Sausage Supplies

I am going to try and get everything ordered to be able to make sausage in the next day or so. I have been making some loose sausages for a while now but since the KA stuffer is worthless I haven’t done too much. I know a few of you on here are making sausage and I wondered if you might be able to take a look at my order so far. Anything I am missing? Don’t need? Paying way too much for? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

5lb Vertical Stuffer - $75
Hog Ring Pliers – $5.99
3/8” Hog Rings (100) – $2.50
Cleaning brushes – $6.99
Bacon Hangers – $5.10 each but I will probably get 3 or 4

Cure 1 (1lb) – $2.50
Cure 2 (1lb) - $2.50
“Special Meat Binder” (8oz) – $3.20
Dry Milk (1lb) – $3.20
Soy Protein (1lb) – $2.95
Dextrose (1lb) - $1.10
Bactoferm F-RM-52 - $15.00
Fermento (1.5lb) – 13.99

1lb Pork Sausage Bags (100) - $6.00
1lb Ground Beef Bags (100) - $6.00
32/35mm Hog Casing (100 yd) – $20.08
20/22mm Sheep Casing (100yd) – $24.67

The pliers and rings are for the sausage and ground beef bags but do you think the tape and bag sealer would be a better choice? It is a little more expensive but if it would seal better I would go that route.

I am also looking for a place to get vacuum sealer rolls cheap. Any suggestions for them? I found a place about 6 months ago that was really cheap but can't find it now that I am ready to buy them.

Thanks.

I can't speak to the sausage making items since I'm not there yet, but for vac bags I buy 8" rolls off of ebay for my homegrown hops and various small sealing jobs. I pack the hops into giant tubes and leave slack at the end to cut off and reseal as I need them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GIANT-8-x-50-RO...&otn=2&po=LVI&ps=63&clkid=7902264812283874871

Dunno what kind of prices you've found but with minimal searching way back when this was the best price and the quality has been good enough that I've purchased twice. They shipped promptly and the hops, spices, and meat that I've sealed in these bags have held up to my expectations(hops ~1 year, spices and meat ~6 months). I haven't shopped elsewhere because a roll lasts me a year or more and I might save a dollar or two.

Edit: Where are you getting the sausage making items from? Also, haven't seen your plans for a dry curing room yet. Maybe I missed it.

I personally don't like using fermento, I use encapsulated citric acid for all of my sausages to get the tang. Just make sure you mix it in after the final grind. Also don't waste your time with bactoferm, does the same thing as citric acid. Actually citric acid has an edge on it because you don't need to let it sit at like 120 degrees overnight, the encapsulated citric acid will automatically make the meat tangy once it hits 130 degrees I believe.

I HIGHLY suggest getting a stuffer with metal gears, that $75 will work fine but don't push it very hard. We made up 30lbs of deer sticks and burned out the gears.
If your going to make summer sausage your going to want the hog rings and pliers, we usually make 100lb batches of summer sausage and they work great.

On another note buy the bag sealer. Simply the best money I have spent on sausage making. I did around 120lbs of ground pork this past fall into bags, i couldn't stuff them fast enough with my 15lb stuffer! Simply buy it and you will be glad you did.

cuinrearview said:

I can't speak to the sausage making items since I'm not there yet, but for vac bags I buy 8" rolls off of ebay for my homegrown hops and various small sealing jobs. I pack the hops into giant tubes and leave slack at the end to cut off and reseal as I need them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GIANT-8-x-50-RO...&otn=2&po=LVI&ps=63&clkid=7902264812283874871

Dunno what kind of prices you've found but with minimal searching way back when this was the best price and the quality has been good enough that I've purchased twice. They shipped promptly and the hops, spices, and meat that I've sealed in these bags have held up to my expectations(hops ~1 year, spices and meat ~6 months). I haven't shopped elsewhere because a roll lasts me a year or more and I might save a dollar or two.

Edit: Where are you getting the sausage making items from? Also, haven't seen your plans for a dry curing room yet. Maybe I missed it.

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I have seen the ebay ones but was just apprehensive about their quality.

I don't really have a dry curing room but am going to use an old fridge as a meat locker.

Goblism said:

On another note buy the bag sealer. Simply the best money I have spent on sausage making. I did around 120lbs of ground pork this past fall into bags, i couldn't stuff them fast enough with my 15lb stuffer! Simply buy it and you will be glad you did.

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I don't really have any plans to be doing summer sausage but that doesn't mean I won't in the future at some point. If I were only to get the bag sealer or the rings for the sole purpose of sealing the bags you would say just go with the bag sealer?

