[Ice]

Help, I am having a lot of trouble getting the skins onto the nozzle..  No matter how much I soak and rinse them through inside they still stick and won't thread on easily.  I've  tried oiling the nozzle as well.

Surely someone can put me out of misery please?  It's driving me nuts.

[Val H]

I'd pm millymolymandy she seems to be an expert at it!

[Ice]

Has she been on recently Val?

[Aunt Sally]

I think GrannieAnnie makes sausages.  I seem to remember her talking about her turkey ones.

[Ice]

I already spoke to her about them.  I'm hoping she comes online to help.

[GrannieAnnie]

Yoohoo, I'm here!!  Sorry ice only just seen your post.  I just wet the nozzle and with the casings being wet from washing off the brine,they slip on quite well for me.  once the end of the casing is over the end of the nozzle, with your right hand gently pull the casing over the nozzle and with your left hand just hold the string of casing up level and it should slip on okay.

that's what I've been doing today, we got our first pig off the young farmers down the road and it was cheaper to just have the pig cut in half, then Brian cut it all up and I bagged it and froze it, then minced up all the bits including the hands and springs and made 10lbs of pork sausages. Plain pork, pork and leek (my fav) and chilli pork!!!

Hope it goes okay for you.  Wish I was nearer, I'd pop down and have a look for you!!!!

[Ice]

Hi GA.  How do you wash your casings?    I have tried several different methods and nothing is guaranteed to work.  Some are fine but others really stick.

We have a whole pig to process tomorrow and I dread the aggro that we are going to have with the casings.
 

[GrannieAnnie]

I fill up my biggest mixing bowl with cold water and dump one little bag of casings in it, swish it around and find the end.  then I open up the end a little and put some water in it straight from the tap, which then goes all through the casings as I hold them up.  I cut off about 3 yards at a time or 3 arm lengths.  that's about enough for the nozzle at one time. 

When I bought the casings, they reckon they last for ages in brine in the fridge, but as I do't make them very often, I found that the first bag smelt funny, so now when I open a bag of casings, what I dont use I cut into roughly 3 yard lengths and put several of them into little plastic bags and freeze them.  I read somewhere they freeze well and so don't deteriorate like they do in the fridge.

Hope all goes well for tomorrow Ice!!!!!!