Home Made Sausage

nast70 · #1 02-03-2019, 10:43 AM

With the huge costs involved with processing sausage from wild game, I have bee toying with the idea of doing it myself. Well, with my family's help anyway.

So I started small, a meat grinder for my kitchen aid and sausage stuffer adapter.

Hit Halfords for seasoning and casings.

Bought a pork shoulder from Superstore and begun.

The season pack was for 25lbs of sausage, a bit more than I was prepared to start with, but by happy coincidence my roast was a tad over 5lbs after being deboned and skinned. Ran with 1/5 recipe for simplicity.

After grinding pork and preparing the seasoning I mixed it in the mixer, because it was there ready to go. I that was a small mistake. That seemed to make the meat a but too 'thin', not as chunky as it should have been. After sampling a small piece and finding the flavor was not as pronounced as I wanted, I decided to let it sit overnight before stuffing. That was probably another small mistake. The meat the following morning, although having more flavor was a bit sticky going through the stuffer. It took longer than anticipated to stuff 5lbs. Almost 3.5hrs. Whew!
But all in all a good learning experience and I'm looking forward to my next attempt.

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nast70 · #2 02-03-2019, 11:50 AM

Ready for packing
And eating!!

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JULIUS · #3 02-03-2019, 11:55 AM

If you are interested butchers and packers in edmonton puts on free sausage making classes. it takes about a half day. I went several years ago and as a beginner it was good to pick up a few tricks.

lyallpeder · #4 02-03-2019, 12:24 PM

I think you’re going in the right direction. Keep trying and watching YouTube. I tossed out my kitchen aid grinder the day I got a meat grinder from cabelas. It works so much better.

tallieho · #5 02-03-2019, 12:39 PM

Your off to a great start x2 on the free class,i got started from those classes.Most important to keep the meat COLD.Helps especially the pork fat,from getting runny.Binders also will make things sticky,your mix would have it in it...good job...

nast70 · #6 02-03-2019, 12:44 PM

When the Cabelas grinders go sale again I'll grab one.

What about stuffers? Grinder attachments or manual crank stuffer?

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Rig-Rat · #7 02-03-2019, 12:54 PM

I took a class last year at CTR Refrigeration and was $$ well spent. Learned lots on weighing and mixing spices. They sell a bunch of pre-mixed spices and will tell you the ratio of how much spice to use V how much meat your working with.
We used a proper suffer in class and amazing but they are expensive. It's a big learning curve but fun. For a first batch looks like you did alright, will only get better.
Like other said keep everything COLD, it's hard on the hands but slides through the machines way easier, and stops bacteria ..

Jim Blake · #8 02-03-2019, 01:10 PM

For a stuffer JMO go with hand crank. Metal gears are a MUST. I have a Trespade stuffer and it works great. I had a Commercial grinder (would swallow a moose) but sold it and went with the Cabella 22.

As above take a course. I also like using recipe's rather than pre mixes. Both the premix and the recipe's though always seem to have too much salt. Lots of tricks and technique you will learn along the way. At least you know what is in your sausage!!

It's lots of fun doing your own and customizing recipes.

Here is a pic of my stuffer and grinder.

saskbooknut · #9 02-03-2019, 03:24 PM

Even a 3 pound hand stuffer is way faster than the kitchen machine stuffer.

YYC338 · #10 02-03-2019, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Blake

For a stuffer JMO go with hand crank. Metal gears are a MUST. I have a Trespade stuffer and it works great. I had a Commercial grinder (would swallow a moose) but sold it and went with the Cabella 22.

As above take a course. I also like using recipe's rather than pre mixes. Both the premix and the recipe's though always seem to have too much salt. Lots of tricks and technique you will learn along the way. At least you know what is in your sausage!!

It's lots of fun doing your own and customizing recipes.

Here is a pic of my stuffer and grinder.

Yup, that's about all you'll need for the main equipment to put up hundreds of pounds of sausage over many years.

James Henry · #11 02-03-2019, 05:08 PM

Try the SpiceySausage.com website, tons of great recipes.
When you get your sausage ingredients mixed, fry up a few small patties before the stuffing process, that way you will know if your spices are "on" or not.
JH

Xbolt7mm · #12 02-03-2019, 09:09 PM

You kitchen aid is about 3 times the price of a decent grinder, dont wear it out grinding meat. For the cost of a grinder, stuffer and a tray, your well on your way,,,ctr is your friend

El Carnicero · #13 02-04-2019, 10:49 AM

I use my sausage stuffer and fiberous casings to make Hamberger patties.

I have 80 lbs of meat to make into patties and looked at that jb and thought, this is too much time.
So I bought some 124mm fiber casings and grounds and mixed the meat, threw it in my stuffer and stuffed 8, 24" long casings and froze them. Once fully frozen I took them to a friend who had a meat band-saw and peeled the casings and sliced the logs into burger patty thickness and packed them all up.

