Hog casings and sausages with a hole in them.

[Hobbitfeet]

Welsh Wizard, me old chum! With regards to the space in the sausage...
I seem to remember that you use a Fleisch Wolf machine for your sausages, which combination of spouts/spacers are you using for stuffing? The only other thing I can think of is the consistency of the mix; is it too dry? How much liquid and rusk are you adding to the kilo of meat?

[Paul Kribs]

I think you are right Hobbitfeet, the plastic plate used in conjunction with the filler tube on the FW, has a quite large dome to house the brass bearing for the worm drive, so if the mix is to the dry side that gap down the middle could probably happen.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[Shaun]

Paul
Nice looking BBQ, I think you should deffo have a go with sheep casings. They are not as fragile as you think, when you get to know them.

[aris]

Yes, sheep casings are great. They are a bit more expensive, but I think they are worth it.

[sausagemaker]

Hi Aris

The calculation for sheep casing is as follows, lets assume that the sheep casing calibration is 18 - 20 mm, every 4" of filled casing is approximately 1 oz so one pound of sausage will take about 64 inches plus twists (these being chipolatas or 16 per lb)
If the casing is 21 - 23 mm then this would be approximately 48 inches plus twists (these being 12 per lb)

Hope this helps
Regards
Sausagemaker

[aris]

Could one of the moderators please add this info to the FAQ?

[Platypus]

aris,

I had already thought of doing so but wanted to wait until the thread came to it's natural conclusion so we capture all the good stuff.

sausagemaker,
If you want to complete the picture re weight/filled length of various casings that would be great, I could then format it into a table and give it pride of place in the sausage FAQ.

Thanks

[sausagemaker]

Hi Platypus

If you can bear with me till the weekend I will do that.

regards
Sausagemaker

[welsh wizard]

Hi Paul.

Smoking is fantastic - as long as you like smoked food (statement of the obvious!). The problem with smoking is to keep a constant temprature and not to let your fire burn out! If you are looking for a smoker give me an e I may be able to help you.

[welsh wizard]

Hi My old Hobbit footed friend, thanks for the advice. I rarely if ever use a spacer in the stuffer I find it inhibits the flow of more chunky bits i.e. pineapple chunks and aslo it seems to give me a better delivery into the skins (enough said). I have tried both methods and have not found much of a difference apart from now. I conclude from the excellent advice that has been posted that you are correct, and the stuffing I used was too dry. However nil desperandum the result, apart from you could suck a glass of port through the sausage (try that with chocolate fingers it is fantastic) was an excellent quick stuffing that that had all the basic bits.

Cheers and speak to you soon CURLA sausage

[welsh wizard]

My word, drink drunk, BBQ finished and I just cant stop writing!

Thanks sausage maker for the interesting info re skin length a lb of mix I am sure it will help me and especialy new people coming into the world of sausage making. Re sheep caseings I have been advised against using them because they are difficult and as Paul said he had his mouse hovering over the sheep button but decided against it. Another bit of string question, but as a % how much more difficult are they to use against hog's?

[Oddley]

As a new user of sheep's casings, I can tell anybody thinking of using them they can and are for me a bit of a nightmare. The last lot I did came out the diameter of a pencil if I did them any bigger they split. It took 8 of them to cover a white sliced loaf slice.

I think in the end I had more mix over me than in the skins. On the plus side they are much more tender. I've bought them now so got to use them. As long as I don't get too pissed off with them and aim them out of a window.

[welsh wizard]

Hog casings rule then oddley unless you can aquire a micro loaf!

[Oddley]

You're right there welsh wizard. I don't know if you remember them but when I was a kid you could get minute Hovis loafs about the size of a match box. The sausages I'm making would be great for them 1 would fill a whole loaf.

[Paul Kribs]

Welsh Wizard

When, not if, I use sheeps casings it is my intention to slacken the mix a bit more than usual and will probably use cooled pork stock. Main reason being that I expect more effort / pressure would be needed to send the mix through the small filler tube, also hoped that it would flow into the narrower more fragile casings.. more control etc.

Regards, Paul Kribs