, but much easier stuffing with a larger stuffing horn....even if you can only use 1/2 of the compressed casing at a time....

 

[zwiller]

FYI using a jerky gun is 100x easier.

 

[Davejr7979]

Yes.. Let the meat sit on the counter for a couple of hours to come up to room temp... The meat is much easier to work with rather than it being cold and stiff straight out of the fridge..

Also a little more water won't hurt anything...

I strongly suggest to use a bigger tube (1/2") ... It's not necessary to get the whole sleeve of casings on the tube at one time...

Thanks I'll try that...I'll probably have to slide the casings manually. And yeah I usually go right from mixing right into the stuffer so I'll try letting it cool a little to make it easier

 

[JckDanls 07]

I'll try letting it cool a little to make it easier

That would do just the opposite... Colder it is the stiffer it is...

Let it sit on the counter and WARM up... That makes it much more softer/workable (so to speak)... It should be cold when mixing... so if your going straight from mixing to stuffing it's going to be to cold....

 

[SmokinEdge]

That would do just the opposite... Colder it is the stiffer it is...

Let it sit on the counter and WARM up... That makes it much more softer/workable (so to speak)... It should be cold when mixing... so if your going straight from mixing to stuffing it's going to be to cold....

^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^

 

[dward51]

8mm is a really small tube. The smallest I have is 11mm inner diameter (13mm outer) and it's often a real pain to use. I WOULD NOT use any sort of cheese on those small tubes as the cheese alone will barely fit down the tube.

The problem is there is two ways to describe a tube. Some say 1/2" and others say 3/8" but they are the same tube. One is outer diameter (1/2") and the other is the inner (3/8"). Then some are in mm sizes that often are not direct translations to "english fractional inches".

For example here is a photo of the LEM 1/2" (3/8") tube next to my 9mm/10mm tube. The 9/10mm tube will slide down inside the LEM 3/8" inner diameter tube. I can use 19mm casings on either, but to use them on the LEM tube I have to slide the casing over by unravelling the compressed casing, but on the 9/10mm tube the entire compressed casing fits (but it is much harder to crank and stuff). The LEM is on the left in the photo and is sitting on top of the card it came attached to. The one on the right came from The Sausage Maker on Amazon (also on eBay). These fit the 5lb crank stuffers (1 9/16" base).

 

[dward51]

This might be helpful also.....

Also this chart lists the tubes by outer diameter

Sausage Tubes and Casing Sizes
Stuffing Tube Size	Straight Stuffing Tube	Tapered Stuffing Tube
inches	mm	Collagen Casing	Hog Casing	Sheep Casing	Collagen Casing	Hog Casing	Sheep Casing
	8 mm	13 mm 14 mm 15 mm
3/8	9.5 mm	16 mm			16 mm
7/16	10 mm	16 mm 17 mm 18 mm 19 mm 21 mm	17 mm	18 - 20 mm 20 - 22 mm	19 mm 21 mm
	12 mm	22 mm 23 mm	21 - 23 mm	21 - 23 mm	22 mm 23 mm	21 - 23 mm	21 - 23 mm
1/2	13 mm	21 mm 23 mm		20 - 22 mm 22 - 24 mm	21 mm 23 mm 28 mm 30 mm		22 mm 24 mm
9/16	14 mm	24 mm 25 mm 28 mm 30 mm 32 mm	29 mm < 30 - 33 mm 31 - 34 mm	22 - 24 mm	24 mm 25 mm 28 mm 30 mm 32 mm		22 - 24 mm
5/8	16 mm	32 mm	30 - 33 mm 31 - 34 mm	24 - 26 mm	32 mm		27 mm 28 mm
11/16	17 mm	32 mm	31 - 34 mm 33 - 36 mm		32 mm		29 mm
3/4	19 mm	35 mm 38 mm	33 - 36 mm 35 - 38 mm		35 mm	32 mm 35 mm	24 - 26 mm
	22 mm	34 mm to 40 mm			34 mm to 40 mm
1	25 mm	50 mm	35 - 38 mm		50 mm
1 1/4	32 mm	65 mm	37 - 40 mm 41 - 44 mm		65 mm
1 3/4	45 mm	90 mm	41 - 44 mm		90 mm
NOTE: Tube sizes listed on the chart represent the largest tube recommended for a specific size casing. A smaller tube than that listed may also be used, but not a larger one.