Worked amazing. evenly sliced. the only downside was losing some of the meat to the blade. but it was negligible.

Also done brats and hot Italian at home using my grinder and stuffer. Had my 5 year old daughter helping me out and she had a great time with it all.

And there is nothing better than feeding your friends and family afterwords and when they ask where you got the fantastic sausages form, you tell them you made them and they are blown away.

Truly a lost art, coming back to life.

bat119 · #14 02-04-2019, 11:16 AM

I make sausage in small 5-10 lb. batches, the 5 lb. PA stuffer works well for me and it's on sale this week for $99 order an extra sets of nylon gears for $10. I've had mine for couple years now have never needed to change gears works fine squirts the meat through fast.
Keeping the meat cold can't be stressed enough to make a good product.

fordtruckin · #15 02-04-2019, 07:11 PM

I'm in the same boat. Got a LEM grinder this fall and am purchasing some Backwoods sausage mixes and high temp cheese. Everyone I've talked to agrees go with mechanical stuffer instead of using the adapters for my grinder. More control and that's important seeing as its my first time around making any.

nast70 · #16 02-05-2019, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bat119

I make sausage in small 5-10 lb. batches, the 5 lb. PA stuffer works well for me and it's on sale this week for $99 order an extra sets of nylon gears for $10. I've had mine for couple years now have never needed to change gears works fine squirts the meat through fast.

Keeping the meat cold can't be stressed enough to make a good product.

I saw those stuffers in this weeks flyer. Good to have some feedback on them.

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fordtruckin · #17 02-18-2019, 08:14 PM

Made my first brautwurst just yesterday. Used a Backwoods spice mix with some Backwoods high temp cheese and just a few ounces of Budweiser Copper Lager. Turned out mighty good for a first attempt. My FIL let me use his vertical stuffer and after using it I’m a firm believer in having one. There is way more control over how fast you stuff and you can back it off at the drop of a hat. We also experimented with making one big link and then twisting every 6”. Definitely found it easier to twist every 6” than trying to after the fact. I used 20% beef fat and 80% venison mixture. I highly recommend the Backwoods products!

R3illy · #18 02-18-2019, 11:05 PM

I signed my wife and friend up for the butchers and packers course one day as I couldn't attend. It was an awesome course.. cant go wrong with free.

End up spending way too much money with them every year now.

I use a 1hp meat grinder and a 15lb sausage stuffer at home.

Stir · #19 02-19-2019, 02:02 AM

Some good videos on YouTube the Scott rhea project. Butchering and sausage making. Started making sausage 3 years ago and haven't bought any since....turkey,venison or pork....way less fat.j6p

Beeman3 · #20 02-19-2019, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fordtruckin

Made my first brautwurst just yesterday. Used a Backwoods spice mix with some Backwoods high temp cheese and just a few ounces of Budweiser Copper Lager. Turned out mighty good for a first attempt. My FIL let me use his vertical stuffer and after using it I’m a firm believer in having one. There is way more control over how fast you stuff and you can back it off at the drop of a hat. We also experimented with making one big link and then twisting every 6”. Definitely found it easier to twist every 6” than trying to after the fact. I used 20% beef fat and 80% venison mixture. I highly recommend the Backwoods products!

The Backwoods products are great! The Bratwurst is good. My favorite so far is the CAJUN. It makes for a really good sausage. Just bought some of their bacon dry rub cure to make some bacon. I added high temp cheese to some sausage last time and wasn't crazy about it. It made the sausage have a very creamy texture which I didn't like. Maybe I used to much cheese.

Husty · #21 02-19-2019, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nast70

After grinding pork and preparing the seasoning I mixed it in the mixer, because it was there ready to go. I that was a small mistake. That seemed to make the meat a but too 'thin', not as chunky as it should have been. After sampling a small piece and finding the flavor was not as pronounced as I wanted, I decided to let it sit overnight before stuffing. That was probably another small mistake. The meat the following morning, although having more flavor was a bit sticky going through the stuffer. It took longer than anticipated to stuff 5lbs. Almost 3.5hrs. Whew!
But all in all a good learning experience and I'm looking forward to my next attempt.

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You can always add more seasoning if you don't like how the sample tasted, no issue mixing multiple times. If your press is having a hard time stuffing sausage you can add water to the meat to make it easier to work with. When the family makes sausage usually takes about 2 hours or 80lbs with a hand crank stuffer.

bat119 · #22 02-19-2019, 09:38 AM

Not sure if anybody mentioned if a grinder is used for stuffing a kidney plate should be used makes stuffing much easier.
When you run the meat through the grinder plate again the meat gets mushy if the grinder plate is removed the worm gear with rub on the bottom of the grinder a kidney plate keeps the worm gear centered.