Summer Sausage Question

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beavercreek

Newbie
Original poster
Sep 13, 2011
13
10
West Central Wisconsin
I just took a batch of summer sausage out of the smoker and they looked pretty nice. After I put them in cold water for about 15 minutes , the casings where shriveled and loose on the sausage. This happened to me on some snack sticks also. They were not filled out and smooth like I thought they should be.  Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong.  The directions from PS said to bath in cold water after smoking.  Thanks.
 
At what temp did you cook them. Did you see any fat render from them.

Joe
 
Last edited:
I had that problem a couple of times - I now put the sausage in ICE water for 3 minutes then hang at room temp for an hour. After that put it in the fridge over night before vacuum sealing and freezing.   Remember - The ice water bath is only to stop the cooking process - Just a couple of minutes will do the trick. I think 15 minutes is too long and may be the problem with the wrinkled/loose casing.
 
yeah if you cold water them just for a few mins.

wrinkled casings can be caused from a few things such as under stuffed, not enough binder to minimize shrinkage, to high temp to fast, fat-out, casings not soaked long enough b4 stuffing.

how bout some pics?

ya know what they say..............
 
I started the temp. at  100 and brought it up 20 degrees at a time until final temp of 185. Meat temp at 156 at finish. Soaked casings in warm water for 30 minutes before stuffing. I think the binder my have been my problem.  They did look somewhat better after hanging for about an hour.   Thanks for the info.
 
I started the temp. at  100 and brought it up 20 degrees at a time until final temp of 185. Meat temp at 156 at finish. Soaked casings in warm water for 30 minutes before stuffing. I think the binder my have been my problem.  They did look somewhat better after hanging for about an hour.   Thanks for the info.


185 was to high a temp and 156 to high IT. Sounds like it had a fat-out. was there grease at the bottom or between the casing and meat.
 
I have made summer sausage with leggs seasoning using beef (1/2 round & 1/2 chuck) mine have turned out this same way each time following the same method. Also can't seem to get enough spice in them. Good thing I don't make them to look at
biggrin.gif
. No fat out, no puddles left in smoker just wrinkled sausage.
 
I made some SS using Legg's mix last weekend. Put it in 1 1/2'' casings. I had a little shrinkage but not much. I did 7lb pork,and 1lb beef. Cooked them to 152 then put them in ice bath for about 20min, then overnight in the fridge. 
 
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