Casing wrinkles

[Moistiestdrip]

Hey guys. So yesterday I made some venison summer sausage. I used 80/20 venison to beef fat. I also used smoked Meat stabilizer and carrot fiber for binder. I normally use sure gel but decided to try the carrot fiber. I used a hand mixer and got good protein extraction. Casing were tight when I stuffed them. Hung from smoker and cooked at 170-180 till internal temp of 160. Tossed in an ice bath for 20 min. Casings are all wrinkled up. What did I do wrong

[bullbeery]

Moistiestdrip

[akdave]

I use a very gradual smoke temp schedule, I start out at 150 for 1 hour to dry casings, no smoke then , then 140 for 1 1/2 hours with smoke, then 155 for 2 hours with smoke, then 165 for 1 hour with smoke and then 180 till I reach 160 internal. With 73 mm casings it can take from 8-12 hours to get to 160 internal. Things that can speed up the process is to add humidity to your smoker which speeds up the heat transfer. The other thing you can do is after 6or so hours in the smoker you can do a hot water bath with 160 degree water to finish cooking the product.

Dave

[twilliams]

akdave you have your temps right? 150 to start then 140? I think you ment 120

[Moistiestdrip]

I held at 150 for a couple hours then kept it anywhere from 160-180 till they were done.

[akdave]

How constant is your temp at various levels in your smoker, before I added a 2nd convection fan in my smoker I had hot spots in the lower section of my smoker and the lower 1/4 of my sasuage would wrinkle. Now when I get the temp up to 180 degrees I also put a shallow pan of water with 3 big sponges in it on a rack about 6" below the sasuage to speed up the heat transfer with the extra humidity, next time I do a batch of summer sasuage I will take a picture with that set up. When I do snack sticks in long strands the ends closest to the bottom get some wrinkles and the top 3/4 are nice and plump. The only other think I can think of is the binder you used and if it did not hold the product together or too much water and it evaporated our of the meat.
Dave

[shane102]

how much meat and how much water did you use in the mixing? Did you use water for humidity while smoking?

[shane102]

Also, I dont like using carrot fiber binder with wild game. Wild game needs help with protein extraction because it has very little fat content. Sure gel binder is much better.

[Jonathon]

shane102 again, I agree with Shane, for wild game, or really anytime you are trying to incorporate additional fat, sure gel is better than carrot fiber.

[Moistiestdrip]

shane102 I did 20 lbs meat and 5 lbs fat. I mixed in 2 quarts of water like Walton’s recommended.

[Moistiestdrip]

Jonathon the only reason I thought to try carrot fiber was I watched the videos on Walton’s about the different binders. Seemed like carrot fiber would be good with moisture retention. I don’t think it did add good as sure gel. Im working on a second batch right now and sure gel definitely got better protein extraction.

[Cabelas90]

Moistiestdrip I could be Wrong on this as ive never used the carrot fiber. But from what i have read i feel like the carrot fiber would excel in a fresh sausage that your trying to keep moist where the sure gel really shines in cured and smoked meats suck as hams summer sausage snack sticks ect.

[Moistiestdrip]

Cabelas90 I will have to watch the video again. I probably misunderstood it. I bet your right though

[Jonathon]

Moistiestdrip You can, and we have used carrot fiber in cured sausage before but in general sure gel works better. Some people like Super bind even more but I prefer sure gel.

[Cabelas90]

Jonathon Good to know I only have experience with Sure gel and it works so good ive never ventured out!

[Joe Hell]

Cabelas90 I made the mistake of trying a batch without the sure gel…I won’t be doing that again.

[Cabelas90]

Joe Hell Thats Interesting we make sticks and summer sausage all the time at the plant without it and no issues. At home i have used it and it was great!

[Joe Hell]

Cabelas90 There may have been some other factors involved in my failure but I prefer to be safe than sorry. I believe I have more arriving tomorrow.

[Cabelas90]

Joe Hell Absolutely! If it works dont mess with it!

[Moistiestdrip]

Cabelas90 I will be sticking with sure gel from now on. I did everything the same today as I did on the other batch. Only difference was the binder. These came out wrinkle free and look perfect. I got great protein extraction. Much more than with carrot fiber.