Homemade Sausage Making

Well, the dried sausage came out incredible. I'm going to dry them out maybe one more week. They are at close to 4 weeks right now. Here's the recipe I used.

Pork butts trimmed to remove a substantial amount of fat.

Fennel seeds= .20%
Cure #2 = .25%
Sea Salt = 2.5%
Dextrose= .60%
Coarse Black Pepper= .20%
Red Pepper Flakes=.30%
BLC-007=.005%

I cubed the meat and put it through a "coarse grind"
I mixed all the ingredients except the 007, diluted the 007 in distilled water and added that last.
PH was roughly 5.8

I put in in a chamber at 73 Degrees until PH dropped to 5.1, then proceeded to cure at 54 Degrees F until down to your desired texture.

I used a 38-42mm casing.

I did not add any mould-600, yet it found it's way to the casings anyway.

Looks great Lou! No Funk taste?

Definitely better. It's probably a combination of a couple of things. #1) Probably the faster fermentation using more Dextrose #2) Faster Drying time due to the smaller casings #3) The fennel is pretty forward which may take away from the cheesier smell and taste. This one is a keeper, but the casings are a pain to peel off. Any suggestions?

If you can wipe the mold off them you can vac seal with them on- they might become edible or at least easier to peel. You can also get fibrous casings in that size to try on the next batch.

I would love to keep them on, but this white mold is on the wetter side and not so powdery, otherwise I would just scrub them. How much of it needs to be removed before vacuum sealing? Will the vinegar penetrate the meat?

I doubt the vinegar would get through the dried casing. The worst that can happen if you don't get it all is that the surface will get a bit slimey, which is why i remove the casing before vac sealing.

Try some and see what happens after week or so.

I took one outside and brushed it off with no vinegar. I got alot of it off. Once you vacuum sela it, will it continue to grow or will it atay this way?

Mold is aerobic, it will die.

Lou, the casings will peel off a lot easier if you place the sausages into a plastic bag and leave in the fridge for a day. The casings will become moist and should peel off. If that doesn't work, wash the sausages in a basin of luke warm 10% salt water. You might need a soft brush to assist in removing the mould. Hang in room temp for a few hours until dry and vac seal.

redzed wrote: If that doesn't work, wash the sausages in a basin of luke warm 10% salt water. You might need a soft brush to assist in removing the mould. Hang in room temp for a few hours until dry and vac seal.

Based on what you said above, the soaking is if I want to keep the casings on? I would really like to keep the casing on.

Not soaking! A quick wash in salt water. But first try it on a couple.

I hate to sound stupid, but how is 10% salt water measured? By weight? By volume? I have never heard of a percentage mixture using one dry source and one liquid.

Its by weight Lou.
This table makes it simple http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage ... king-brine

So 10% is roughly 1 pound of salt per gallon?

LOUSANTELLO wrote:So 10% is roughly 1 pound of salt per gallon?

In all honesty the simple solution that I always use is to set the taps in the sink running gently with tepid water and gently wash off with a soft nylon brush then as mentioned pat dry and hang until completely dry

for me it is about cross contamination