Definitely more water. Helps with the mixing and stuffing. Might have some blow bye but the water will come out in the smoke house. Just give it an hour at 140 to dry the casing or hang in the cooler with a fan blowing on it for a few hours. I didn’t catch your process . I always stuff mine right after mixing the spice then hang for 12 hours for the cure to set. But I’m impatient and usually use cure accelerator and go right to the smoker.
Kudos to you all who take the time to upload these videos. I have been in the "sausage" industry for over 30 years. You're close to becoming a sausage guru. Couple of suggestions. Some have been said already, but you must add water to your batter in order to stuff properly. 10 to 12% is a good rule of thumb. I would also suggest you buy a digital scale. Your can pick up a 60lb max scale that measures in 100's for under $100. Mixing is also critical. It extracts protein which gives you bind in your meat. My dream is to buy a 100 lb. commercial mixer, but in the meantime I use a food grade barrel cut in half with an electric grout mixer. I can mix 50 lbs if I need to easily. On your smoker a PID controller is so essential to maintain correct temps. If your smoker goes over 200 (actually 190) degrees it's to hot! You mentioned the bearded butchers and they are amazing. 2 guys and a cooler would be another one. Good luck and I hope to run across more of your videos.
Thanks for the video. I loved at some electric stuffers since i struggle with the crank. I mean the crank works but i really gotta crank on it! Since watching other videos on cheaper stuffers, i decided to look at LEM. They are expensive but on black friday and cyber Monday they are 25% off. I picked up a 10lb one for 500, fair price with free shipping and a warranty as well. Thanks for the video!
yup add more water and maybe invest in a meat mixer, they allow for better dispertion of seasonings as well as better absorption of water and therefore MUCH EASIER PRESSING, i actually broke a sausage press before i learned this...
The "vent holes are to allow the smoke to permeate. They have nothing at all to do with letting the air out of it. In fact, what they are showing, in this case, is that you have overstuffed them slightly.
My electric would go down then stop back off then go back down work for like two seconds then back off. I added more water, went to higher, lower speed. It still just go down and work for couple seconds then backs off and then goes back down. It took forrrrrrrreeeeevvvver just to do one casing.
I really like you, seem to be a very nice guy. I would like to suggest that (after watching your process(s)) it would appear to me that you need to add significantly more water to your sausage mix. I think that should solve all of your stuffing challenges.
Add water to help the stuffing process even with your manual 2 speed stuffer that is too hard cranking. The biggest item that your electric stuffer is having an issue with is the small diameter of your casings are not meant to be used with a large diameter piston stuffer. Use an electric 10/11 pound stuffer which has a smaller diameter piston chamber. It is the ratio of horn diameter to the piston diameter. Does your electric stuff summer sausage into a 2" casing ok? 1 to 1-1/2 oz water per pound of meat I believe is where I stuff with and it is relatively easy to stuff.
If you want to make your life easier on the math side you should weigh everything by kg and g. So much easier. For summer sausage you want about 8% ice cold water by meat weight in your mix. For dried and semi dried sausages adding water is a problem.
Enjoyed your video very much. Y’all have a beautiful meat shop and produce some great looking craft sausage. Most people don’t realize how much time are the investment and knowledge it takes to produce sausage of this quality. On the snack stick problem l’ve seen a stuffing horn that has two tubes on it. So you are running two links at the same time never used one but you would think that would help with the problem you are having. I think l saw it on the 2 guys and a cooler channel. Please keep the videos coming.
My electric press broke. The gear could not handle the pump and it would stall all the time and eventually the gear broke. My plan is to fit a more power motor and the same size gear to it ... That's not now though I bought a 7l manual press and the sausage just flows out of it with some elbow grease...
Brother, not that I know anything about anything, however i submit that you should strongly consider adding liquid (water, stock, whatever) or combination thereof in the amount of 10% by weight of your meat block. in ALL of your sausage recipes.
I call BS, you have never tasted anyone else's summer sausage. BOLOGNA no pun intended. You most certainly have had someone else's summer sausage if only back before you started making it yourself.
