Sausage newbie casing question

[tailfeathers]

I've been cooking, grilling and smoking for a long time, just recently started expanding my horizons with cured meats, salmon, etc. Well you know how this hobby goes, because of all the bad influences on these forums (you know who you are) I decided I had to try my hand at sausages and sticks. Now I am the proud owner of a grinder and just got my shiny new LEM 5# stuffer today so I'm getting ready to take the plunge. I've been looking at lots of recipes, but I would like some advice on casings. Are some types more "forgiving" than others in terms of ease of use, etc? I don't know whether to get natural (it looks like hog for most sausage, sheep for snack sticks from what I can determine) or collagen? Tubed or hanks?  Best sizes? Any advice for a rookie would be appreciated, thanks in advance!

[ragweed]

IMHO, the hassle of natural casings is not worth it for your first go.  I'd recommend collagen casings.  They're easy and forgiving.  Stuff 'em as tight as you want, no blow-outs.  I use them for snack sticks, summer sausage and my jerky wafers.

[tailfeathers]

Well, I can vouch for the summer sausage and jerky wafers! ;)

[CoreyMac]

You may want to do a small batch of fresh sausage to start. Use some 35mm collagen. Just don't pack the collagen too tight if going fresh because they tend to split open in the frying pan.

Corey

[pensrock]

I use hog casings for sausage and collagen for sticks and summer sausage. Need to find some more for jerky wafers though.

[cobra6223]

I don't mind the hog casings and they don't seem to blow out that easy and a small 5#of brats will taste good also. They're cheap enough to experiment with also.

[renoman]

For brats, Italian sausage, smokies or ham sausage rings I use hog casings. They are amazingly strong and very easy to work with once you have tried them. They bend and link well. For anything larger in diameter I use Fibrous casings that you peal off and don't eat. For small sticks I use collagen and just cut them to length because they don't twist/link very well. Mahogany fibrous casings make very nice looking finished products if you want to give gifts to your friends.

[Saber 4]

I haven't been doing sausage for very long but I haven't had any problems with the hog casings or the larger collagen casings I use for Joe's GB jerky wafers