Water in summer sausage casings??

[mountain-worm]

I made a batch of summer sausage, with a Hi Mountain kit. All went well with the grinding, seasoning and stuffing. I cooked them in water in a roaster. The internal temp went high, hit 180, I drained and put right into ice bath. After the temp had cooled, the casings were loose and there was water inside the casings. I don't think I had the ends tied off good enough. I loosened the ends and drained the water out. My question is, should I remove the casings, or will they be ok? I don't want the sausage to mold or get ruined. I have a vacuum packer, so I can seal and freeze them. Wondering  if you guys think I should loose the casings. Thanks John.

 

[fullsmoke]

They will be fine if you just drain water out and leave casing on but if you will sleep better just take casing off and vac seal it .

 

[dward51]

If the internal temp hit 180*, that may not be just water you are seeing. At 180* you most likely had fat out occur and that would also lead to the loose casings.  The texture of your finished product may suffer from the fat out, but it will still be edible.  Nothing you can do at this point, but cut into it and try it.  I would remove the casing and vacuum pack & freeze what you will not use in the next week or so.  If there is any white fat on the outside of the meat under the casing, just wipe it off before packing.

If the meat texture is not what you expected (due to fat out), don't let that discourage you from making this again.