Sausage Making Tip #1: Try to maintain near-freezing temperatures (of the meat) throughout the process. This will keep the sausage from crumbling when being cooked. Sausage Making Tip #2: Try and limit the time you keep the sausage at room temperature to 30 minutes or less. So estimate how pounds of sausage you can grind, stuff or package in less than 30 minutes. If you have a lot of sausage to make, break it into batches that can be made in 30 minutes or less. This helps by keeping the temperature of the meat as cold as possible - which is safer and leads to better tasting sausage.