Homemade Sausage Making

So after making about 56 lbs of sausage today I resalted about 40' of left-over casing, placed it back in the bag and forgot about it for about 4 hrs. Safe to use or toss? I understood it to be somewhat stable but would like ya'll's opinion.

Hi Jer,
What kind of casings and were they packed in salt (salt water) when they were left out? Were they in direct sunshine? What was the room temp?

The casings were standard hog, they were heavily salted and a little higher than room temp, maybe 80-85°;. No major direct sunlight.

Jer,
As long as they were in heavy salt, I wouldn't worry too much about them. Our pioneer ancestors crossed the country with meat packed in barrels of salt. Salt does not force water to evaporate and it doesn`t kill bacteria. Salt binds some of the free water available to bacteria.
The water activity of organic products is a most interesting subject. In flesh and related products such as membranes, collagen, etc., a drop below 0.91 Aw will protect you against a number of bugs including e.coli, clostridium botulinum, salmonella, listeria, bacillus, and others. Staphylococcus aureus is a little more hardy and requires a drop in "available" water down to any point below 0.86 Aw. This drop requires requires quite a bit of time and does not guarantee safety until it has time to bind available water. However, the casings were packed in salt when you opened the package and used most of it. The salt they were packed in most likely has protected them. Unless you have flushed out the casings and stretched them out on a table where they have completely dried for hours, shrinking and curling, then I wouldn`t worry too much about them. You were absolutely right to re-pack them in plenty of salt. Most veteran sausage makers that I know, place them in a saturated salt solution in a sealed food-grade plastic bucket inside a cooler or refrigerator. Hope your party turn out well. Let us know how your brats fare on the grill! How about postin` a few pics?

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

My friend's wife took the pictures and I'm waiting for her to send them. I'd like to post a couple here and in the introduce yourself with pictures page that just started.