first smoked sausage but casing prob.?

[BTUCKER]

i smoked my first batch yesterday taste GREAT maybe a little to many peppers..... but my prob is the case shriveled up.  i cooked it at 170 for 4.5 hours, until internal temp was 165, took it out and showered it.  i used LEM edible casings..... anyone know how to keep casings tight?  Oh yeah it was 4 lbs deer meat 1 lbs pork fat, and a pound of cheese, and a jar of jalapeno peppers.  and i used a pre-packed seasoning mix from basspro.

[Mr Walleye]

Hi BTucker and welcome to the forum.

I'm not sure what recipe you used but I will assume it had cure #1 in it. Your cabinet temp seems fine at 170 to 175 providing your measuring it with something other than the built in thermometer such as a Maverick ET73. You took the IT of the sausage to 165 degrees which seems very high to me. I take all of mine to 152 degrees IT, then give it a cold shower. When you take the IT that high you will be rendering fat which will shrink your sausage. I suspect that this was the problem.

Mike

[Caneyscud]

i smoked my first batch yesterday taste GREAT maybe a little to many peppers.....

Heresy! - there is no such thing as too many jalepenos!!  No     Never-ever    No way Jose 

[flht01]

I set the oven temp at 140 for the first 3 or 4 hours of smoking. After smoking I set the oven to 175 to bring the IT up to 152. It takes 8 to 10 hours for a 20# batch and I have to rotate at least once to get an even cook (maybe I need to do the fan install). Also, my casings do draw up a little, even with a ratio of 60/40  pork to vension. I agree with Mike (Mr. Walleye), I think 165 IT is a little high especially with the mix being mostly vension.

Kevin

[Tenpoint5]

I have to agree with Mike, I think you fatted out the meat. 165*IT just sounds way to high for sausage. 152* is my Gold Standard as well.

An after thought. If the meat isn't dried out from cooking the fat out but the casing is still shriveled up. Instead of showering the sausage, try dumping it into a ice bath. A roaster pan filled half full of water and a bunch of ice is what I use. Let the sausage sit in there for 10 minutes to chill and stop the cooking. This also helps to shrink the casing to the sausage.

Another thought fill the casing a little fuller but not to the bursting point.

[pensrock]

Yep 165 IT is too high, most go for 152 but I actually go even lower because I always cook my sausages before eating. I go for 145. You can also add some dry powdered milk to the mix, it is supposed to help also. I'm not sure of how much per pound, but for a 10# batch of kielbasa I add 1-1/2 to 2 cups.

[Smokin Soon]

Having a binder like dried milk or soy concentrate, really helps it retain firmness. I also had a bogus instant read thermometer that was reading 8 degrees high. I stepped up to a Thermapen after talking to a few
San Francisco Culinary Institute students who swore by them. All batches are perfect now. Very thin non-obtrusive probe, no squirting and very fast read.