Grinder Question

[smokingupnm]

As I well know there are a lot of great sausage makers hanging around here, I have a couple of questions for them. What is the grinder of choice? Do you need a sausage stuffer or can you use the grinder to stuff the casings? Any help would be great...

 

[werdwolf]

I started with a $99 grinder, and grew tired of fighting with it. I bumped up and got a middle of the road Cabela's grinder and what a difference. It is faster and easier. Some folks here are happy with the "$99" models.

The grinders will stuff the sausage. It is slow and some will emulsify " not that sort of chunky texture of sausage".

If you are just starting out, the cheaper one will work fine for smaller batches.

 

[oneshot]

I just bought the Cabelas Commercial 1 hp grinder. (They are on sale)!!!!!!!!!!!
I did a lot of looking before I decided and waited for them to come on sale. Even without the sale I would have bought it, it's one kick butt grinder. Very well made and has a customer rating of 4.8 stars out of 5 with almost 500 customers responding. It also has a number of attachments that work with it. This will handle anything you would need it for. You can read the responses at the link below.

Check it out at this link: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...set=ISO-8859-1

I hope this helps you.....

 

[got14u]

the grinder of choice around here i think is the cabelas commercial. I was leaning towards another brand but with cabelas good customer service along with a lot of accessories i went with the 3/4 horse...man it goes right through the meat with ease. I do about 50lb or so every 2 months. this size is plenty for me. hope this helps

 

[hog warden]

Grinder for what? Are you going to do one pork butt now and then or whole hogs, deer, etc?

What do you think will be the weight of your average sized grind?

In almost all cases, plan on separate grinder and stuffer. Inexpensive alternatives exist for both, as do high priced ones.

 

[uncle_lar]

In almost all cases, plan on separate grinder and stuffer. Inexpensive alternatives exist for both, as do high priced ones.[/quote]


What he said! you will have allot more fun and be way less frustrated if you go with separate units.
I bought my grinder (general) brand 3/4 hp #10 grinder an enterprise 6 qt stuffer both off of eBay I think I spent a total of about 300.00 for both and I am very happy. I make about 50# of various sausage about every 2 weeks.
during deer season I process 4 or 5 deer and make salami, sticks and jerky.
it has kind of snowballed and I love it!
my next purchase will be a meat mixer for the big batches.

 

[coffee_junkie]

What he said! you will have allot more fun and be way less frustrated if you go with separate units.
I bought my grinder (general) brand 3/4 hp #10 grinder an enterprise 6 qt stuffer both off of eBay I think I spent a total of about 300.00 for both and I am very happy. I make about 50# of various sausage about every 2 weeks.
during deer season I process 4 or 5 deer and make salami, sticks and jerky.
it has kind of snowballed and I love it!
my next purchase will be a meat mixer for the big batches.[/quote]

Everybody has great advice. The only thing I would look for in a grider is metal gears. Northern tool has a .8hp grinder for $99 and it works great!
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...70_36989_36989
I purchased a cabellas pro grinder for $169 and have ground about 300lbs through it, but I found a steel BB when doing some geese and the gears got chewed up. But Cabellas sent me a brand new one. If I where to do it again I would buy the Northern tool grinder.
As far as stuffers go look at these http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...8623_200308623 they are worth the $80.
I am going to upgrade to teh 15lb stuffer b/c I do 30lbs at a time. Small potatoes for some guys but for me it is all I can do in a day.
Good luck you might enjoy it!

 

[pops6927]

I started out with the KitchenAid grinder w/stuffing tubes. The grinder didn't do too bad of a job, but stuffing was excruciatingly slow and churned the meat into mush.

I got the 1 hp. Cabela's grinder which was a huge improvement. It did better at stuffing too, but still wanted to get a separate stuffer for preservation of the integrity of the product; i.e. not being re-ground into the casings via the worm gear feeding it.

So, I invested in the 15lb. Northern Tool stainless steel stuffer and haven't been happier. All my sausage comes out professional and looks and tastes great! And my family loves it!

Here's some pics:

Here's where I started, with the KitchenAid:



Then the 1 hp. Cabela's:



Stuffing with it:



Got the Northern Tool 15lb. stuffer w/metal gears:





Now, turning out butcher block-grade product!:



Ya get what you pay for. I know I'll use and re-use this equipment for the rest of my life and there will be plenty of punch in it to pass it on to my kids to use for their lives too. Already they've earned their keep with the hundreds and hundreds of pounds of sausages I've made over the last few years; had it not been for the wife's cancer and my stroke we'd be able to afford making a heck of a lot more too! (Maybe start a rumor not to eat pork with the swine flu going on... drop pork prices that way... supply and demand! lol!)

 

[mossymo]

SmokingupNM
Your budget and and interest in sausage making will determine your choice or choices (as many have allready staed).

10+ years ago I started with a grinder attachemnt for our kitchen Aid mixer. It worked well but was slow; at the time we were processing 7-8 deer for ourselves and another 5-8 for/with others. Then I went to a ball bearing'd grinder and hooked it up to a 3/4 horse 2 phase motor which speeded things up quite a bit.

The first stuffer I owned was a 4 quart Enterprise which did quite well. Then I added a 6 quart Enterprise to our stuffing abilities. A few years ago I purchased a 25 lb. The Sausage Maker Stuffer, all I can say is WOW !!! The attachments that are available for this are unreal (I think we have most of them), this has speeded up processing alot, along with a well powered, larger grinder. Since the Enterprises have been sold.

 

[cajunsmoke13]

I have a grinder that I also use as a stuffer...no problems. get a spacer plate for stuffing and it works fine....Don't end up fighting with it...Works fine to me...Who knows, maybe I would like a separate stuffer. I know I have to clean the grinder inbetween grinding and stuffing...

 

[smokingupnm]

Thank you all for your input. I am really looking forward to getting into the sausage. Yall have helped me alot. Now all i have to do is make up my mind and jump in with both feet.Thanks again i new i could count on each and everyone. This place is AWSOME!!!!!!!