[(1VB)compforce]

First time ever making sausage from scratch. This was done completely via reading books and watching a video on the internet. It came out better than I expected.

4 lbs pork (it's a bit lean because I used loin rather than shoulder)
4 heaping teaspoons of minced garlic
about 4 Tbsp red pepper flakes
two bunches of sage, fine chop
6oz Parmesan, grated
a little less than 1/4 cup salt (I made a taster and decided to add more than the 1/8th I started with)
a few drops of olive oil to add moisture.

Things I learned:

It doesn't matter how neat you are, it's messy to make your own sausage.
The casings slow down on the tube as they dry out so don't try to do one giant sausage, do it in sections and rewet the casings along the way. It also helps to keep the part you are not working on in the fridge so it comes out consistently.
Stopping to wet the casings in the middle of the stuffing results in air bubbles.
There is a LOT more sausage still on the worm after it stops coming out the tube. Plan on having some that isn't stuffed when you're done.
The smallest amount of casing you can buy is a hank...which is about 100 yards. You'll have enough for about 200-300 sausages. Have a plan to store the unused part (brine in the fridge).
It really wasn't all that tough. the hardest part is cleaning up afterwards.

Things I wonder about that hopefully someone (TS) can shed some light on.

So you twist the casings to make links, then you cut where you twisted. What keeps the meat from falling out of the cut you made when you try to cook it?
Will acids like lemon or vinegar work in a sausage or will it cause the casing to deteriorate?
Why is it recommended to run the meat through the grinder twice? Why not once or three times?