# Stuffing casings tight



## archernut (Nov 18, 2009)

I have been doing venison salami for a few years now. I had a castrophe the other day. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






 I wasn't watching the stuffing process closely. I was doing the cranking. The casings weren't tight. They were pretty loose.
Anyway, they were smoked for app 3 hours in my homemade smoker/cooker from a freezer. (see roll call page) The smoke comes from an external source. After a thourough smoking, I cranked up the cooker and cooked for app 4 hours at 200 to 210. Once the internal temp reached 160, it was shut off and salami was removed. 
Castrophe moment now hits me. Since they weren't packed tight, they were full of water. It looked like a balloon. This was a frustrating sight to see. My solution was to pin hole them and let them drip. I hosed them off to cool and rehung them in cooker with door open. They cooled off nicely and the excess moisture was gone by morning. 
This saved them, but it could of avoided if the casings were stuffed as tight as you can get them. Some simple things like this can ruin a good batch of salami.


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## meat hunter (Nov 18, 2009)

Well in the end, everything turned out ok
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





.

I just finished processing our deer last week. As soon as we are done getting the corn out of the field and drying it, I have lots of things to smoke. Venison Summer sausage, hot sticks, jerky!!!! Can't wait. I mentioned in roll call to  you and I will again here, posts some pics of that fridge smoker, would love to see it. Am doing one myself.


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## erain (Nov 18, 2009)

now that woulda been a picture to share!!!  would have liked to seen it. but you right, salami or summer, pack the casings as tight as possible. i actually burst a summer sausage casing once while stuffing, and they are tough. stuff them just about to that point.


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## coffee_junkie (Nov 18, 2009)

I tend to believe that your cooking temps are way too high. I cook/smoke my salami at 120* to 130* for two hours then raise the temp of the smoker to 160*-170* and cook to an internal meat temp of 148*-152* (maintain this temp for at least 5 minutes) this is assuming that you use cure in your sausage ( I hope you did). 
The other tip I have is to stuff your large style sausage by hand, by this I mean do not use your stuffer, roll up little balls and toss them in the casing, when it seams full twist the casing to push all of teh meat to the bottom, this will get the meat tight in the casing. 
Also when done smoking make sure you give your sausage an ice bath to rapidly cool the sausage, which will also reduce the wrinkling. 
Better luck next time, I hope it wasn't a huge batch!


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## mballi3011 (Nov 19, 2009)

Thanks for asking this question for I'm new to the sausage making myself. This will be one question I don't have to ask now.


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