Air pockets in Summer Sausage
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This past weekend I made bear sausage but doing the fermentation method with F-lc culture and this is the first time I have done this method and there was no water added to my meat mixture. Well is there a fix because I have small air pockets throughout the sticks. I want to add water but I also don’t want it to mess up the culture if that’s possible. I even pushed the meat down in my electric stuffer to try to eliminate these air pockets. Hope someone can help. Thanks
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@Dry-Cured-Sausage Does anyone have any helpful tips on this? I don’t do much with dry cured stuff and I don’t think there is anything you can do now, in general though trying to hold the casing on the tube more firmly will help reduce the air pockets, but without water I don’t know if you are going to be able to totally eliminate them.
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Dave in AZ Military Veterans Sous Vide Canning Traeger Power User Arizona Dry Cured Sausage Dry-Cured Expert
I hope you are planning on doing a heat lethality treatment for the bear, up to 165f, and not making classic summer sausage ( which is fermentation, smoke, dry). Bear meat is the #1 carrier for trichinosis, of commonly used meats, according to USFDA.
Assuming you ARE going to heat it up enough to kill potential trichinosis, then adding water makes no difference at all for meat fermentation with flc, or any culture really. Adding water makes it easier to stuff so you don’t get air pockets, say 10% water.
I do 3 to 4" chubs with 10% water. The 2 things that seem to keep out air pockets for me, is have the 1.5" stuffing tube buried about 2" into the sausage. So the meat flows out, and you can see it backflowing up around the tube towards my hand, and I keep pressure on the casing so it almost seems it might pop. That meat backflow seems to get rid of any air.
The 2nd thing is I poke 50 holes in the casing ahead of time, and you can hear air hissing out as you stuff it.
Hope that helps;)
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I stuff casings the same way Dave in AZ does. Works well. I use F-LC in my SS instead of ECA. Use DISTILLED WATER ONLY when rehydrating the culture. I also only use ice cold distilled water when adding to the mix. Never had any issues with the extra water in the mix. I use 5%, 10% if making snack sticks. I also use F-LC when making traditional Lebanon Bologna.
I’m assuming you are also using cure in your mixture. The F-LC by itself won’t protect it by itself. Ferment for the recommended time and temperature. As Dave also mentioned, with bear I’d ensure 165* finish temp too.
Good luck and enjoy!
