Cold Smoke Sausage Question

[Stone]

I’m going to try my hand at some Texas Hot Guts sausage. I’ve never done the pink salt/cold smoke before. How much time do I have between grinding/stuffing the sausage and cold smoking?
Can I grind/stuff and wait a few days before cold smoking?
After smoking, how long can the sausages stay in the fridge? If I’m going to hold the, for more than a week, should I freeze them?

Thanks.

Bonus question: what’s the best way to store the unused casings? I don't make a lot of sausage. Freeze them?

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

The big thing is give the cure enough time to work. Overnight is usually fine. I think if you waited a week before smoking them you'll be ok, but I wouldn't go much longer than that. A few days is actually ideal. After smoking, I wouldn't keep them in a fridge longer than a week probably. They freeze outstandingly well in my opinion vacuum packed. I'd partially freeze them before vacuum packing so you don't squish them out of shape.

Casings will keep forever in the fridge if you resalt them, let them dry back out and store them in a ziplock bag. I wouldn't freeze them. If you've got a bag of salted casings just pull out what you need and put the rest back in the fridge. I've honestly kept them for a year no problem. Probably longer.