Sausage Making Advice Needed From Our Resident Gurus

[coachB]

OK, so I am almost ready to jump into sausage making.  I now have a 3/4 hp grinder, a 20 lb meat mixer, a 15 lb vertical stuffer, a 13 cup processor, the cold plate rack, and a bunch of recipes.  I plan on ordering the Jerky Dryer from Steve.  Everything seems to be pretty straight forward up until the end.

What size casings to order?  My stuffing tubes are 2/3, 3/4, 1 1/4, and 1 1/2.
I can't, however, seem to find what size casings to use with which tube.  I have only had commercially offered sausage previously and don't know the actual size in mm to match to casings that are sold.  I am looking to make sausage in the typical Hillshire Farms kielbasi/smoked sausage sizes as well as something slightly larger.  I am also planning on doing real German style frankfurters which are about 1 1/2 times the diameter of commercial hot dogs.  Any recommendations as to the casing size applicable and which stuffer tube would be used with it would be greatly appreciated.

Every place I researched had lots of history, recipes, etc., but nothing about something so basic.  I hate being ignorant about something the cognoscenti take for granted.  Please enlighten a brother.

Thanks guys.

 

[Pork Belly]

Casings size and type depend on what your making. I like a 42/45 natural hog casing for ring sausage of all types, 2.5 x 20 inedible, collagen for summer sausage, Snack sticks are a 22mm edible cellulose. You can do a brats or other fresh sausage in a 29/32 or 32/35 but I don't. I prefer to buy in bulk for the 43/45 then just have bigger brats. Casings are cheaper the more you buy. Typically I use
http://www.butcher-packer.com/ but there are many places. I have seen casings marked to the home butcher, these are cheaper but feature various lengths and sometimes inconsistent sizes.

 

[DiggingDogFarm]

http://www.deejayssmokepit.net/SausageDownloads_files/CasingsTubes.pdf

 

[coachB]

Perfect!  Downloaded and bookmarked.  Thank you guys, again proving this forum's members are a wealth of information and help. 

Much appreciated.