gadahl
I have had issues with the 73MM casings and here are some of the things I have done to my smoker to help. I put a oven convection fan in to try and keep a constant temp thru out the smoker. I added a shelf over my burner to put a pan of water on during the final cooking stages of smoking when the temp is turned up to 150-180degree to add moisture for better heat transfer. I have found even with all this it still takes 10-12 hours to get to 156 degrees internal meat temp, but I have a good looking product and the fat does not separate. As for making sausage I use 2 1/2 lbs of beef fat and 10 lbs of lean meat (venison, elk, moose, or caribou. I try and keep the meat and fat just above freezing when grinding and grind the meat 3/8" the first grind. I then grind the fat 1/8" and then combine the two mixing well. I then regrind the mixture thru the 1/8" plate twice stopping in between to rechill the meat so it will grind properly. Meats Grinds Best when it is cold especially 1/8". You can put it in a thin layer in a pan in your freezer and it chills very quickly. I always use a binder 1/2 Lb per batch. I then hand mix in all spices, cure, water and binder. I just tried to make ring trail bologna for the first time with great results and found out that the smaller 43mm casings finish cooking in half the time of the 73mm casings I make my other sausage recipes in and am considering them all in 43mm casings, faster, quicker and great presentation. One problem with the 43 mm ring cases is my that my hog ring crimper does not close tight enough and I have to recrimp the ring with players to get it to hold tight
Dave
