Don’t use #'s and oz.'s… use grams…
1.29#'s per gallon = 586 grams per gallon (1.29X454=586 gms)… Divide by 2 = 292 grams per 1/2 gallon…
1 gallon = 16 cups… 586 / 16 = ~37 grams per cup of liquid… save money and supplies…

roosterndad That’s correct… Base your additions on the weight of the meat and weight of the brine… May I suggest you reduce the brine amount to 50% the weight of the meat… Now you have ~2#'s chops and ~1# of water… Add all the extra ingredients based on 3#'s of stuff… You will need to use a zip bag…

@slotown Morning… The directions say, 3#'s binds 100 #'s of meat… Soooo, that’s 3% … As this is your first usage, I would recommend 2 1/2% so you can get a feel for the product… To figure out the 2 1/2% amount… 11#'s X 0.025 = 0.275#'s of Superbind… 0.275 X 16 oz/lb = 4.4 oz… 4.4 x 28.35 gms per ounce = 125 grams… If you switch to the metric system, things get easier, but you will need a grams scale… 11#'s x 454 = 4,994 grams or 5,000 grams is really close enough… then multiply 5,000 x 0.025 = 125 grams… A small grams scale can be had from Amazon… I recommend a 0-100 gram range for accurate cure weighing… about $12… I looked and didn’t see one available from Walton’s…

craigrice Morning… the meat should/must get to 165 before it dries out… Bacteria etc. die easiest when they are wet/moist… then lower the temp for continued slow drying if you wish, and adding smoke with the meat drier… Smoke and wet meat don’t go well together… Sort of makes an “acid rain” type coating… bitter stuff…

craigrice … morning… meats can carry many bacteria from handling… Especially in your kitchen… It’s a good practice to heat the meat in the brine/marinade you are using to 165F for several minutes… treating it as if you were making jerky…
Then dry per normal, to desired dryness, in a dehydrator… 165F will take care of pathogens even found in poultry that may have contaminated the meat…

Also, greasing the piston o-ring and the canister will improve the ease of stuffing… I use Crisco… works very good…

jbird, afternoon… That stuffer has a large piston… It’s a physics thing… Large piston, small tube and casing, will not push meat through the tube… Use a bigger tube and bigger casings…
Are you trying to make sticks ???
Also, season, grind and stuff immediately is a good practice to make stuffing easier… No time for the proteins to grab together… Let the completed sausage rest/bloom in the refer for 12-24 hours then smoke/cook…

Salt, Brown and Cane Sugar, Sodium Erythorbate (1.09%), Sodium Bicarbonate (1% buffering agent), Sodium Nitrite (0.40%).

Above is the “dry rub bacon cure”… It’s too low in nitrite to use on other meats… It will make it too salty… UNLESS you up the nitrite… Also it has erthorbate in it… erthorbate should only be used when injecting liquids… because, it instantly starts breaking down the nitrite into nitric oxide… When dry curing, that breakdown should be a slow process while it cures the meat…

The sodium erthorbate speeds up the action of the nitrite… Without it, your sticks will take about 12 hours to do what the erthorbate does in one hour…
I have no idea what the “smoked meat stabilizer” does… I’d try a batch without it… I’ve never thought of using it… It’s probably designed for commercial use…
Erthorbate should only be used in a liquid injection, like ham… not in ground meat…

Afternoon… Using 0.85% nitrite as your cure is good… I use the same that comes in a bacon/maple cure…
Use 2% Excalibur cure will return ~170 Ppm nitrite… The salt % in the meat will be <2%… which it fine… Depends on the amount of Cane sugar in … That’s a great mix for anything… It’s less than the 200 Ppm max allowed in bacon … And as a home processor, it’s close enough to not cause any problems in what ever meat product you use it for… Remember… above ~130 ish, the nitrite degrades… and in a finished product, what’s left will be around 10-20 Ppm nitrite…

Lost River Jones … Afternoon… when I use my collagen casings, I open the pack, remove what I need and reseal the pack with the heat bar on my vac-pack machine… Don’t know if that helps or not, keeping them fresh, but it seems to work for me… Also I keep them in the refer… Below is the end of the wrapping being heat sealed…
I use Walton’s 21mm casings… I will not switch… they provide good a crisp bite but they tear easily, which is why they are great casings… AND… don’t try to let air out of them by pricking holes in the casings… they don’t like that and will tear where you poke the holes… You can still make short sticks from ones you do tear… they eat the same… delicious…

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Cure accelerator is used by commercial processors… It is used in place of letting the meat rest in the refer, while the cure does it’s job and flavors mingle with the meat… It converts nitrite to nitric oxide to speed up the curing process due to lack of space for conventional curing practice…
As home processors, it is my belief to not speed up anything when making home sausage… time is your friend… depth of flavor comes with the dehydration process… dry aging like a good steak…
IMO, if you are in a hurry, buy the krap sausage they sell in the store… you don’t know what’s in it… could be any part of any animal… ears, nose, skin, thymus… anything that fits into the USDA parameters…

Newbe … Afternoon… Keep the meat BELOW 40 degrees F… Bacteria is growing while the meat is warming up… then again when cooling down… The LAST thing you want or need is a batch of meat that has been warm for an hour or longer… One good way to do that is double bowl the meat… Ice in the larger bowl and the smaller bowl, with the meat in it, on ice… You don’t want your family to get food poisoning… Dave

vj, afternoon… At -10…, could it be ice ??? does it melt… I’m thinking, with that much water added, the dissolved salt is coming to the surface and crystalizing…
Cut back on the water…

Ed_Orum
Afternoon… Nitrate takes months or longer to dissipate… It’s what keeps the meat safe while it’s hanging in your kitchen… No worrys about nitrate… It’s in all the vegetables you eat…
50%+ weight loss… You must have added water… Subtract the amount of water you added and that gives you the original weight of the meat…
Not a good idea to add water to meats you are going to dry cure… Could leave voids… pockets where bacteria can flourish… Dave