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I am thinking about trying to make some snack sticks but understand that low diameter casings can be a bit of a challenge for hand cranked stuffers, has anyone got experience of making them and can you advise on how you do it with a small stuffer, and when I say small diameter casings I mean 16mm collagen or perhaps smaller!?

Which stuffer Ped. I found them easier to stuff with my 5lb cheapo stuffer than with my larger 'posh' one.

Phil

Its just a matter of physics. The smaller diameter of the stuffing tube and the larger diameter of the stuffer piston the greater force required. this being said I have a 20Lb stuffer and to stuff snack stix (19 mm) you have to put so much force on the crank you will be if fear of breaking some thing, my buddy has an 11 Lb. stuffer and stuffing the 19 mm cases is a real work out. So I bought a 5 Lb. stuffer with SS tubes and making snack stix is a dream come true. You just can't argue with the laws of physics.

Thanks for the reply BG, when you say SS tube I'm assuming you mean Snack stick tube ("3/8)? in which case are they generic enough to fit any stuffer? as I've got a Ravenelli stuffer?

You can also use a tapered tube, the tapered portion should start as large as the stuffer opening, then using a gentle angle taper down to the desired diameter, this will help a lot in getting a poorly designed stuffer to work on small diameter casings.

SS was for stainless steel and you will need a 3/8" tube

I made snack sticks about 2 weeks ago and while I wasn't afraid of stripping the gears in my stuffer (12 lb) because it has metal gears it took so much force that I had to wrap my leg around the leg of the table and the table was still being lifted off the ground....

One of my suggestions is to take as little time as possible between mixing the sticks and stuffing. Many of the commercial mixes contain binders such as phosphates and if allowed to sit they begin to set up and stiffen the mix. The faster you can get it from mixed to stuffed the easier the stuffing should be....

What do the commercial guys use then ?

Probably hydraulic stuffers

Mmm, perhaps I feel a conversion coming on!!, Lidl car jack, a metal plate of some sort and...........

It was the leg wrapped around the table that made it for me .............