What am I doing wrong? Tough casings.

[Coreymacc]

It sounds like your stuffing and soaking is ok. If these are being made a fresh then i believe your cook temp may be an issue. For 2 reasons, 1, 180 deg is too low for a fresh ( no cure) not safe. Second, I have found for a nice crispy casing you need to cook them at high temp. I make a lot of brats and they all get grilled at high temp or pan fried ,again at high. Just keep them flipping so they don't burn but the casing will stay tight and crisp. If you cook them low the casing will turn rubbery or very tough.

my 2 cents
Corey

 

[Brshooter]

It sounds like your stuffing and soaking is ok. If these are being made a fresh then i believe your cook temp may be an issue. For 2 reasons, 1, 180 deg is too low for a fresh ( no cure) not safe. Second, I have found for a nice crispy casing you need to cook them at high temp. I make a lot of brats and they all get grilled at high temp or pan fried ,again at high. Just keep them flipping so they don't burn but the casing will stay tight and crisp. If you cook them low the casing will turn rubbery or very tough.

my 2 cents
Corey

Thanks for the reply. I do put some cure #1 in the sausages. Keep thinking I will throw some in the masterchef smoker for a smoked sausage. Just end up freezing and cooking fresh. I know you don't get the snap to the casings that way, but I try not to render out all the pockets of cheese. I'll play around with the cook temperature some. Thanks again.
Bill

 

[Coreymacc]

Thanks for the reply. I do put some cure #1 in the sausages. Keep thinking I will throw some in the masterchef smoker for a smoked sausage. Just end up freezing and cooking fresh. I know you don't get the snap to the casings that way, but I try not to render out all the pockets of cheese. I'll play around with the cook temperature some. Thanks again.
Bill

Brats are routinely made as fresh. I've never made them as smoked with cure. If you are making them as cured sausage maybe discribe your cooking procedure with Temps and times, I still feel the issue is somewhere there.

Corey

 

[Brshooter]

Brats are routinely made as fresh. I've never made them as smoked with cure. If you are making them as cured sausage maybe discribe your cooking procedure with Temps and times, I still feel the issue is somewhere there.

Corey

Corey,
Sorry for the delay. Was not available for a few days. Here is a link to the recipe I used. https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/my-take-on-tx-jalapeno-cheddar-sausage.273322/

I have been cooking these on my Traeger pellet grill. I have tried at temps of 180, 225, and 250. I cook them to an internal temp of 160. Pretty much the same results. Last two batches of sausage had the patches of chewy casings. I watch for and pop any air pockets as I twist the links.
Any comments or suggestions appreciated.
Thanks again for your reply.
Bill

 

[Coreymacc]

Corey,
Sorry for the delay. Was not available for a few days. Here is a link to the recipe I used. https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/my-take-on-tx-jalapeno-cheddar-sausage.273322/

I have been cooking these on my Traeger pellet grill. I have tried at temps of 180, 225, and 250. I cook them to an internal temp of 160. Pretty much the same results. Last two batches of sausage had the patches of chewy casings. I watch for and pop any air pockets as I twist the links.
Any comments or suggestions appreciated.
Thanks again for your reply.
Bill

Ya. If you want nice casings, you need to start at about 100 deg and go 10 deg per hr till you get to 168 (the temp i finish at) hold there till 152deg f

So 100 for an hr ,then 110 for an hr, then 120 for an hr. And so forth. Its very difficult to do cured sausage in a pellet because they don't go low enough and hold temp close enough.

180 is to high to start and holding it there till 160 is making the casing dry and tough.


Corey

 

[Coreymacc]

Additional to my post, I should clarify my temp, the ramping temp was cabinet temperature not internal meat temperature. You want to hit 152deg internal for a safe product on a cured sausage.

Corey

 

[Brshooter]

Additional to my post, I should clarify my temp, the ramping temp was cabinet temperature not internal meat temperature. You want to hit 152deg internal for a safe product on a cured sausage.

Corey

Corey,
Thanks for the reply. We cooked these fresh. Yes, they had a bit of cure in them per the recipe I used from the forum, but they were not smoked to be a cured sausage. I would do those in my Masterchef electric smoker and do the ladder temp ramp up. That has much better temp control.

We froze these uncooked. I thaw them and smoke fresh to eat as I need them. Usually at lower temps to keep from rendering out the chunks of cheese.

The chewy parts of the casings would be patches about the size of your thumb. Not on every sausage, but at random. It sounded to me like it could be from air pockets, but I really watched this last batch closely for that.

I'll try grilling some of those in the freezer at higher temps to see if I notice it.

Thanks again.
Bill

 

[indaswamp]

By chance, are the chewy patches where the cheese is touching the casing? That could be the issue.

 

[Brshooter]

By chance, are the chewy patches where the cheese is touching the casing? That could be the issue.

not that I have noticed.

 

[chopsaw]

You have some good suggestions already . I store mine like linked in post 15 .
As suggested , buy better casings . I used the home packs , same brand as you have . 1 hour soak time is not enough . Those DeWied are all over the place . Uneven , short and some are thick walled . I get mine from TSM . Like you I thought I would never use them all . I'm on my 4th bucket of hog casings . Also , I add cure to some of my sausage and cook on the grill . Never any issues . That's not going to cause a tough casing in my opinion .
I came here with same results and questions that you have . I learned what I know from the guys on this forum . Either by asking them directly , or just by watching what they do . 4 of them have replied to you already . I have tried and true results now . All good .
This is what I buy ,

Stored like shown in the link from post 15 .

This is one strand pulled from the bucket .
Stuffed the whole 5 lbs. with the one strand .

Good luck and like said , let us know how you make out .

 

[Brshooter]

You have some good suggestions already . I store mine like linked in post 15 .
As suggested , buy better casings . I used the home packs , same brand as you have . 1 hour soak time is not enough . Those DeWied are all over the place . Uneven , short and some are thick walled . I get mine from TSM . Like you I thought I would never use them all . I'm on my 4th bucket of hog casings . Also , I add cure to some of my sausage and cook on the grill . Never any issues . That's not going to cause a tough casing in my opinion .
I came here with same results and questions that you have . I learned what I know from the guys on this forum . Either by asking them directly , or just by watching what they do . 4 of them have replied to you already . I have tried and true results now . All good .
This is what I buy ,
View attachment 466642
Stored like shown in the link from post 15 .
View attachment 466643
This is one strand pulled from the bucket .
Stuffed the whole 5 lbs. with the one strand .
View attachment 466640
Good luck and like said , let us know how you make out .

Thanks for the reply. Appreciate it. Everyone has been awesome with all the suggestions.

Bill