First go at brats

[Yooper906]

So I’ve always wanted to try brats and today was the day. My wife and I enjoy brats at all times of the year. The local store makes homemade brats which are fantastic, but $8.50 for 4 of them.

I took out 13 pounds of venison and 12 pounds of pork butt, got the Bearded Butchers Jalepeno Cheddar Brat kit and gave it a whirl. Definitely a learning curve, as you can see. Bearded butcher has a YouTube video about making brats and they said to pinch the ends rather than twist them.

Mine aren’t the prettiest out there, I definitely overstuffed the first half of the batch. But man! They taste great! We now have 97 brats to enjoy and definitely saved some money, compared to the local store! I’ll be bringing a few packs on my bear hunt in 5 weeks!

-Yooper

 

[mtmuley]

View attachment 320380
So I’ve always wanted to try brats and today was the day. My wife and I enjoy brats at all times of the year. The local store makes homemade brats which are fantastic, but $8.50 for 4 of them.

I took out 13 pounds of venison and 12 pounds of pork butt, got the Bearded Butchers Jalepeno Cheddar Brat kit and gave it a whirl. Definitely a learning curve, as you can see. Bearded butcher has a YouTube video about making brats and they said to pinch the ends rather than twist them.

Mine aren’t the prettiest out there, I definitely overstuffed the first half of the batch. But man! They taste great! We now have 97 brats to enjoy and definitely saved some money, compared to the local store! I’ll be bringing a few packs on my bear hunt in 5 weeks!

-Yooper

Nice. Have plans to do the same next Fall. mtmuley

 

[Nick87]

Like anything else every time you do it it'll get a little better. Off to a good start. I wonder why they say pinch instead of twist? Never had too many problems. Work from one end to the other and twist opposite way each link.

 

[mtmuley]

Like anything else every time you do it it'll get a little better. Off to a good start. I wonder why they say pinch instead of twist? Never had too many problems. Work from one end to the other and twist opposite way each link.

Pinching seems like it would let the juices out. mtmuley

 

[Nick87]

Pinching seems like it would let the juices out. mtmuley

Maybe, I've had a few if the casings burst while cooking but they still seemed good.

 

[mtmuley]

Maybe, I've had a few if the casings burst while cooking but they still seemd good.

So real casings or the collagen ones? mtmuley

 

[Nick87]

So real casings or the collagen ones? mtmuley

Real casings for brats 100%.

 

[Steelsearchin]

Awesome!!

You can also skip the casings entirely and cook em as patties like a burger. Doesnt have the same snap of a natural casing, but you get more smoke flavor if using charcoal or a pellet pooper.

IMHO, bearded butchers have put out enough good content to get the premium they charge for their kits, but if you want to save a few bucks have Kent Butchers Supply mail you some seasonings for your next go round. Also great ppl, but no youtube content.

 

[Nick87]

You can also skip the casings entirely and cook em as patties like a burger. Doesnt have the same snap of a natural casing, but you get more smoke flavor if using charcoal or a pellet pooper

Yup we do the same with a portion of ours. I still prefer the casing though.

 

[Steelsearchin]

Gotta mix it up a bit for sure. We did 100# one year and I'd been quick freezing them before vac packing....which got real old real fast. Dad and I both said, "screw this, let's just bulk pack some." I can honestly say we ate too many brats that year! Our kids were little and didnt eat much. My cheesehead wife even said we went overboard.

 

[Nick87]

Gotta mix it up a bit for sure. We did 100# one year and I'd been quick freezing them before vac packing....which got real old real fast. Dad and I both said, "screw this, let's just bulk pack some." I can honestly say we ate too many brats that year! Our kids were little and didnt eat much. My cheesehead wife even said we went overboard.

We used to raise like 40 to 60 hogs a year and some body backed out on a couple last minute two years in a row my old man went totally overboard with the brats. I swear we ate them 4 nights a week for 2 years. There was a good 10 years where I wouldn't even look at a brat. Over it now though lol

 

[Jamen]

I have stopped making ring sausage with my deer and have been doing brats for several years now. My first year i did them i did a small batch. Didn't smoke them and i had terrible luck. I think possibly stuffed too tight. They would explode on the grill. After that i smoked them for a short bit to gain a little color and flavor also make the casing a little tougher. I will make ropes of 6 brats on each hang them for smoke and once they are cool just snip them apart. Super easy to make ropes of them i would make them longer but they would hang too low in the smoker. I wish i still had the video showing how to do it. An older sausage maker showed me one year.

Yours look great!! do you use fresh jalapenos in them?

 

[Yooper906]

I have stopped making ring sausage with my deer and have been doing brats for several years now. My first year i did them i did a small batch. Didn't smoke them and i had terrible luck. I think possibly stuffed too tight. They would explode on the grill. After that i smoked them for a short bit to gain a little color and flavor also make the casing a little tougher. I will make ropes of 6 brats on each hang them for smoke and once they are cool just snip them apart. Super easy to make ropes of them i would make them longer but they would hang too low in the smoker. I wish i still had the video showing how to do it. An older sausage maker showed me one year.

Yours look great!! do you use fresh jalapenos in them?

No, Jalepeno powder and flakes. Whatever the kit included. My second rope turned out much better with not overstuffing. I’m going to cook some tonight and see how they go!

 

[Jamen]

No, Jalepeno powder and flakes. Whatever the kit included. My second rope turned out much better with not overstuffing. I’m going to cook some tonight and see how they go!

Cant wait to hear a review!!

 

[Yooper906]

Cant wait to hear a review!!

Made a patty last night with the extra meat that was at bottom of stuffer, turned out great!

 

[Jamen]

Made a patty last night with the extra meat that was at bottom of stuffer, turned out great!

Awesome!! Jalapeno cheddar are one of my favorites. I like to add some fresh ones to mine. I deseed them because others dont like much heat adds some good flavor! I did Hatch Chile this year instead of jalapeno and got my hands on some smokes hatch chilies and those are amazing!

 

[Nick87]

I have stopped making ring sausage with my deer and have been doing brats for several years now. My first year i did them i did a small batch. Didn't smoke them and i had terrible luck. I think possibly stuffed too tight. They would explode on the grill. After that i smoked them for a short bit to gain a little color and flavor also make the casing a little tougher. I will make ropes of 6 brats on each hang them for smoke and once they are cool just snip them apart. Super easy to make ropes of them i would make them longer but they would hang too low in the smoker. I wish i still had the video showing how to do it. An older sausage maker showed me one year.

Yours look great!! do you use fresh jalapenos in them?

@Jamen looking at those racks I'm guessing you've git a homemade smoker? Love to see the build if so. I need to expand.

 

[Jamen]

@Jamen looking at those racks I'm guessing you've git a homemade smoker? Love to see the build if so. I need to expand.

Yes, we have 2 actually. When we do our big sausage making, we have my dad's friend smoke for us he has a rather large one and we do 400-600lbs then. I will take some pictures this weekend of the two we have. The one i made is pretty slick and can surprisingly hold a lot of meat.

 

[Ben Lamb]

This is not the thread about beating up 9 year olds like I hoped it would be.

2 stars, but hot damn guys, nice sausages.

 

[Fire_9]

but hot damn guys, nice sausages.

Not usually something you say to another man...