Hi guys,
Some time ago, I made slick little adapter by braise-welding a piece of copper tubing to an old threaded screw-tap connection. I filed an almost "sharpened" slanted end on the tube (like a huge hypodermic needle) that allows me to quickly change the nozzle on the kitchen tap to a slightly tapered but smooth "fitting" for finding its way into wet casings quickly for flushing without a hassle. (I buffed out any sharp burrs and edges.) To get the casing started over the tubing, I've found that if I snip off the very end of the casing with a pair of scissors, it is a snap to slide over the tube. I place a deep bowl beneath the tap to contain the casings as they are flushing with water for several minutes.
Same with getting casings onto the stuffing tube of the stuffer... I snip the very end off the casing cleanly with a pair of scissors. Lubricating with anything but water is a big mistake. Butter, oil, grease, etc. will "smear" the inside of the casing and interfere with drying and smoking. It also changes the cooking rate and appearance of the sausage when they are fried up. Just put a large "bubble" of water into the casing before you slide it on the tube and work it down through the casing as the rest slides onto the tube.
I use a piano tuner's "voicing needle" to take out any trapped air bubbles. Actually the tool has four elongated needles (in a row) that work very well.
The best news for you at this point is... ta da!.... when you get your new vertical stuffing machine, those problems will have magically seemed to all but dissappear! Oh, you still have to watch what you're doing alright, but it just takes all the hassle, work, and frustration out of the process.
I also made my own 18mm o.d. kabanosy stuffing tube from a piece of stainless steel tubing that I braise-welded onto a connection to fit my vertical stuffer. Now I just slip an entire "tube" of 19mm collagen casing over the nozzle and kabanosy is just a matter of seconds. My wife and I make it so quickly, we have to have someone help lay it out in lengths as it comes out of the stuffer.
Hmmm.... yes, yes... indeed as I did a batch last Saturday, it was coming out of the stuffer so quickly that the plastic fitting around the nozzle started to smoke! Then it suddenly it burst into flames! I guess I better slow down eh? You see, the flames caught my wife's new kitchen curtains on fire and we had to bring in the yard hose just to wet down the kitchen!
Hang in there sausagemakers and keep grindin' and smilin'. Life is too short to frown!
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon