Need Advice....Grinder Size

[blacktail master]

Hello Guys. Thought I would throw my 2 cents in on a grinder selection and size. I feel my experience with butchering livestock over the last 40 years may help some of you in choosing a good grinder that will last you a lifetime. My opinion is based off doing 120+ beef, twice that many hogs and countless wild game. Here is my take on 4 common grinder brands I have used over the years.

Hobart 1-1/2 HP Commercial Grinder  #32 Head Size
- Excellant Grinder, the best money can buy in my opinion but to expensive for the average person wanting to do a couple deer and elk a year.

Cabelas 1-1/2 HP Grinder #32 Head I think? PS sorry about the spelling!
- My brother has one, used it one fall while at his place grinding 4 deer and an elk
-Power was good. However the motor transfered to much heat through the auger into head of grinder, causing meat to turn to mush after about 15min. of use.
-I believe this is why they are trying to overcome this with the ice-pack around the head of grinder

Weston 1HP Grinder #22 Head
- I bought one of these to use on small jobs. My thought was no sense in dirtying up my big Hobart for a couple deer or an elk, was thinking about making my clean up a little easier.
- I took the first one back, wouldnt start with foot pedal once head was full of meat.
- Took the second one back, same problem.
- This grinder is a POS for anyone that knows what a good grinder is capable of.

LEM 1-1/2 HP Grinder  #32 Head
- Excellant Grinder for a homeowner/hunter looking to do deer,elk,etc.
-Price is comparible to Cabelas grinders not on sale
-Excellant customer service with LEM, no worry about ordering parts, excellant people to deal with.
- I would rate this grinder as almost commercial quality.

Also remember guys, the single most important thing when grinding meat with any grinder is to keep meat cold,almost on the verge of starting to freeze. Also, put the head of grinder in your refrigerator for an hour or so prior to using grinder, even overnight if possible.

I hope my time here was well spent and will help some of you out and save you time and money.

Weston

[quadrafire]

Great post and thoughts Blacktail.
I had thought about freezing the head prior to grinding but didn't know if that would be a good idea.
I have the 1 hp cabelas and it will take the first grind through as fast you can feed it. What I seem to struggle with is the second grind. Any tips on that?
I might add that that is usually with pork, making different sausages/brats etc. The pork just seems so 'sticky' on the second grind

[blacktail master]

Hello Quadrafire-
I can help you with this. Need to ask a few questions first.
-Why are you grinding twice?
-What size plate are you using on your first and second grind?
- Are you grinding meat into a tub and then wrapping it or are you stuffing it into hamburger bags?

[quadrafire]

Hello Quadrafire-
I can help you with this. Need to ask a few questions first.
-Why are you grinding twice?
-What size plate are you using on your first and second grind?
- Are you grinding meat into a tub and then wrapping it or are you stuffing it into hamburger bags?

I figured i'd get a better mix of my seasoning and consistency during the second grind. I'm using the medium plate, (don't know the mm size off hand) for both grinds.
I'm either grinding into a tub or right into my stuffer. Sometimes I do bags if i'm just doing bulk sausage.

[blacktail master]

Quad-
Grinding twice can be trouble. A lot of people do it for various reasons. If making bulk breakfast type sausage with a dry seasoning this is what I do.
- Cut meat into 1'' cubes, mix dry seasoning into meat cubes, put meat back into cooler for an hour or so and grind with a 3/16'' plate and stuff into sausage bags all in one step. Dont forget to grease head of grinder with lard or Pam cooking oil before grinding
-If you are making brats or such, I would invest in a sausage stuffer, they are fairly priced for a small one. This will keep you from having to run it back through the grinder to get it in your casings. Using a grinder to stuff 1'' hog casings for brats can be a frustrating affair.
- If you must grind twice, after 1st grind clean grinder head, plate and knife, cool meat and grinder head again between grinds and grease grinder head before doing second grind.
- Also, after sausage is either wrapped or stuffed into bags let it sit in refrigerator over night before freezing, this allows seasoning to absorb better into meat. Hope this helps you Quad?

[Rainier10]

Great post and thoughts Blacktail.
I had thought about freezing the head prior to grinding but didn't know if that would be a good idea.
I have the 1 hp cabelas and it will take the first grind through as fast you can feed it. What I seem to struggle with is the second grind. Any tips on that?
I might add that that is usually with pork, making different sausages/brats etc. The pork just seems so 'sticky' on the second grind

I have had the same issue before. I had to recool the meat between grinds to get it to go through just as fast the second time.

[quadrafire]

Quad-
Grinding twice can be trouble. A lot of people do it for various reasons. If making bulk breakfast type sausage with a dry seasoning this is what I do.
- Cut meat into 1'' cubes, mix dry seasoning into meat cubes, put meat back into cooler for an hour or so and grind with a 3/16'' plate and stuff into sausage bags all in one step. Dont forget to grease head of grinder with lard or Pam cooking oil before grinding
-If you are making brats or such, I would invest in a sausage stuffer, they are fairly priced for a small one. This will keep you from having to run it back through the grinder to get it in your casings. Using a grinder to stuff 1'' hog casings for brats can be a frustrating affair.
- If you must grind twice, after 1st grind clean grinder head, plate and knife, cool meat and grinder head again between grinds and grease grinder head before doing second grind.
- Also, after sausage is either wrapped or stuffed into bags let it sit in refrigerator over night before freezing, this allows seasoning to absorb better into meat. Hope this helps you Quad?

Heck Yea it helps me a bunch. As I can eliminate a step. I had already been cutting fairly small and mixing seasonings before the first grind and I have a stuffer already and can just run it directly into that, as I had been but i was doing the extra grinding step which was the biggest pain and slowest part of the process.
Thanks a bunch 

[KFhunter]

I did a large boar hog.  larger hole plate first then mixed seasonings then regrind through the small plate.  Turned out great.


For experiment I tried to eat some sausage that had only been ground once through the large plate and it was like eating chicken gizzards, it was tough and chewy. 

No way I'm going to cut everything in 1" cubes when sausaging a huge boar.  My hand was so tired I couldn't hold onto the knife anymore and that was just making things big enough to fit through a #32 head

[KFhunter]

Great post and thoughts Blacktail.
I had thought about freezing the head prior to grinding but didn't know if that would be a good idea.
I have the 1 hp cabelas and it will take the first grind through as fast you can feed it. What I seem to struggle with is the second grind. Any tips on that?
I might add that that is usually with pork, making different sausages/brats etc. The pork just seems so 'sticky' on the second grind

I froze mine with the ice packs around it, threw it in the chest freezer the night before I started grinding.  Nothing stuck, but I also had a very thin film of coconut oil on the head and auger.  I applied the coconut oil when it was warm just after a good wash then stuck it in the freezer. 

Coconut oil doesn't go rancid ever and it's food safe.

[The Weazle]

I always grind twice, and both grinds through the course plate.  First time is just the meat.  I take the head apart, clean it all up quick, and then in the freezer while I mix seasonings into my meat.  Then set up the grinder again, and then I take my seasoned meat and kind of drop "balls" of the seasoned meat down the throat directly into the auger and it goes very fast, and eliminates a lot of the sticking.

I feel that grinding twice through the course plate gives the meat a good consistency, and also mixes the seasonings just a little better than just hand mixing.

I have the cabelas 1HP, old school, not the carnivore.