casing issues
 

I have been making venison polish sausage for a few years now and I always seem to have problems getting the natural casings to snap when you bite into them. It is usually pretty cold when we smoke the meat but we can always get the meat up to the right temp usually in a water bath though. Will the synthetic casings work better or do I need to get the meat a little hotter in the smoker?

Not sure hope you prepare your natural hog gut casings. When I prepare my casings, prior to stuffing, I soak them quite awhile in hot water. Keep changing the water as it cools. Then I throughly wash out the casings by hooking them up to the faucett and running fairly warm water through them to clean them out. When I'm stuffing, I keep the casings in a bowl of warm water till needed. Good luck with your sausage. After I take the sausage out of the smoker, I spray them with cold water to cool them down, and prevent wrinkling of the skins. Can't wait to make my next batch.
Good luck with yours.:)

I might add, make sure you are packing your casings tight.

How are yours? Tough and chewy? Proper snap comes from a couple things. Make sure you dry the sausages to the touch befor adding smoke. They will almost start turning a bit brownish or red when properly dried, then start the smoke letting a bit of air flow through the smoker the entire time you smoke. After a couple hours start turning up the heat to cook the sausages to an internal temp of about 155 degrees. Water sausages down with a cold hose for 5 or 10 minutes to stop the cooking and hang dry at room temp for 3 to 4 hours to bloom and dry. Refrigerate over night uncovered before packaging for the freezer. Alway remember when ever you take cured sausages out of the freezer remove from package when frozen and place on a paper towl or paper plate for a couple days in the fridge to properly dry them. then always store in a brown paper bag while refrigerated to avoid molding and rehydration. A brown paper bag or a wrap of news paper can help dry product in the fridge evenly. When its time to eat them just brown and serve they will snap like no other.