When I want my summer sausage a little dryer (always do a few), I dry after processing. Works fairly well in the fridge.

We think the Reubens with 1 lb Swiss per 10 lbs meat are super good, as does everyone who has tried them. You do of course need sour kraut and 1000 Island dressing. No, its not the perfect Reuben sandwich, I’m still looking for that too. Again, my Meat blocks are almost always 50/50. Deer or elk with pork shoulder. My 2 cents anyway

I use small diameter sheep casings for snack sticks. Yes, they will hang in your smoker. Once you use them you will never go back to collagen casings. Just ordered a hank of sheep casings for some elk slim jims

Haven’t tried what you are asking, but I have to agree with Fletcher and RJ. Just the mention of the Philly cheese steak brats sounds like a proper pair, however I use mozzarella in my Philly cheese steak brats, but wouldn’t baulk at using swiss.

Sounds great

Mine have been maybe 14 to 16 inches (it’s what fits in my smoker). The snap is far superior to collagen, and I find that they freeze better, in that I find that the collagen casings separate from the meat some after they have been frozen for a while - not so with sheep. They are quite a bit more expensive than collagen, but I don’t do this to make money. Good luck. I’ll post some photos after my next batch.
Peter

I have used superbind with great results and have carrot fiber just delivered today to try out. If you are super sensitive to milk products, you also may need to make sure sausage mixes you purchase don’t contain any milk. Quite a few do contain milk, or milk products. Not an issue for my house but some friends I make sausage for have lactose intolerance issues so I try to pay attention.

Thanks all for your posts and suggestions. Everyone who makes sausage, or other meat products, expect nothing but professional quality, and I am no different. Sounds like the general concensus is that protein extraction may not have been up to par, with a couple of folks offering that they think my Sous-vide temp was too high, or started out to high. I will put all the suggestions to play on my next cured meat project. I will add one more tidbit. A few of you have suggested adding a binder. Dum-ass me, forgot that I have vacuum packed binder in the freezer and didn’t add it. I have been mostly making fresh bratts of late and really do love them, but simply forgot to add it to my summer sausage. Anyway, thanks everyone for attempting to help me rise up to the level of Abe Froman.
Peter