I am talking about this kind, just so there is no confusion.

I will also read more about using the citric acid and I am probably going to go with a different grinder. Someone pointed out to me that cabelas has their 7lb all SS and metal gear one on sale for $100.

Ok, I have reworked my order some. Since cabelas has free shipping over $150 I added some stuff to that order and now won't be getting anything from Sausagemaker.com (was only getting 3 things from there to begin with) so that will save me some cost from shipping that.

I am getting the 7lb SS stuffer from cabelas instead of the cheap one from grizzley.
Won't be getting the Bactoferm or Fermento
Getting a home pak of sheep casing instead of a hak
Replace the ring pliers and rings with the bag tape sealer to get the cabelas order over $150
Adding encapsualted citric acid (I need to do some more reading on that though)
Adding a medium sized meat lug with lid.
And adding a 3rd bacon hanger.

All this and the price is $0.82 cents more than my original list. Sounds good to me for $243.03.


That doesn't include the vac rolls though.

dataz722 said:

Ok, I have reworked my order some. Since cabelas has free shipping over $150 I added some stuff to that order and now won't be getting anything from Sausagemaker.com (was only getting 3 things from there to begin with) so that will save me some cost from shipping that.

I am getting the 7lb SS stuffer from cabelas instead of the cheap one from grizzley.
Won't be getting the Bactoferm or Fermento
Getting a home pak of sheep casing instead of a hak
Replace the ring pliers and rings with the bag tape sealer to get the cabelas order over $150
Adding encapsualted citric acid (I need to do some more reading on that though)
Adding a medium sized meat lug with lid.
And adding a 3rd bacon hanger.

All this and the price is $0.82 cents more than my original list. Sounds good to me for $243.03.


That doesn't include the vac rolls though.

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Looks pretty good, I personally don't use the bacon hangers, never have, but might in the future if I want to increase my bacon capacity. With the encapsulated citric acid if you add too much you can get a very small citric taste, the only downfall to the stuff if you want a really tangy meat. For most sausages I don't even use citric acid, tried it in snack sticks once and I preferred the recipe without.

Where is the hog casings? Don't buy those 25-30lb packs if you plan on doing a decent amount of sausages in the hog size. The smaller packs I have noticed are shorter in length (more time switching over), tougher (really chewy), and need to be rinsed. I did 100lbs of stuff from those smaller packs and switched to the hank in solution...never going back to those small packs of hog casings!

That sealer is the same exact model that I have...don't forget the sealing tape. Remember with the sealing tape you can just toss the whole thing in the microwave to defrost compared to cutting off the metal ring. Once you try the sealer you will be suprised how fast you can package meat.

Do some pricing on allied kenco as well. My main purchases are usually through allied kenco, butcher and packer, and my local locker. (He sells me high temp cheddar cheese for $2/pound!)

I looked at allied and their prices on what I was looking for weren't as good as B&P and I can't get anything locally that I have been able to find.

I did get a hank of the hog casings but only a home pack of the sheep. I don't plan on doing too many breakfast links.

I called cabelas just to verify that that sealer did come with the a roll of tape and they put me on hold, came back and said it did. I won't be surprised to see if I didn't though.

The LEM version comes with tape, I know someone that has the LEM sealer, my blue one did not come with it. Allied Kenco has its perks and Butcher Packer has its perks. I order a lot of my spices by the pound and buy at which location is cheaper. Usually I buy my pre-made seasonings from Allied Kenco (leggs breakfast and brats)

Goblism said:

Where is the hog casings? Don't buy those 25-30lb packs if you plan on doing a decent amount of sausages in the hog size. The smaller packs I have noticed are shorter in length (more time switching over), tougher (really chewy), and need to be rinsed. I did 100lbs of stuff from those smaller packs and switched to the hank in solution...never going back to those small packs of hog casings!

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I've just begun stuffing sausage. You're right the smaller packs of casings are chewy. Mind sharing a link for the larger quantity?

Butcher-packer.com has the best prices I have found on hanks. 100yds of 32/35mm hog is $20. There might be better prices out there, but I haven't been able to find them.

dataz722 said:

Butcher-packer.com has the best prices I have found on hanks. 100yds of 32/35mm hog is $20. There might be better prices out there, but I haven't been able to find them.

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t/y

Hugh_Jass said:

t/y

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butcher packer is pretty good, my local butcher had the most tender and easier to use casings.