First time sausage making - loading casings on tube... successful but SLOW

[webpoppy8]

I'm wondering if there is a trick to loading the casing quickly on a stuffing tube.

Here's what I did.  As I said, it was successful but SLOW.

I got 32/36mm hog casings at a local grocer.  They are weird.  They looked shredded and ruined to me when I took them out. It took me 20 minutes, but I liberated and cut off a strand about 60" long.

I rinsed the outside in a 2qt measuring cup, then ran a thin stream of water into them and they blew up like water balloons.  No signs of leaks yet. After two or three interior rinses they seemed done.

I'm puzzled by "threads" hanging off the casings.  White, 1" to 1-1/2".  I suppose these are some natural feature like blood vessels.  Are they?  Should I get rid of these somehow?

I soaked my 35mm hog casings 24-26 hours in half water half vinegar in a tall 4 cup container with screw top.  They started in fridge.  (Some sites say 30 minutes.  Is that for real?). I saw postings where people said "soak in warm water" so the last 6 hours were room temp but sealed. After soaking the casings had relaxed to a noticeably wider diameter.  I drained off all the water.

I had my (old-fashioned manual) grinder with spacer and medium tube (white plastic, maybe nylon?).  End diameter probably 5/8".  It was maybe 1-1/2" over the table surface, which I covered with 2-3 layers of waxed paper

First I tried loading onto the tube from the container.  As I pulled it out, it seemed to contract to a diameter less than 1/4".  It was very hard to get it going at all.

I ended up taking a big bowl and filling with water.  I took the tube assembly off the grinder and put it into the bowl with the casings.  I used the water to lubricate, and it worked OK in many ways, but then it was hard for my fingers to grip the casing enough to load it without slipping.  It took at least 40 minutes, maybe an hour, for the sixty-odd inches of casing.

As I loaded the casing, it repeatedly got off-center with respect to the tube and that greatly hampered progress.  I was quite worried about ripping the casing.

Once it was loaded I reconnected the tube, flange, star, etc to grinder and had very little trouble cranking out my small batch of eight sausages.  They're smoking right now yum!

In terms of the casing, everyone says "just load it" but it seemed to take forever.  Shouldn't I have been able to load 60" of medium casing in a couple of minutes?  Or was this just because I did it weird, or that I just had to develop a feel for it?

All comments and advice gratefully accepted!

 

[myownidaho]

Working with casings has a learning curve. After making sausage for a number of years, some of the tips on this site corrected several problems I've experienced. What I did on my last batch was soak the casings in the fridge for two days with 8-10 water changes. The day I stuffed them, I flushed them with warm water and soaked them in warm water for an hour. Best results to date.

If you search the forum, you'll find a wealth of information on dealing with your issues.

 

[LanceR]

Welcome to the art of sausage making.

I live, for the next few months at least, about 20 miles from Syracuse Casings so I started with them and have never had a reason to consider changing to a different supplier.  I've been around other casings when we get together to make sausage at my sportsman's club but haven't yet seen any other casings as good as Syracuse's.

So, my experience has been that you can't beat good "pre-tubed" natural casings from a supplier like Syracuse Casings.  They come on a plastic sleeve.  You slide the sleeve over the stuffing tube, pull the plastic sleeve out from under the casing and start stuffing.  They don't cost any more than often the often tangled clumps of casing from other suppliers.  And Priority Mail shipping is included in the price, too.

I keep reading about all this soak for 2-3 days and other prep regimes but I've never soaked more than 10-15 minutes and don't have blow out or other problems.  I suspect that folks who say they need to soak for a long time really should be looking for a new casing supplier but that's just my opinion, too.

Lance

 

[pc farmer]

Well now.  I buy my casings from Butcher Packer and Sausage maker. (  Very good casings ) in my opinion.

I soak my casings in water for 3-5 days, they become silky smooth.   Very easy to handle and soft as to help reduce blowouts and just making them easier to work.  

The little white strands should disappear while smoking. 

 

[chezey]

Check out this link..

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/159729/how-to-handle-natural-casings

 

[pc farmer]

 
Check out this link..

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/159729/how-to-handle-natural-casings

I was looking for this.  You beat me to it.

This how I do it.

