It’s handy to go back and see what I ordered from Amazon 8, 9 years ago, but then they sell a might larger variety of product classes.

Having said that-
Don’t do it. Everyone will be fine with 5 years of history. I know what I order from Waltons.

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

That would be super handy

Yes, everything was cold. Most of the deer meat was partially frozen as I had precut the pieces before freezin, and the pork while not frozen was cold with some of it approaching solid (1/2 hour in the freezer after cutting it in strips that my grinder can tear through). Didn’t see any schmere of the fat. As I mentioned, I only coarse grind my pork for summer sausage so that I get small pieces of fat in the final product. I like it to have a typical salami look rather than looking like a homogeneous mass like bologna. Something else I will watch for as well, but I do understand the need for it all to be cold.
Thanks
Peter

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

Thanks everyone for your reply’s. Protein extraction I am confident was quite good. Been at this making all kinds of both fresh and cured meats for more than 10 years. haven’t experienced this until now. It was super tacky like usual for my cured products (mixed a solid 5+ minutes per batch in my 20lb mixer. Sat in the fridge overnight. It all looks fine and tastes quite good as well. One thing I have done that last few times with summer sausage is to double grind the lean (deer in this case) and single grind the pork shoulder. I want the visible fat pieces, don’t want it to look like bologna. Anyway, I was wondering if I that might be an issue. Also, I have only finished off via Sous-vide a few times. Thought maybe the Sous-vide temp should be lower at start and creep up???

Made some summer sausage this past weekend. I’ve done it many times. But this time I fatted out. I have been toying with finishing up Sous-vide (I hate the term), with pretty good results, until this weekend.
I started the sausage in the smoker at 100° for an hour, 120° for an hour, ,140° for an hour with smoke, then 170° with smoke for about 2 hours until the internal meet temps were 130-140. The sausage then went to a 170° water bath via a Sous-vide heater in a makeshift cooler until meat was at 160°. I had a fair amount of fat floating on the water and a couple of the sausages had some fat between the casing and meat. What did I do wrong?

Thanks
Peter

I always use 50/50 deer/elk and pork butter. Nice and juicy without so much fat that you grill catches on fire.

Yep, I do the same but toss it in the freezer. Sets up like concrete. As others have pointed out, bust it up, rolling pin is a great way to do it

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

TWilliams I have not added sauteed peppers and onions to my mix, but I do always sautee some and toss them on a bun with the Philly brats.

Processhead, mine are either deer or elk, elk this year since both my wife and I filled our elk tags. 50/50 deer or elk and pork shoulder.

Just had Habanero mango elk brats last night.

Good God, these are good.

Don’t pass up the Reuben brats either. You will be a hero.

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

I don’t have that brand, but for mine I use an old 50 quart cooler and place a meat lug lid with a cut out for the sous vide device over the cooler. Works like a charm. I guess my point is more than you think. I used to use a large meat lug, but wanted to make a set up that lost less heat. My setup is pretty much like papa sop’s, but now I use the cooler.

Recently did lebanon baloney, 1/2 elk 1/2 pork shoulder. Went sous vide from start to finish since the giant Chubs wouldn’t fit in the smoker. Didn’t want a smoke taste anyway. Worked well. I plan to try regular bologna one day.

I grind twice through 3/8ths plate for brats. Works for me. I personally don’t like it as fine as I do for cured products. My 2cents and worth about that much.

We would sure like to hear your results if you give it a try.

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.

I have given up in collagen. Natural casings all the way. I know not everyone agrees, and that is ok. But I nearly always was less than satisfied with collagen

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 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