My sausage is dry...

[JES]

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!

As Smart said, and I implied, don’t mix 30% fat, mix 30% pork. Better yet, go right to 40%, if it’s too fatty and juicy you can always to leaner next batch.

[Mr. Stickers]

I make 50 lb batches at a time 30lbs pork butts & 20lbs deer.....my last batch I tried 20lbs pork butts / 20lbs deer / 10 lbs beef tallo...... I was really impreseed really juicy & beef tallo gave it a real buttery flavor. All who have tried it really liked it

[Hunteraudit]

I prefer using pork fat rather than pork butts. It’s less yield but I’m also adding less non venison to my venison sausage. 80/20 is fine if the 20 is straight pork fat; though 75/25 is better in my opinion. If your butcher didn’t have any, tell him to put it to the side for you next time. Or ask every time you go in. Buy in advance, it freezes just fine.

I do use pork Butts to make sausage regularly and they work great, but I don’t add venison to it.

[AntlerCollector]

Forget beef or pork trimmings. Go with pork butts. Mix 60/40 venison to pork. Don’t be scared

If you’re going with just trimmings to save money, then use pork and make it 25-30% of your total weight. I use to call my butcher a few days ahead of time and he would save trimmings for me. Now days I just order pork butts.


You will be glad you did. Your venison to beef fat ratio guaranteed the sausage would be dry.

[justindfw]

I add pork butt 60 40 or 50 50

[GARY]

What others have said...80/20 way too lean imho. We do 40/60 usually and left 15 links in smokehouse for 2 weeks to dry. I liked it as is...some might want little more dry.

[ShoootLow]

I’ve found that the grind plate makes a big difference. We prefer course ground and seems we can do a bit leaner mix with course ground. I settled on 60/40 pork to venison mix with 5% pork fat added in the last grind. I use sausage stuffer plate only and grind twice to mix seasoning. Summer sausage only gets ground once.

[Meatcutter]

use pork fat and more of it.

[Bud]

Pigs aren’t made the way they used to be. They are way more lean. We go 60/40 pork to deer. We also cook ours by boiling it. When done pour nearly all of your water out of the pan and brown both sides. Trust me. It’s awesome.

[DedDuk]

Pigs aren’t made the way they used to be.

Pretty sure they're made the exact same way......

[Muskles]

Pigs aren’t made the way they used to be. They are way more lean. We go 60/40 pork to deer. We also cook ours by boiling it. When done pour nearly all of your water out of the pan and brown both sides. Trust me. It’s awesome.

We usually boil ours in water with worchestershire sauce, then brown on the grill. And as others have said...pork and more of it. Took me about 3 batches before I got mine the way we like it. I still tweak it a little each time, looking for better. Try boiling the sausage and maybe brown in a skillet with olive oil.

[Slick8]

I agree with many above.

IMO-
Use pork fat instead of beef. It gives a better flavor and beef can be a little wax like IMO.
reduce the smoke time. I smoke mine in a cold smoke house for an hour give or take. In reality if you're grilling your sausage you don't even need smoke. Over smoking can also make your casing tough.

Lastly, add some water to the ground and seasoned meat prior to stuffing. Makes all the difference in the world in the cooked product.

[SaltwaterSlick]

As hot as it is right now you stand the very real chance of your meat/sausage spoiling before it smokes if you don't use cure in the grind. Whatever recipe you use, add cure to it... The bigger the batch, the more important cure is to keep it from souring/spoiling before you can get it ground, stuffed and smoked... even more-so if you're making dried sausage... Not sure I'd try that this late in the year...

[Smart]

My sausage is dry...

Pigs aren’t made the way they used to be. They are way more lean. We go 60/40 pork to deer. We also cook ours by boiling it. When done pour nearly all of your water out of the pan and brown both sides. Trust me. It’s awesome.

We’ve been doing 60-40 pork to deer since the late 70s ... our sausage hasn’t changed .[emoji848]

We boil a half link only to check/test the cold smoke absorption. Not a big fan of that original way to cook sausage . Same with hotdogs. I’ll just have to take your word for it. [emoji23][emoji41]

[denimdeerslayer]

Being your first time Id say go 50/50