My sausage is dry...

[tpack]

Spit on it.

[Bud]

I‘ll restate what I mean by pigs not being made the same as they used to be. Modern pigs (domestic) are may leaner than they used to be. They are bred that way. A modern show pig looks more like a dog than a pig. That being said you definitely need more pork in your sausage or it will be dry. That is all.

[ATI]

Thanks for all the responses. I went to my local butcher and asked for pig fat and they were out. They said I could sub beef fat, and they sold me 14 lbs at .49 cents a pound telling me it would do the same thing. The smoke was exiting the smoke stack and the smoking tube was on the opposite side to promote flowing. Its definitely edible. Just could been better. Live and learn.

I may go 70 30 next time. The beef fat was brisket trimmings I believe. I will be building a smokehouse for this purpose for sure.

Appreciate the advice fellas keep it coming!

Why do you insist on keeping it lean and using beef fat despite everyone suggesting to use pork butts and a higher pork percentage? Sausage is meant to be a fatty food. if you see "Low Fat" or "Fat Free" sausage stay away from it, it's probably not good for you due to all the junk they add....

back in the day when they used to give out samples at Costco, I spit out "Turkey Sausage" as soon as the guy said it was "low fat Turkey Sausage" he was offended to say the least, but a good ole' boy who was next to me laughed his butt off...

Go 50/50, Pork Shoulders/Venison and use natural wood to smoke it not wood pellets. If it's warm outside cure the meat to prevent botulism. let us know how it turned out.

[ctom87]

Why do you insist on keeping it lean and using beef fat despite everyone suggesting to use pork butts and a higher pork percentage? Sausage is meant to be a fatty food. if you see "Low Fat" or "Fat Free" sausage stay away from it, it's probably not good for you due to all the junk they add....

back in the day when they used to give out samples at Costco, I spit out "Turkey Sausage" as soon as the guy said it was "low fat Turkey Sausage" he was offended to say the least, but a good ole' boy who was next to me laughed his butt off...

Go 50/50, Pork Shoulders/Venison and use natural wood to smoke it not wood pellets. If it's warm outside cure the meat to prevent botulism. let us know how it turned out.

I think there is a misunderstanding. I am not continuing to do it, since I already made 90 lbs of sausage. I thought I remembered seeing that brisket fat and beef fast was the way to go in lieu of pork fat. And I believe I didn't do 80/20, I did 70/30... either way I think next time if I am doing pure fat I may go 60/40 protein to fat or 50/50 if using pork shoulder. Don't get me wrong though the taste is there! Just wish it was more wet, but don't we all.

And I did smoke quite a bit back in February when I did all this in sub 40 degree weather. The problem was it was a pile of meat inside a traeger with a smoke tube. Next year there will be: a smokehouse; more fat; 5x as many hunters sticks, but those turned out perfect.

[Benno]

If using beef fat or brisket, you made hamburger meat. Lesson learned, I’m sure next year it will turn out great.

[ATI]

I think there is a misunderstanding. I am not continuing to do it, since I already made 90 lbs of sausage. I thought I remembered seeing that brisket fat and beef fast was the way to go in lieu of pork fat. And I believe I didn't do 80/20, I did 70/30... either way I think next time if I am doing pure fat I may go 60/40 protein to fat or 50/50 if using pork shoulder. Don't get me wrong though the taste is there! Just wish it was more wet, but don't we all.

And I did smoke quite a bit back in February when I did all this in sub 40 degree weather. The problem was it was a pile of meat inside a traeger with a smoke tube. Next year there will be: a smokehouse; more fat; 5x as many hunters sticks, but those turned out perfect.

I could be wrong, but the only time I’ve seen people here post mixing brisket fat to venison was when making hamburger meat.
Hope you enjoy sausage making.
Save the livers and make boudin, fairly easy and no need to worry about wet/dry and curing.

[JES]

I think there is a misunderstanding. I am not continuing to do it, since I already made 90 lbs of sausage. I thought I remembered seeing that brisket fat and beef fast was the way to go in lieu of pork fat. And I believe I didn't do 80/20, I did 70/30... either way I think next time if I am doing pure fat I may go 60/40 protein to fat or 50/50 if using pork shoulder. Don't get me wrong though the taste is there! Just wish it was more wet, but don't we all.

And I did smoke quite a bit back in February when I did all this in sub 40 degree weather. The problem was it was a pile of meat inside a traeger with a smoke tube. Next year there will be: a smokehouse; more fat; 5x as many hunters sticks, but those turned out perfect.

Sorry to be a stickler for details, but you made 10 lbs of sausage; 8 lbs venison and 2 lbs beef fat. So, 10(100%) = 8(80%) + 2(20%) so on and so forth.

Stay at it, sausage making is trial and error as a beginner and with no immediate supervision from an experienced sausagteer... You can use this batch for gumbo or stew maybe. I have messed up much larger batches the first few times I did it.

[Muskles]

Sorry to be a stickler for details, but you made 10 lbs of sausage; 8 lbs venison and 2 lbs beef fat. So, 10(100%) = 8(80%) + 2(20%) so on and so forth.

Stay at it, sausage making is trial and error as a beginner and with no immediate supervision from an experienced sausagteer... You can use this batch for gumbo or stew maybe. I have messed up much larger batches the first few times I did it.

Absolutely and definitely can use this batch for tacos, stew, goolosh, hamburgers,... the list goes on. Learning experience and still some good eats. You'll eventually find what works for your needs.

[Balcones_Walker]

I can't get around to the idea of adding store bought meat back into game sausage, so I quit and just leave the sausage lean now. it's still good in all kinds of dishes without the fat.

[hunt247]

You need pork, and a lot of it!

[Lone_Wolf]

You need pork, and a lot of it!

I don't know how to make sausage, but I know good sausage always has pork in it. That Pork fat is what makes it juicy. You can do 60% deer 40% pork if you want a leaner sausage. I've had several different folks make it for me and It's always about how much pork I want it. I like mine 60/40. One day I'll learn to do it myself. Gett'n expensive. I think the standard is to do 50/50 for a real juicy sausage, but to me that just taste like regular old pork sausage.

[SaltwaterSlick]

I could be wrong, but the only time I’ve seen people here post mixing brisket fat to venison was when making hamburger meat.
Hope you enjoy sausage making.
Save the livers and make boudin, fairly easy and no need to worry about wet/dry and curing.

It's not the meat and grind that makes "sausage" it's the seasoning... You can make sausage out of ground chuck from the grocery store if you stuff it with the right seasoning...


I prefer pork sausage, but a cow will make some pretty good sausage... I grew to like the kosher sausage that was available in the nice little Jewish deli's where I went to school... It's different, but it's pretty dang good too.

[Army of Dad]

If you are going to try to keep your fat down towards 20% try adding a product like C-bind and a little extra liquid in your mix. That will help trap some of the moisture. I’d suggest bumping the fat to 25% and I bet you’ll see results more in line with what you’re expecting/looking for.

https://www.sausagemaker.com/C-Bind-Carrot-Fiber-Binder-p/11-1032.htm

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[N.DaWoods]

I agree with the crowd, add some more pork fat!