Belgian-Beer-Brats

(OP- 2017) Back Story to this beautiful sausage. My buddy told me a few weeks ago he was planning on making a Belgium Beer, and I just knew had to use the beer as my canvas to make something wonderful. Over a couple of weeks, I picked his brain about the beer and what goes into making a Belgium Beer. My buddy is a guru when it comes to things like this, and his attention to detail has no equal. What makes this sausage and beer combination even more picturesque is his name….wait for it….. wait for it….his name is Wolfgang!!!

There's not a lot of spices or herbs in this beer...it's all about the yeast, which gives the beer it's unique flavor. But what he added to the beer really intrigued me. He used Grains of Paradise, Coriander, and Star Anise. He only used one Anise pod for the whole batch too. Anyhow not only do I have these ingredients, but I use them often.

One thing for sure Belgium Beer is the star of the show and I didn't want the addition of herbs, and spices to detract or upstage the beer. I decided to keep things simple. I was not going to use any cures, cure accelerators, or binders. I used Sodium Phosphates only to ensure moisture retention. As far as other ingredients, I kept that simple too. I added just a bit of Grains of Paradise, Coriander, and Star Anise (one pod for 23 lbs of sausage), which are identical ingredients that Wolfgang used. I added some mustard seeds for texture and flavor. We all know mustard is great with sausage. I also added cheese too. I'll get to that in a moment but what goes great with beer? I chose mustard and cheese for obvious reasons… at least to me. They go great with Beer!!!!

So most of you know I do not eat pork, so I went with beef. I used Chuck, but had their been short rib available I would have incorporated that too.

I separated the fat from the lean meat as best as I could and added additional fat to get the fat percentage up to 45%. Here's my nifty Fat Percentage post and calculator.

Here's everything combined…. Fat, Meat, and spices. Make sure to use a spice mill for the grains of paradise, and the coriander.

The meat was transferred back and forth to the freezer many times to keep temp very low. Everything was ground through a 1/2 plate twice. Between grindings, the meat was placed in the freezer to keep the temp low.

The video of my grinder in action is down below- This baby will grind at 17 lbs a minute. Very impressive. Since I normally grind between 20-30 lbs this grinder makes it very easy. Note: Meats temperature never exceeds 32 f.

This is vid is old but it's here only to show you this baby in action. It's called the Lem Big-Bite 32. Some people think this is overkill but the less time meat sits out at room temp the better it is for the sausage. Imagine having a smaller one like a #8? It could take you an hour to grind 30 lbs. The only limitation I have is the speed at which I feed the dang thing. It goes through the meat fast. I can grind 30 lbs in less than 4 minutes and that's only because I am slow.

Anyhow it's all ground up….. going to place everything in the refrigerator until I am ready for the next step.

The tale of 3 kinds of cheese…. I purchased 3 kinds of cheeses thinking I would use one of them for the sausage. Drinking beer and eating cheese (life's hard) which was not a burden mind you but I had to figure out which cheese would go well the with beer. The smoked gouda although awesome was too smokey for the beer sausage. It would have overpowered the sausage and that's not what I was looking to do. Anyhow I sampled the Aged Cheddar and dang it was simply freaking awesome. Not on the strong side mind you but had a distinct flavor. The un-smoked gouda was soft and had a very neutral taste compared to the other two. Paring the gouda and the aged cheddar together would work well with this sausage.

I knew I wanted to add about 8 oz of cheese to every 5 lbs of sausage I had. In the end, it worked out to 12%. Perfect if you ask me.

The video of my mixer inaction is down below- I add about 24-30 oz of the beer and all the cheese. What the video does not show is the ice-water. I added just enough (maybe 32-40 oz). I was looking for binding to take place and for it to feel tacky in my hands.

Dang who doesn't like taste tests? This recipe and all the percentages are just a big old guess from yours truly. I pinched off several chunks of sausage and fried them up and had the family taste them. Nothing needed to be adjusted……perfect.

All mixed up…. placed in the refrigerator until next step……..while cooling off in the refrigerator I will be spending these relaxing moments cleaning.

I am using my sausage stuffer that holds 15 lbs. I bought it from The-Sausage-Maker many years ago….maybe 25+ years ago. If I made sausage often I would upgrade to an electric one that could hold 30 lbs of meat.

I used 38 mm collagen casings which are perfect for these Brats. Collagen casings are easy to work with but they tend to bust easier too. You cannot stuff them to tight and require butcher string to link off. I am still working on what might be the best technique.

Rolling these babies up first before I start linking them…I ended up with two of these. Lots of work ahead for me.

Before you vac seal them up it's important to prick them. Piercing them will allow for some expansion during the cook and will prevent bursting. Natural casings are more forgiving them collagen.

All Vac Sealed!!!!!!!

Ok…. Sous-Vide at 146 f for 3 hours. Doing this accomplishes three things. One-pasteurized (took place at 90 min), Two- the extra 90 minutes tenderized them and Three- Sous-Viding them cooks them gently. Cooking them this way followed up by a quick sear mitigates bursting. If you were to cook them fully by frying them they would surely burst.