@stan
I would say that the most popular type of smoked/cured sausage that we see is either German Sausage or Andouille.

Andouille sells more than German (for us), but it is also not completely a smoked/cured sausage. Sometimes it is fresh, sometimes cured/smoked, and sometimes just smoked. It also doesn’t quite fit the generic smoked sausage category in my opinion. For what is strictly seen as a smoked and cured sausage, I’d say our H German Sausage Seasoning is the most popular option.

German sausage would be my final answer!

I’d also throw Polish Sausage into the mix though. Grouping German and Polish sausage together, that makes what I’d say is the most popular set of options for smoked sausage. They are somewhat similar, and together they constitute what I view as a traditional smoked and cured sausage.

For casings, most often, I think you’ll see 32/35 mm Natural Hog Casings. A few people may use Collagen Casings, but natural casings are still the most popular there.

Both natural and collagen casings will absorb smoke color and flavor really well.

For meat type @sausage-king is right. Most traditionally, you’ll see somewhere between 80/20 (beef to pork) to 60/40 ratios. That exact ratio is very much subjective though, and really is just a personal preference. If it was me, I’d make them out of 100% pork just because it is less expensive.

Hopefully that helps. Let us know if we can provide any more info.

@dahattok
Usually it is just salt deposits that collect.
As long as it doesn’t appear to be fuzzy like a mold and doesn’t continue to grow and grow, you should be fine, especially if they are vacuum packaged.

I typically see it happen more on jerky where you start to see salt deposits like that, but definitely a strong likelihood your just seeing salt deposits on the snack sticks and nothing more.

Keep an eye on it to see if it grows at all like mold, but from the description, I’m pretty sure it is just salt deposits.

@tarp
Yep, you are just looking for some good protein extraction. Mixing times may vary if you are hand mixing or using a meat mixer, but just make sure you get some good protein extraction and you’ll be good to go! You should get similar protein extraction for kielbasa as you would for another cured sausage like summer sausage, snack sticks, etc.

@stanca
You do not need to hold a product overnight with cold phosphate. You only hold a product like jerky or snack sticks because of the cure, not phosphates.

Also cold phosphate will not drop the pH. It actually does the opposite and it can increase the pH of meat by a couple points. Maybe 0.1 to 0.3 or so increase in pH value.

If you are making a fresh product, as soon as you stuff the sausage and twist link, you are fine to throw them on the grill right then and there! You can cook immediately.

@paddlingnomad
Under the Walton’s Learning Center > Meat Hacks > Sausage Stuffing… there is a topic called Collagen Casings 101
https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/188/collagen-casings-101-help-information
That also correlates to a video covering the same information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be1dK0BFo8c

Then, on the product pages for collagen casings on waltonsinc.com, each casing will specifically say which type it is, and have a shortened bit of info from the collagen casings help page I linked above.

Let me know if you need anything else!

@mdseaside
It may stick a little bit, but as long as you don’t compress the meat into the netting, it won’t be impossible to remove.

There are a few options to help prevent sticking.

1. You can use something acidic, like vinegar or lemon juice and soak the netting in that prior to placing the meat in the netting.
2. You can mix vinegar and liquid smoke at a 50/50 ratio and soak the meat netting in that solution beforehand.

Some people may say to use a cooking oil, or spray, but I personally would avoid that.
I would suggest the 50/50 mix of liquid smoke and vinegar.

@paddlingnomad
Collagen and natural have very different and distinct “pops” to them. Natural has more of a snap and bite to it usually, while fresh collagen has a bit more tenderness to it. If you are wanting more pop/snap/bite to the casing, you can try using the 32mm Clear Collagen Casings or 32mm Smoke Collagen Casings. These will be a quite a bit more pop/snap/bite than the 30mm Fresh Collagen. The 32 Clear/Smoke are what we call a Fine-H variant, and specifically designed to be a replacement for hog casings. I usually use the fresh casings and prefer the more tender bite, but if you want more pop to the bite, go with the clear or smoke casings.

Freezing shouldn’t be an issue. The casings should all behave similarly there. Avoid condensation in the package before sealing and freezing, and it will be fine (that same rule applies to any casings, not just collagen).

@stan
I usually twist link, and then cut the links. I have tried tying sausage before, but it is a little too time consuming for my liking.
If you just twist link and cut, the ends may open up a bit as you cook.

For length, I just try to make them about bun length, so they fit as good as possible, something about 6 inches.

@parksider
We are familiar with them. We used to sell Biro saws, but now sell Pro-Cut and Butcher Boy.
We still do service work on Biro machines, and can get parts for them.
We keep some of our parts listed online (https://www.waltonsinc.com/parts/saw-parts/biro-saw-parts), but if you end up getting a used machine, our service department could be able to help get replacement parts on things that are getting old and worn out, if you need any assistance there.

Biro does make good band saws, so if you can find a good used one it wouldn’t be a bad choice, just depends on what kind of shape it is in. If you have a specific question on one, let us know and we’ll see if one of our service guys can provide any other info.

If you are keeping the water under a boil, you might think about trying a sous vide circulator. We’ve been using them here on quite a few different products and having a lot of fun and good results with them. Temperature control is extremely precise, and you don’t have to worry about cold spots since it automatically circulates the water.

https://www.waltonsinc.com/equipment/sous-vide

We have been using the VacMaster SV1 and it works great! A couple less expensive models will be coming out very soon too from Weston. The SV1 will work with up to a 30 liter container of water, if that is comparable in size to what you are using in a turkey fryer.

We also just might be giving away a couple of the VacMaster SV1 Circulators in May… Keep an eye on our YouTube channel the first of next week…