How Much Water Do You Add to Sausage Mix?

Meat, fat, and water are the three primary ingredients that you need to make your sausage at home.

The right amount of water depends on the type of sausage you are making and the desired end result. Some sausages require more water than others.

I will focus on water and discuss how much water should be added to the sausage mix.

I will talk about why you need water in the first place, as well as some cool alternatives to water that will change up your sausage.

How Much Water Do You Actually Need?

Home sausage makers agree that you should add about 8 ounces of water for every 5 pounds of sausage meat.

The table below shows the amounts of sausage meat that this equates to.

Amount of Sausage Meat (lbs)	Amount of Water (Cups)	Amount of Water (Ounces)
2	0.4	3.2
3	0.6	4.8
4	0.8	6.4
5	1	8
6	1.2	9.6
7	1.4	11.2
8	1.6	12.8
9	1.8	14.4
10	2	16

If you add too much water, it can cause the sausage to split, or even cause the sausage to explode during cooking because the water inside heats up and turns into steam, which builds up and eventually breaks through the casing).

Sausage meat can sit in the fridge overnight if you accidentally add too much water and you haven’t stuffed it into the casings.

You can let the stuffed sausages sit in the fridge overnight if you have already stuffed the sausages.

Increasing the heat more slowly throughout and smoking over long periods can help.

Why Do You Need Water to Make Sausages?

Let us take a look at the benefits of adding water to your sausage:

• It helps to mix the sausage meat with the seasonings.
• It is more difficult to make sure the seasoning is blended with the meat without water.
• Adding water makes it easier for the mixture to move through your sausage stuffer.
• It’s easier to crank the sausage meat through the stuffer with it.
• It makes it more convenient to fill the casings.
• Sausage meat will run through the tube more quickly if you use a manual sausage stuffer.
• It adds hydration and helps prevent sausages from being too dry.
• The water you add should be ice cold to keep the sausage meat cold, which is the ideal temperature of meat for sausage making (more on this in the next section).
• Water can be used as a carrier for salt and seasoning to help mix and penetrate the meat better.
• It helps keep fat suspended in the sausage meat by helping the meat hold and retain the fat.
• Fat is important for the texture and flavor of things.
• It helps to keep the structure of the meat by binding it as you mix it.

Is it Better to Add Ice Water to the Sausage?

The water needs to be either cold or ice cold.

Adding room temperature water will raise the temperature of the sausage meat, which is why it’s important to use cold sausage meat.

The best way to keep the meat cold during the sausage-making process is by using ice water.

The sausage meat moves better through the meat grinder and the tube of the stuffer when the temperature is cold.

During these steps, the meat is not allowed to be smeared.

Is it Possible to Use Liquid Other Than Water?

You can use different liquids other than water in your sausage mix.

It is possible to use liquids such as beer, apple juice, and stock, as well as chicken, beef, or vegetable stock, and I would recommend trying chicken.

Tips

• Try dissolving the pre-measured amount of salt you need into the pre-measured amount of water you need.
• If you are using additional seasoning, add it to the water mixture and pour it into the sausage meat.
• This makes the process of mixing much simpler. While mixing add your pre-measured amount of water a little bit at a time.
• It helps you keep an eye on the consistency, so you know when it’s right. The right consistency for your sausage mix is when it is sticky.
• It will pull at your gloves when you are mixing.
• If you scoop a small ball of meat and put it in the palm of your hand, turn your hand upside down and the meat should stick and not fall off.

Conclusion

It is important to make sure you use water when making sausages, as water plays a very important role when making sausages.

The recommended amount of water to use is about 8 ounces of water per 5 pounds of sausage meat.

Adding just a little bit at a time is how you can always experiment with more or less of this.

You should experiment with liquids other than water, like beer, or any of the other options I have listed above.

This can elevate your sausage to a whole new level of flavor.