use the rebber stuffer WHAT a lot of work but great sausages

[Bob]

Franco

check out this site it a UK based company with a sausage gun
I have used this type of gun before for making sausage & while it does the trick I found it laborious.

http://www.geocel.co.uk/PDFs/Data%20She ... 0COMBI.pdf

That unit is very similar to the LEM Jerky Gun.

Why did you find it tedious? It is not intended to be used for large batches.

Did you roll the meat into a cylinder slightly smaller in diameter than the meat tube? Did you wet the meat and the inside of the meat tube slightly? Did you have extra meat tubes for stuffing more than one pound of meat at a time?

If not, then I can see why it was tedious. Getting dry tacky meat into the tube by shoving it in is very awkward. Use the rolled, wet meat method described above. The meat roll will slide right in and leave no air pockets when you put the next one in.

Lay the gun on its side when you stuff the casing. That way you have one hand free to cock the handle and the other to regulate the casing. It takes me about a dozen strokes to empty the meat tube - and there is no effort in doing the strokes either.

I do not find using the gun tedious but then I have never used a crank stuffer which I can imagine is a lot simpler to use than the gun. But once you master the technique, the gun is no big deal - and it is a lot easier to clean up than a crank stuffer.

[deb]

I had a reply from LEM products recently, they are happy to supply me with the jerky gun for distribution in the UK, I should have a sample sent over pretty soon, if someone wants to volunteer to test it let me know.
Franco

I wouldn't mind giving it a test Franco, to be fair Oddley got in first but if you want a couple of testers or the female perspective I'd love to give it a go.

Sausagemaker, those links are useful, if this deal with LEM doesn't get off the ground I'd be most interested in these.

[sausagemaker]

Bob

I'm too used to power fillers, too strong for light work I'm afraid.

Regards
sausagemaker

[Bob]

Bob

I'm too used to power fillers, too strong for light work I'm afraid.

Regards
sausagemaker

That's the whole point. Most people who have commented on the crank stuffer have said it's a bit overkill for their needs. I think the gun is an attractive alternative, certainly in terms of price and ease of cleanup.

When I used my meat grinder to stuff I dreaded having to clean up, so I tended to put the project off. Now I do not hesitate to stuff a one-pound batch with the gun. When I do use the grinder, I do 5-10 pounds at a time so I am willing to put out the effort for that.

Apparently British sausage makers have not caught on to ground meat jerky. It's a great way to get the beef taste without the problems of making an all-beef sausage. I have never succeeded in making beef sausage without putting half pork with it. With jerky I can use 100% chuck (~70% lean) and make a good tasting beef product.

Now that I discovered CMC I may even be able to simulate the "chewy" texture of solid meat jerky. I just mixed up a batch of jerky with 0.8 g CMC to 1 lb. ground meat. That works out to 0.8 / 454 = 0.00176 (0.176%), which is half way between the manufacturer's recommendations for meat products. I determined by weighing that there are about 4 g per tsp., so I used 1/5 tsp. per pound of meat. We'll see in a day or two whether that is enough to create the chewy texture I am looking for.

After I evaluate the CMC, I am going to start using all-beef sausage recipes like beef salami and beef summer sausage in the jerky to see if I can get the taste that the professional packing houses get with their all-beef products.

[Oddley]

The post seem's to have gone off at a tangent again, but in answer to you question You do not have to fill any of the stuffers the size is given as a guide to it's maximum capacity so if you were to use a 5 Kg stuffer the only thing you need to work out is the wastage you will get from this ie. how much is left in the barrel & horn after stuffing, then make your recipe to compensate for this.
By this I mean if you have a waste of 500g then to make a kilo of sausage you need the recipe amounts to 1.5Kg

I never have any wastage. I think that probably us home producers like me take the stuffing tube off and stuff the rest of the mix by pushing it through the tube manually( by thumb and then the handle of a wooden spoon in my case ).
I have just this morning received my 1/8 inch mincer screen from Kenwood I have been waiting about a week for( next day delivery Huh ). I was going to make jerky when I got it but as Franco is going to send me the LEM jerky maker I think I will keep the meat I have frozen until it arrives. Then use the LEM so I can evaluate it for the review.

[robin]

Yes I agree with Oddley. I either do as he does or if I'm feeling lazy make a sausage 'burger' from what's left in the tube. That's my treat !

[Bob]

Yes I agree with Oddley. I either do as he does or if I'm feeling lazy make a sausage 'burger' from what's left in the tube. That's my treat !

Next time I use the jerky gun, I am going to see if I can force the last bit out by pumping the piston rapidly from the full extended position. If the trapped air does not leak past the seal too quickly, it ought to impart a force on the remaining meat. Since I lightly wet the outside surface of the meat to begin with and I am using CMC in my jerky recipes, the meat is slippery, so hopefully it will continue to extrude.

With sausage stuffing I work the meat into the casing with my thumbs and when the meat is only in the tube I use a large diameter magic marker pen to push the rest out.

[sausagemaker]

Hi All

Wastage is probably the wrong word but I think you all get my drift, unless you push the meat through like oddley than you can only make burgers with the remainder, or add to another mix.

I am lucky enough to be able to use a powder filler, but I lose 500grm per filling.
I collect this meat until I have enough to put through, then I can train the staff how to use the filler & link sausage.

regards
sausagemaker