Homemade Sausage Making

What kind of stuffing tubes are the best? Plastic, stainless steel, aluminum, straight, tapered? I used a tapered plastic tube last week making some hot italian sausage and had a very hard time getting the hog casing onto the tube.

I use straight Stainless Steel tubes and the only problem I had was needing to file off a small burr on one of them, other than that they work great. It helps a lot if you can dip a little water inside of the casings to keep them lubricated as they slide off of the stuffing tube. I have also found that soaking the casings overnite makes them much easier to work with.

Gray Goat wrote:It helps a lot if you can dip a little water inside of the casings to keep them lubricated as they slide off of the stuffing tube. I have also found that soaking the casings overnite makes them much easier to work with.

Although I use plastic tubes because that's what came with my stuffers I agree that coating the tube with water just before putting the casing on really helps both getting the casing on and off. I take the bowl with the heaving rinsed casings right to the stuffer, open up one end and dip it into the water and run the water down through the casing a second or two before putting it on the tube. Has helped quite a bit.

Greetings All!
We stuffed 18 lbs. of kielbasa last weekend using our new 15# vertical stuffer. It came with three plastic tubes. After soaking and rinsing for an hour or so, I started with the first casing. Before sliding the first casing on, I rinsed the inside of the casing and began the process. It was a little difficult but not impossible. The second and following casings went easily. I attributed that to a combination of water and a light coating of fat fron the previous sausage. The rest of the casings went that well; no problem. I guess it's something that is also an acquired skill. Anyway, you'll get the hang of it, I'm sure.

Palace Hill

Palace hill wrote: I guess it's something that is also an acquired skill.

It does get easier everytime. I've thought about a light coating of vegetable oil before putting my first casing on but never got around to actually trying it.

JerBear,
I am no expert on this subject but stay away from coating it with Vegetable Oil! It will stain the casing and if you smoke it will change the appearance of the finished product. I struggled with the same issue just recently and found that putting a small amount of water inside the casing and keeping your hands wet and the casing wet helps alot.

By the way "welcome to the forum", I am a new user myself, but I can say one thing for sure you can learn alot about the sausage making process here and everyone is very helpful.
John

Good to know John, thanks for the warning. Since I'm already using the liberal water method I'll just stay with that.

Gray Goat wrote:I use straight Stainless Steel tubes and the only problem I had was needing to file off a small burr on one of them, other than that they work great. It helps a lot if you can dip a little water inside of the casings to keep them lubricated as they slide off of the stuffing tube. I have also found that soaking the casings overnite makes them much easier to work with.

I do the same. My stuffer came with tapered plastic tubes I bought replacement SS straight tubes and love them.

I use brass tubes. I've been making brass tubes as replacement parts for neighbors old cast iron sausage stuffer's for years. .Their all Icelanders and they do tend to get a little careless when making deer sausage after the hunt, what with the refreshments an all.

I've found brass to be the best thing as fat doesn't stick to brass and they are easy to make,

S wallow

Swallow , do you not coat the brass with tin when you make the tubes? I have always disliked the taste of copper on my fingers after handling brass or from the mouth piece of a horn when the plating was worn and the brass was showing through.

Ross, No I don't. I've never done it on mine and have never had a complaint from others, mind you almost all of my kitchen pots and pans are made of copper perhaps it's an acquired taste. Also saliva is quite a powerful solvent, more so than one might think, just look what it dose to the plating on a mouth piece. Just a thought.

Swallow

In the days before stainless steel was so ubiquitous all of our milk handling equipment had to be tinned. Periodically it was all sent out for recoating.

Hi Guys
I have used both the plastic and the stainless. The stainless out preform the plastic version.I keep the casing well moistened and keep moving the casings towards the tip of the tube.I and our hunting group just finished 100 pounds of snack sticks.150 pounds to go.Everyone takes turns.It became a contest to see who could fill the casing without breaking them.This was the first test of my vintage Dick stuffer.She may be old but it stuffs smother than my newer stuffer.

John

Partycook, you wrote:

I and our hunting group just finished 100 pounds of snack sticks. 150 pounds to go. Everyone takes turns. It became a contest to see who could fill the casing without breaking them.

Wow John, it sounds like you guys really know how to enjoy this hobby and have fun. They must be a good group of guys. Please give 'em our best wishes!

Hi,
This subject seem to have a lot of good answers, my way of slipping on the skins is easy, just have some sausagemeat protruding from the nozzle end, this opens the skins completely, making it much easier for the skins to slide on the tube as well as greasing the tube a bit at the same time.
Make sure you also have some fresh water in the skin as well.
Regards,
Jan.