How do you get sheep casings on a stuffer tube?

[Gravydave]

I have a 5lb manual stuffer. It has plastic tubes, but I can not get sheep casings to open up to slide on the tube. What is the trick?

[mdseaside]

Gravydave: Do you soak your casings first. I soak them for about a half hour in warm water and rinse and put back in warm water. Then I give the stuffer tube a light shot of Pam cooking spray and sometimes it helps to trim off an inch or two to give you a good edge to start from. Hope this helps.

[derhuntr]

we soak our casings in warm water and apply a liberal amount of vegetable oil when feeding it onto the stuffer tube. Hope this helps!

[Austin]

Gravydave
Like mdseaside said, make sure you rinse, soak, and flush the casings first. Trimming off a inch or so to get a good edge could help as well.
If just using your hands to try and get the end opened up doesn’t work, try to find something with a blunt end so you won’t tear the casing to help open up the end of the casing with. You might just need something smaller than your fingers to be able to manipulate the casing opening.

Other than that, have you ever tried using collagen casings? I definitely prefer collagen for just about every application. You don’t get the curved appearance to the sausage, but I think collagen is a lot easier to work with, but it can depend on exactly what kind of sausage you are making and your own personal preferences.

[Gravydave]

Austin Thankyou…my trouble is opening up the ends. I will use your advice.

[Boone]

I use pre-tubed casings. Cost a little more but less frustrating for me.

[faan1010]

Just soak the casings in warm water for at least 10 minutes and rinse each one under running warm water before using it.