PM Marshmudd, hes a master at this too

Several things can cause the casings to be tough. Rinsing them in water that’s too hot, smoking at yo low of a temperature, smoking at yo hot of a temperature, not properly finishing them up at the end. Certain brands of casings soften better then others. Age of casings also matter.
My smoking process goes like this. We stuff the sausage and hang them in the smoke house. I will put the heat to them. Try to keep the temp 100-120deg for about an hour to dry the casings up. Sausage takes up smoke better through dry casings. I then add smoking wood of choice. For me I use dry red oak. I bring the temperature up to 150-160deg and let roll like that for usually around 4 hours. I’ll ckeck the sausage for that certain look that I like. That even beautiful reddish color and the casings starting to wrinkle just a little. I then crank up the heat to around 200-220deg and “sweat” the sausage. I take the cover off the fire box and leave a crack in the door as the sausage has taken up all the smoke it will take. I just want heat. I’ll watch the sausage and it will start getting a wet look to it. This is the main step to tenderizing the casings. I will run it like that for usually about 30 minutes and then shut everything off. I’ll remove the firebox and leave the door open and let the sausage cool for a while. Remove the sausage and put it in my fridge in the shed to cool completely. If it’s in the 40s I’ll leave them hang in the smokehouse over night and package the next day.
Now this is the method that works for me and my smokehouse set up. My sausage sticks are a little over 6ft off the ground when they are hanging and the sausage are about 5ft above the firebox. The firebox is on a really short propane burner on the ground and I have an old 12v radiator fan off a Honda 4 wheeler in it to circulate the heat and smoke that helps everything stay even. We still on occasion get some casings that remains a little tough but not very often. Feel free to ask any questions and I’ll try to help anyway I can.

Several things can cause the casings to be tough. Rinsing them in water that’s too hot, smoking at yo low of a temperature, smoking at yo hot of a temperature, not properly finishing them up at the end. Certain brands of casings soften better then others. Age of casings also matter.
My smoking process goes like this. We stuff the sausage and hang them in the smoke house. I will put the heat to them. Try to keep the temp 100-120deg for about an hour to dry the casings up. Sausage takes up smoke better through dry casings. I then add smoking wood of choice. For me I use dry red oak. I bring the temperature up to 150-160deg and let roll like that for usually around 4 hours. I’ll ckeck the sausage for that certain look that I like. That even beautiful reddish color and the casings starting to wrinkle just a little. I then crank up the heat to around 200-220deg and “sweat” the sausage. I take the cover off the fire box and leave a crack in the door as the sausage has taken up all the smoke it will take. I just want heat. I’ll watch the sausage and it will start getting a wet look to it. This is the main step to tenderizing the casings. I will run it like that for usually about 30 minutes and then shut everything off. I’ll remove the firebox and leave the door open and let the sausage cool for a while. Remove the sausage and put it in my fridge in the shed to cool completely. If it’s in the 40s I’ll leave them hang in the smokehouse over night and package the next day.
Now this is the method that works for me and my smokehouse set up. My sausage sticks are a little over 6ft off the ground when they are hanging and the sausage are about 5ft above the firebox. The firebox is on a really short propane burner on the ground and I have an old 12v radiator fan off a Honda 4 wheeler in it to circulate the heat and smoke that helps everything stay even. We still on occasion get some casings that remains a little tough but not very often. Feel free to ask any questions and I’ll try to help anyway I can.

Abe Froman better step aside, there’s only one true Sausage King. 👑