Homemade Sausage Making

I bought natural hog and sheep casings. The directions that came with them say to soak for a hour. I have seen a few threads on here were people say they soak over night for best results. What do you suggest, this will be my first attempt at making sausage.

Thanks Steve.

Hi Steve,

I soak mine for an hour, sometime less, works fine for me.

Overnight is a bit extreme. You need to soak them to loosen them up and then rinse thoroughly to remove the salt inside and out. Though ours will have soaked hours by the end of the day, they are starting to be used within 30 minutes of initial cleaning.

I always soak about an hour and also flush the inside by sticking the end of the casing under the faucet to add a charge of water and slosh it around while pinching both ends .

It's probably better to soak the casings longer in cold water than for a shorter period in luke warm water. I often soak my casings overnight, and while it may not be necessary, it certainly does not hurt. A good practice is to rinse off the casing, let it soak for one hour and then flush out the inside, change water and soak for a couple of hours more, change water again and you should be ready to load on the stuffer tube. Inadequate soaking can make your sausage taste too salty. make it diffficult to load on the stuffer horn and is one of the major causes of tough casings on the finished product.