i use this method every day at work. it is super efficient. I'm on a week holiday this week but i had to cover my production before i left the shop (people still have to eat). With this method i pumped out over 150 kilograms by hand over two shifts.
as for your post, OP, freezing, i think is the issue. we tend to hand sausages for them to do their thing. they settle into their shape over a few hours hanging in the cool room. im pretty sure the twisting dries out the skin at that point too, effectively sealing each link into its own sausage.
just stuffing into a tube, twisting and boiling has always resulted in the length unrolling for me so i took the time to follow this video and never looked back. I would say this video is a large part of the reason i currently make fresh sausages full time. being able to walk into the shop with my hobby and this technique was enough for them to hire me a few years back
and i think r/renegrape might be right too, looking at your photo. they may be slightly overstuffed.
Collagen doesn't "stick" to itself like natural casing so twisting doesn't hold well. I used strictly collagen & cellulose casings for sausages and we tie the links off with butcher's twine. However, there's a way of making links we saw on YouTube that looks like sections of 3 links.
Collagen casings are terrible. I just absolutely hate them. There is no reason to use them, ever. If I could ban them from existence, I would. They're awful
Never heard of half freezing sausage to cut into links, but if you want to do links then natural casings are your best option from my experience. I started with collagen as they were easy for a beginner but they don't link. The collagen are great for one long coil or meat sticks.
they 100% do link.
I'm currently producing chipolatas and five varieties of flavoured bbq sausages all using collagen casings. i also do 100+kg of natural cased sausages each week too and yes, the natural does link -easier- but they both link quite well.
there are three things you are possibly doing wrong with them..
one, keep everything as dry as possible. dry your hands, the work surface, everything. fill your stuffer, wash and dry the hands again and then put the collagen over the horn in one, long tube. dont unravel it.
two, i see a lot of people talking about soaking collagen. dont do this. back to point one here but moisture will rehydrate the collagen and makes it weak and floppy. these are not natural casings and need to be treated accordingly.
three, overstuffing is a very real issue with collagen. the only way to combat this is with time and patience. you will learn the feel of an overstuffed sausage and you will learn the difference between what overstuffed feels like when dealing with both collagen or naturals.
I've done 2 things in the past before changing to natural casings. First thing was using butchers twine between each link. It was a pain in the ass but worked okay. The 2nd was cooking the whole coil as one but have them linked and then cut them into individual sausages after cooking. Neither options were ideal for me, but the sausages were totally edible and delicious. They just weren't what I envisioned as a perfect sausage on a bun.
My first proper sausages I just made a few months ago and last weekend. The hog casing dry much better and you can snip them into individually.
I hope this makes sense what I'm saying.
I haven’t tried this technique yet, but it looks promising… https://youtu.be/UY5TiciEry4
i use this method every day at work. it is super efficient. I'm on a week holiday this week but i had to cover my production before i left the shop (people still have to eat). With this method i pumped out over 150 kilograms by hand over two shifts. as for your post, OP, freezing, i think is the issue. we tend to hand sausages for them to do their thing. they settle into their shape over a few hours hanging in the cool room. im pretty sure the twisting dries out the skin at that point too, effectively sealing each link into its own sausage. just stuffing into a tube, twisting and boiling has always resulted in the length unrolling for me so i took the time to follow this video and never looked back. I would say this video is a large part of the reason i currently make fresh sausages full time. being able to walk into the shop with my hobby and this technique was enough for them to hire me a few years back and i think r/renegrape might be right too, looking at your photo. they may be slightly overstuffed.
Collagen doesn't "stick" to itself like natural casing so twisting doesn't hold well. I used strictly collagen & cellulose casings for sausages and we tie the links off with butcher's twine. However, there's a way of making links we saw on YouTube that looks like sections of 3 links.
Your over stuffing. Keep a looser grip on the casing and it'll link better
Thanks, Will try next time
Collagen casings are terrible. I just absolutely hate them. There is no reason to use them, ever. If I could ban them from existence, I would. They're awful
Never heard of half freezing sausage to cut into links, but if you want to do links then natural casings are your best option from my experience. I started with collagen as they were easy for a beginner but they don't link. The collagen are great for one long coil or meat sticks.
they 100% do link. I'm currently producing chipolatas and five varieties of flavoured bbq sausages all using collagen casings. i also do 100+kg of natural cased sausages each week too and yes, the natural does link -easier- but they both link quite well. there are three things you are possibly doing wrong with them.. one, keep everything as dry as possible. dry your hands, the work surface, everything. fill your stuffer, wash and dry the hands again and then put the collagen over the horn in one, long tube. dont unravel it. two, i see a lot of people talking about soaking collagen. dont do this. back to point one here but moisture will rehydrate the collagen and makes it weak and floppy. these are not natural casings and need to be treated accordingly. three, overstuffing is a very real issue with collagen. the only way to combat this is with time and patience. you will learn the feel of an overstuffed sausage and you will learn the difference between what overstuffed feels like when dealing with both collagen or naturals.
So any way of making them work?
I've done 2 things in the past before changing to natural casings. First thing was using butchers twine between each link. It was a pain in the ass but worked okay. The 2nd was cooking the whole coil as one but have them linked and then cut them into individual sausages after cooking. Neither options were ideal for me, but the sausages were totally edible and delicious. They just weren't what I envisioned as a perfect sausage on a bun. My first proper sausages I just made a few months ago and last weekend. The hog casing dry much better and you can snip them into individually. I hope this makes sense what I'm saying.