# Venison/Pork Summer Sausage Preservation



## vicki sinclair (Feb 12, 2015)

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__ vicki sinclair
__ Feb 12, 2015






Hello everyone! I have seached for info with little luck. I need to know if there is a way to make venison/pork summer sausage for dry storage. The summer sausage in the store isnt refrigerated and thats what Id like to go for. We just made 25 pounds worth of venison summer sausage. I used 15 pounds of deer meat and 10 pounds pork. I went with a prepacked summer sauage kit from Gander Mountain (PS seasonings and spices) and used mahogany fibrous casings. There was cure in it and it smoked all night. This morning I opened some for a sample and it is delicious but....juicy! 

We went into it kind of blind because we always do either jerky or ground sausage to freeze. We assumed we could store it in a cool, dry area without having to refrigerate or freeze. We made our rolls huge. They average 3 pounds each after smoking. 

We just followed the directions on the bag of cure for making it, but it said to drop in a cool water bath. Im not sure if water seeping in caused the juices or if its common, but our assumption and goal is to make summer sausage that we can dry store without the need for refrigerator/freezer. Any info would be great!!!


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## elginplowboy (Feb 12, 2015)

Bad assumption, in my opinion. In order to make a shelf stable product u need to lower the water activity level and acidity ph. Since your commercial bought mix does not appear to contain a lactic acid starter culture or encapsulated citric acid, I would keep it refridgerated. U also do not know your green weight vs. finished weight to determine percentage of water loss. I would suggest the book - 
The Art of Making Fermented Sausages
Stanley Marianski


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## crazymoon (Feb 15, 2015)

VS, You will have to keep your product in the fridge or freezer. As Elgin stated you don't have a dry cured product, I  don't know what they do to store bought SS but the list of ingredients are long and some are hard to spell or pronounce! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






  You have a very good looking SS and I'm sure it doesn't have those chemicals in it . Water could have gotten in through the hole in the casings from your temp probe ? I am assuming you brought your SS up to the proper IT and that your temperatures were accurate ?


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## bart856 (Feb 24, 2015)

Ok new at the SS thing going to make my first batch this weekend , but had a question. I read a lot about different ratio of post to venison, I also see ppl use pork butt or loin kind of confused about that. I m I suppose to use pork meat  or straight pork fat. Thanks


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## timberjet (Feb 24, 2015)

Vicki Sinclair said:


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Cut those up into managable chunks and vac-seal. Either refridgerate or freeze. What you have there is perfect summer sausage and that is why it is good and juicy. Like the others have said you need to do a lot of research and will have to have quite a bit of special equipment to make what you are talking about. That stuff in the store is so full of preservatives it is not even funny. There are lots of good threads and articles on here about making dry cured sausage and the like. I suggest Len poli's website and Wednvidsky dmvowe. I probably butchered the second one spelling wise. I will get the links for you. Great, informative websites to get you started.


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## crazymoon (Feb 24, 2015)

Bart856 said:


> Ok new at the SS thing going to make my first batch this weekend , but had a question. I read a lot about different ratio of post to venison, I also see ppl use pork butt or loin kind of confused about that. I m I suppose to use pork meat or straight pork fat. Thanks


You can use either but I usually add pork butt With some back fat off of it for my ratio of 70-30 or so. Have fun ,its easy to make just don't use too high a temp or overcook or your fat will render out.


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## timberjet (Feb 24, 2015)

http://www.meatsandsausages.com/ excellent resource for lots of things sausage and great recipes.

 http://lpoli.50webs.com/Sausage recipes.htm another one with tons and tons of formulations and descriptions of the what's and why's of it all.

I hope this helps you to get started looking into this. Once you think you have read everything there is to read on the subject read some more. Then start with something easy and work your way up. Like the other poster said there are some great books out there that can help you greatly as well. I am sure some of our resident sausage freaks will be around to steer you in the right direction. Happy smoking and AWESOME SS. timber


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