Need help with sausage casing lengths

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No problem. I will try out some good ideas here and see what happens...You guys are great and quick in responses...LOVE it here.....
 
Like Dan said, nothing wrong with keeping a topic open.  This is only reply #21 but the topic has had 140 views, so others are reading and learning, which is what this is all about.

As far as the dowels to hang the sausages from, you should have no issues with aluminum, steel, etc for this application.  Metal rods will get hot though.  Not a problem for these summer sausages hung by string, but other snack sticks and such using natural casings or collagen can break as the casing in contact with the metal rod dries out and weakens.  Hickory dowel rods from any hardware store are a good option, at least 1/2" diameter for stiffness.

Try to keep a little space between your hanging sausages for better flow of smoke color, not so much for flavor, and this too is less important for fibrous casings (that will be peeled off anyway) than for natural casing sausages.
 
I’m with Que-ball when it comes to the dowels, I would only use wood dowels, something that you would use for cooking with Oak, Pecan Hickory something like that. If you wrapped them with alum foil you shouldn’t have any problems. Metal will get hot and stick to your casing, possible burn your sausage at point of contact, if you are using the loupe method. As far as cooking a little bit and tasting it, that is mainly for fresh or smoked sausage. It will not have the smoked taste, but it will allow you to know if you have enough salt and other seasons (again mainly for fresh or smoked sausage). Keep in mind that when you smoke something it will add a salty taste to it so take it easy when starting out. Learned this the hard way and had to feed the dog a batch or two. Personally I don’t like a lot of the bought seasonings, but that is just me.   I have to watch the amount of sodium that I eat and there is a lot of salt in most bought seasonings.    I have worked out several recipes (Lo-salt) that everyone seems to like and have had great responses to. 
 
I learned the hard way with metal dowels, so I went with Ace Hardware 1.5", cut to fit exactly perfectly and wrapped in aluminum.  I vary my smoke wood nearly every time I fire it up, so that seemed my best option. I can totally see the advantage to using oak or hickory though! If I were to make them over again, I might have "notched" them every inch or so to keep things from sliding off.

Cheers!

-Princess
 
can anyone help me figure out why my medium collagen caings are bursting in my smoker?  The summer sausage bags work out fine, but the sausage links are splitting. Thanks. Sonya
 
Hiya sonyatango! Welcome!!

Are you soaking the collagens before you use them?

Are you tying them off with themselves? or using string to tie?

Cheers!

-Princess
 
can anyone help me figure out why my medium collagen caings are bursting in my smoker?  The summer sausage bags work out fine, but the sausage links are splitting. Thanks. Sonya
 
You don't want to soak a collagen casing. it makes them weak.

You also need to slow cook under 150-170 . It should take 5-8 hours depending on the size sausage you're making..

And don't overstuff. stuff them till they're firm, but still feels like you can get some more in it.
 
That's *exactly* why it was the 1st thing I asked!! :)  (great minds, DanMcG!!)  By golly, I do NOT like collagens. They be cheap and easy, but I DO love me some naturals!!  Gimme a salt pack ANY darn day.
You don't want to soak a collagen casing. it makes them weak.

.
 
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