Jonathon Well I added both (Sure Cure and Sure Gel), and the Encapsulated Citric Acid. That was my main concern was the self life in case it did thaw. I will go with the freeze, insulate, and ice pack approach.

I figured during these COVID times I would ship some summer sausage that I made to my family around the country. My hope is to not ship it in a cooler with dry ice, because of the weight. The meat has been smoked and cured with Sure Gel, and I used the Walton’s recipe.

My hope is to ship the summer sausage in the mail frozen. I’ll wrap the meat in some sort of HVAC insulation wrap. Good idea? Bad idea? Recommendations?
Thanks

@tmeiners82 Two quarts, I used a recipe provided in Walton’s catalog. Pretty sure that was my issue. Had no issues with the stuffing, and the water mixed in well to the meat.

akdave Good to know. I did stuff tightly and twist, then used baker’s twine to close. Was hoping not to get a hog ring/crimper, but might just need to.

Recipe I used was for a 20lb batch. H Summer Sausage Seasoning, Carrot Fiber, Sure Cure, Encapsulated Citric Acid. Citric Acid was mixed in at the end. I also added 2 quarts of cold water. The water amount was for a 25lb batch, not 20lb. This may have been my mistake.

Yesterday I made my first batch of Summer Sausage. I followed the recipe provided by Walton’s. The only thing that didn’t come from Walton’s was my LEM Summer Sausage clear fibrous casing. During processing the meat was stuffed as tightly as possible into the casing and sealed. While smoking, I noticed the casing never became tight against the meat. The cold bath only appeared to allow moisture into the casing. To help remove the moisture I cut the sausage in half, dried as best as possible and wrapped. Where did I go wrong in the process? Anyone experience this before? I’m not worried about the sausage itself, it tastes delicious. I just want a tight casing around the sausage next time. Thanks