Sausage casings

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smokeamotive

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Jul 1, 2009
709
15
Lees Summit Mo.
I've been useing the LEM hog casings and am looking to go to a different brand. Getting tired of the different lengths, some as short as 2 ft. and built in blow outs. Looking for something with more consistent lenghts, casing quality and storage ability. I known theres lots of places to buy from but am lookin for specific brands/ suppliers. What do the rest of you sausageheads use?
 
I've been useing the LEM hog casings and am looking to go to a different brand. Getting tired of the different lengths, some as short as 2 ft. and built in blow outs. Looking for something with more consistent lenghts, casing quality and storage ability. I known theres lots of places to buy from but am lookin for specific brands/ suppliers. What do the rest of you sausageheads use?


I have not found too many places that will have all the same lengths in natural casings. Even the mom&pop store i buy my hog casings from have random lengths.

As long as you keep the casings covered and packed with purified salt they will last for years. And for quality remember your using something that at one time was alive so the casings are not going to be perfect.

Blow outs can be a defect (rip, cut or hole) in the casing but i have found 99% of the time the blow out is from stuffing to tight.
 
I find natural casings in a salt brine solution to be the best for me. I am starting to get a lot of blowouts on the 5 lb vertical stuffer. I can stuff realy tight with the 30 lb cabellas stuffer. i think it may have to do with the plastic tubes. I see the casing stick to the plastic stuffing tube which may cause it to break. i dont have this problem with my stainless steel tubes on the big stuffer. I need to fab one up here soon to see if it fixes the problem

Joe
 
Joe,

Do you rub cooking oil on the plastic tubes before loading and do you keep the casing wet while stuffing?
 
I just went thru a bad batch of LEM casings.  I don't know if they were old or what, but they sure smelled bad.

Guess the retailer could have had them hanging around too long

Todd
 
Joe,

Do you rub cooking oil on the plastic tubes before loading and do you keep the casing wet while stuffing?


yeah, tried all that........ I'm almost sure its the plastic tube... It slides with less friction with stainless steel. re wetting the casings helps
 
I have not found too many places that will have all the same lengths in natural casings. Even the mom&pop store i buy my hog casings from have random lengths.

As long as you keep the casings covered and packed with purified salt they will last for years. And for quality remember your using something that at one time was alive so the casings are not going to be perfect.

Blow outs can be a defect (rip, cut or hole) in the casing but i have found 99% of the time the blow out is from stuffing to tight.
Nepas, I know that there will be some variance in length but I'm getting 3 to 4 lengths of 6 t o8 ft, then the rest are 2 or 3 ft. The last batch had holes in @ 75% of them. I'm looking for more consistency/quality. I have enough blowouts from my own doing.


 I see the casing stick to the plastic stuffing tube which may cause it to break.

Joe
I know what you mean. I had that very problem when I was stuffing the other day. I have a stainless tube that I bought for my Jerky Cannon but it won't fit my Cabelas stuffer. I can fix that though, I just have to go over to a buddies house and turn the flange down a little on his metal lathe.

Oh and I do use oil on my tubes.
 
 
Hey got to tell ya when I got into the hobby/business of making my own sausage I wanted a quality product with a long line of good customer satisfaction. I found that Peter Frey (the owner) at SYRACUSE CASING CO. at www.makincasing.com   is one of the most friendly guysin the casing business. He will actually take the time to talk and listen to you. The casings keep for a long time in the fridge. I will NOT use anyone else. This is just my opinion and I'm sure there are a lot of sausage makers out there that has there "own" guy, but I'm just saying that SYRACUSE CASING CO  . has always helped me make really great sausages and brats. So go to the website and look around. Hope this helps out. Enjoy!!-----Sam
 
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