Sausage weekend with pics

[End of the Line]

Thought I could have put this under 'processing your own venison" but its more of a see some pictures from our venison processing weekend. Just thought some of you might enjoy these of my friends and kids helping out. We made just about 500 lbs of fresh and smoked sausage of different varieties.

Sausage Stuffing

Tying

Ready for the smoker.

Smoking

Cooling off, just out of the smoker.

Packaging & Labeling

Some smoked portabella mushroom and swiss.

[Jim Uran]

Wow!!!!!!!! I'm slobbering on my keyboard. Thanks for sharing.

[Surface Tension]

Joel, looks great. Are you going to save a couple samples for me.

[buckhunter21]

Thats making me hungry! I might have to talk the old man into trying that mushroom and swiss on his next batch of sausage, ive never heard of that before but it sounds awesome. Do you have your own recipe for all your sausage you make or do you buy a kit for your main seasoning? We always use a kit and then add our own stuff to it but thinking we might just start making everything ourselves.

[propster]

Boy does that bring back memories. We used to make all our own, right down to building the smokehouse, hand-crank stuffer, the whole works. We even bought a live hog and hauled it up in the trailer for the last weekend of season, killed it Sat mid-day and butchered it, ground up all the venison we'd gotten so far, added any we got that weekend, and smoked sausage for 3 days straight. Man that was something. Thanks for sharing.

[End of the Line]

No kits for anything I do. I have these vension recipes for breakfast sausage, summer sausage, smoked sausage, and cheddarwurst have been in our family for a long time. I'm pretty sure that I am the 5th generation using those recipes other than the cheddarwurst, that's only about 10 years old but still our own mix. All the other recipes that I used are borrowed from several places and mixed by me as well. I do fresh pork breakfast sausage, Italian Herb and Cheese, Italian Mild-Hot, and the smoked portabella mushroom and swiss. I think next year I'll add a fresh mushroom and swiss with onion.

I know what you mean when you say everything. When I was a kid we had cows, chickens and pigs and every fall it was busy with butchering.

I still built my own smoker. But I have to admit that this one's alot more techinical than the old one we use to have on the farm. I have big equipment now so it goes good, but its still alot of work. But I wouldn't change a thing, I love the end result all year and I never buy any brats or hot dogs anymore for most of the year!

[wolfman-k]

One I'd like to try is wild rice & jalapino. I've tried them from Von Hanson's, & they are great. It looks like you have a commercial set-up there. Nice smoker!

[delmuts]

Thanks for sharing, but man am i HUNGRY now!

[B@ssDoctor]

Looks awesome, however, after reading the topic at first glance, I was very hesitant to open this thread!

[Wensel]

Did I hear...............

COLD BEER!!!!!!!!

730 in the morning and I'm now kinda hungry

Nice to see the kids!

[Musky Buck]

We skip the processing and just drink beer, jk, but that stuff looked good ! Very good !

[Swill]

Hey is that all LEM equipment? If yes, what set up did you buy? I just received their catalog and trying to figure out all this stuff. Any reviews on their stuff?

Thanks man-

Swill

[sticknstring]

Nice operation you got there - and even better results. Looks mighty tasty!

[End of the Line]

No LEM stuff other then a couple of the meat tubs. My stuff is actual commercial grade equipment. My Grinder/Mixer is a Hobart "4246" 3 phase 6 1/2 HP unit with a 140lbs hopper that is self-feeding. The stuffer is a Zuber E-Z Pak Pacmobile. It holds up to 100lbs at a time and has its own self contained water tank and pump to move a piston. The tables and sink are from various places but are all NSF approved stuff that I picked up used down in the Twin Cities.

The smoker was a commercial freezer that I picked up in Fargo, ND last spring. The compressor was out of it so I got it pretty cheap and then I modified it by putting in my own stuff to make a smoker. I have 2 oven elements in the bottom with a circulating fan for heat. I made racks to fit either shelves or rods for smoking and then I also added the smoke generator on the side so I get a better smoke and also for cold-smoking. All this is controled by a thermostat setting so I don't have to mess with it.

[Cooter]

Holy moly what a setup!

[Swill]

No LEM stuff other then a couple of the meat tubs. My stuff is actual commercial grade equipment. My Grinder/Mixer is a Hobart "4246" 3 phase 6 1/2 HP unit with a 140lbs hopper that is self-feeding. The stuffer is a Zuber E-Z Pak Pacmobile. It holds up to 100lbs at a time and has its own self contained water tank and pump to move a piston. The tables and sink are from various places but are all NSF approved stuff that I picked up used down in the Twin Cities.

The smoker was a commercial freezer that I picked up in Fargo, ND last spring. The compressor was out of it so I got it pretty cheap and then I modified it by putting in my own stuff to make a smoker. I have 2 oven elements in the bottom with a circulating fan for heat. I made racks to fit either shelves or rods for smoking and then I also added the smoker generator on the side so I get a better smoke and also for cold-smoking. All this is controled by a thermostat setting so I don't have to mess with it.

Now that I have researched your gear, LEM is a joke in your world. Embarrassed I brought it up! Very nice set up. With all that professional equipment, is that how your business? If not you should think about it. I am guessing a similar set up would run 10,000 or so. With an average cost of 200 for sausage processing, that would take 50 years of hunting to recoup. Not sure if I am going to spend that much, but would love the set up. Thanks for sharing, I appreciate it!

Swill

[End of the Line]

Swill, don't be embarassed, I researched LEM stuff too along with many other brands. Here's why I have what I got now.

Right now I don't have that kind of money invested, although your right about $10K would be very close. I was lucky and spent alot of time shopping and was able to buy low and sell high with a few earlier mixer/grinders I purchased and uprgraded as I went throughout the summer. I priced out the LEM 1.5hp grinder with the 50lb mixer attachment and if my memory serves me right it would have been nearly $900 and change. I got my grinder/mixer and 3 phase converter for that price when it was all said and done by finding deals and selling other grinder/mixers that I had previously bought. The stuffer I did the the same way. The smoker I got for $150 and then to build it; I and have less than $500 into it and its pretty sweet, I think I can get 200 lbs in it at a time. I see used commercial freezer that don't work all the time on craig's list as little as $75.

It's not my business except basically for one long weekend a year. There is way too much work involved to make any real money doing it in my opinion and is hard on the back toteing those meat tubs around all day.

[Swill]

End of the Line-

Thanks for sharing, and providing details on your set up. 900 was a great deal, I think I am going to also spend some time researching my options. If anything, I will just upgrade some of my gear that I have at home right now, and work on perfecting my recipes and trying different things.

Again, great stuff, and thanks for all the great information!

Steve