 

[blaise]

Have to agree with lance on pre-tubed ease of use. Still have to soak them, but the cost is high-----example from the sausage maker-----hank of 32-35 mm does 125 lbs, 29.99---- pretubed 32-35 mm does 50 lbs. $22.99

  I always have some in the fridge, along with about 7 or 8 other types and sizes. Sometimes it doesn't pay to buy a hank if you make smaller amounts and varying types of sausage requiring different sizes.

 The link provided by the other fellows is good solid info and works on smaller batches, too.

Blaise

 P.S. Here's a little trick I use when loading a horn, especially sheep casing.

  After soaking and water changes and all that stuff, I take my horn and start a casing on the horn, I then run a light stream of water through the horn while sliding the casing up the horn, dip the whole horn every now and then, don't let the casing slide off or you'll be starting over. This slightly expands and lubricates and helps keep twists out. Put as many strands on as you need or can fit.

  Try it ----you'll get the hang of it and probably like it.

Blaise

 

[webpoppy8]

Thanks, Blaise, but... ? horn ?  Some kind of equipment I should have? Or do you mean the stuffing tube?

 

[blaise]

Some of us call it a horn, some call it a tube, both exceptable, horn is probably old school and maybe regional, and I'm certainly old school.

Blaise

 

[SmokyMose]

Welcome to sausage, poppy! As you can see, there are a lot of methods. You'll find your own.
In my case, I like Syracuse, but I just can't get the hang of the pre-tubed thing. I have best luck sliding them off the plastic thingy and load like that. Once I use up the pre-tubed I have I'll stick with Syracuse, but without the plastic.
I let them sit overnight in water in the fridge.

Dan

 

[bjgarwood]

I like the Syracuse as well.  I have struggled with loading the horn as well.  I use a technique similar to Blaise trickling water through the horn Except I use olive oil.  To begin I pour some olive oil between the casing and the plastic tube.  I stick the end of the plastic tube into the tube on the horn and then slide the casing on the horn.  If it starts getting difficult to push it on, I pour a little more olive oil down the center of the tub and keep pushing it on.  Never seen anyone mention doing this before but it's what I came up with.  I used to truly struggle getting the casing on the horn.

 

[LanceR]

 
I like the Syracuse as well.  I have struggled with loading the horn as well. 

Maybe this will help....

http://www.makincasing.com/instructions.asp

Lance

 

[mickey jay]

Lots of good suggestions here already.  I lube up the horn with veggy oil before I start, and keep the casings in the bowl of water while I'm pulling them onto the horn so they're super wet (which gets water all over the table but easy to clean up).  I also drop a healthy amount of water onto the casing that I've managed to load on the horn so everything stays very well lubricated.  It doesn't take much drying to create the friction which will make things difficult.

You might also try a size smaller on your tube; if I try to size up I will get the problems you're describing.  It really shouldn't take more than a few minutes at most to load 5 feet of casing, but yes, there is a learning curve and my first time was similarly frustrating.  Keep with it and you'll figure it out. 

 

[shyzabrau]

I was really struggling with the sheep casings on Friday so I decided to run a few drops of olive oil THROUGH the entire casing. (Used an extra stuffing tube as a funnel to pour in the olive oil.) It made it super easy to load the stuffing tube.

I will definitely do that again!

 

[daveomak]

Quality casings have those "strands" trimmed from the casing...  Syracuse, Butcher Packer are my go to...

Do NOT but a home pack.....  purchase a hank...   100 yards.... 

 

[pc farmer]

 
Quality casings have those "strands" trimmed from the casing...  Syracuse, Butcher Packer are my go to...

Do NOT but a home pack.....  purchase a hank...   100 yards.... 

I bought a home pack just to try. 

To see the difference with the Butcher Packer hanks I buy.

 

[myownidaho]

Quality casings have those "strands" trimmed from the casing...  Syracuse, Butcher Packer are my go to...

Do NOT but a home pack.....  purchase a hank...   100 yards.... 

Another one of those priceless, "SMF lessons". Because I don't make large quantities of sausage, I usually buy home packs. My next purchase will be a full hank.

 

[pc farmer]

Another one of those priceless, "SMF lessons". Because I don't make large quantities of sausage, I usually buy home packs. My next purchase will be a full hank.

All you need to do is resalt what you don't use.

 

[myownidaho]

All you need to do is resalt what you don't use.

Yep. I'm in. If there's a distinct quality difference, I'm there.

 

[pc farmer]

Yep. I'm in. If there's a distinct quality difference, I'm there.

Maybe I will try both of them this weekend and report back.