stuffing hotdogs

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goldbarron

Newbie
Original poster
Nov 14, 2010
28
11
I am fairly new to making sausages and am wanting to make some homemade hot dogs my question is will my 3/4 hp cabelas grinder with the auger attachment stuff hot dogs or I need to buy a vertical stuffer to stuff with?  Thanks for any help. 
 
I don't know much about using a grinder to stuff hot dogs, however I do know when we do ours, we use sheep casings which are very tempermental.  I'd think that it would be hard to have that kind of control running things through a grinder and would opt for a vertical stuffer.  The sheeps casings can be frustrating enough with the vertical stuffer without dealing without the loss of control of stuffing speed.  Just my 2 cents.  Good luck.
 
thanks for the information.  I have not tried to stuff sheep casings yet and now I have a idea about them being picky to deal with.  I guess I was wondering more about weather the meat past would push through the tubes into the casings or just kind of spin through the auger of the grinder. 
 
I have the 1 hp cabelas commercial grinder with the auger but unfortunatley have not used it due to I own a stuffer so I cant help there. I would use the auger with the tube. Maybe nepas will key in. I think he has used his.........

Happy sausage making
 
Hey Barron,

Welcome to SMF!

I made 66 hot dogs using the stuffer tube on my grinder, took  me over 4 hours and I decided that night I would buy a vertical stuffer!

The hot dog recipes I read called for emulsifying the meat in a food processor, I didn't do that, instead I ran the meat through my medium plate and then the fine plate, the second grind was difficult, but the stuffing was next to impossible, the twice ground meat would squeeze by the plunger and come back up the grinder horn rather than go through the stuffer tube, ...it wasn't a fun experience, I have since bought a vertical stuffer and have made sausage 8 weekends out of the last ten, ...now it's fun!

There are some members here that successfully use a grinder to stuff with, all I can think of is their grinders must have a closer tolerance between the auger and the case than mine, I put my grinder together with my bean plate installed and looked at the clearance, there is close to 1/16"  between the edge of the auger and the walls of the case, something you might want to look at to determine if you want to try using it.

Gene
 
JustPassingThru, thanks for the information.  The family and I made a trip over to Bass Pro Shops and I bought a Lem 5 lb. stuffer.  So I would be prepared to stuff hot dogs and other sausages.  But when I got it home and opened it I found the three stuffing tubes broken.  I contacted Lem and they will send it out as soon as their they get in.  They are on back order until the end of April.  I am currently thinking of spinning my own but I would need to make a new tool rest for my lathe.  Maybe more effort than its worth.
 
Man, that's a bummer, can't you take it back and exchange it for one that doesn't have broken tubes?

Waiting until the end of April, when you have the stuffer in your hands, that would be hard for me to do, another thing, looking at all of the sausage posts with a busted stuffer would be frustrating.

Which hot dog recipe are you going to use, I used Rytek's and thought it was a tad too salty, my hot dog experience was my first sausage attempt and I made 5 lbs, I have since learned to make 1 lb test batches to see if I like the recipe before I make a large quantity, not to rub it in, but starting tonight for smoking this weekend I'm making 4 different sausages, Nepas' pepperoni, lop chong, breakfast and chicken with sun-dried tomato, ...you see what I mean, sausage making is fun and the results are tasty and don't last long, don't wait until May if you can help it.

Gene
 
I opted not to take it back because it is quite a drive and I took the last one on the shelf so I am curious I am not sure that they have another to exchange for. 

I have made some other sausages (bratworst, beef sticks, summer sausage, and others) using my grinder as a stuffer and they worked out good.  I do have a couple of buckboard bacon chunks curing in the fridge to smoke that will get me through the weekend.  I have not decided on which hot dog recipe to use yet so but thanks for the heads up on the saltiness of the Rytek recipe.  Have fun with your 4 sausage project this weekend.
 
You can stuff from the grinder as long as the meat is in big chucks. If your doing emulsified hot dogs then maybe you can get away with removing the grind plate after its all emulsified and just squishing the meat through. Using your grinder to stuff is better suited to course meat type sausages where you grind and stuff all at the same time. That auger just can't push a paste through with enough force.

I too did this same path and within days of my first batch i had a vertical stuffer in my hands! That really does suck though that the tubes were broke in the box. Can you use the grinders tubes somehow in the stuffer?
 
Man, that's a bummer, can't you take it back and exchange it for one that doesn't have broken tubes?

Waiting until the end of April, when you have the stuffer in your hands, that would be hard for me to do, another thing, looking at all of the sausage posts with a busted stuffer would be frustrating.

Which hot dog recipe are you going to use, I used Rytek's and thought it was a tad too salty, my hot dog experience was my first sausage attempt and I made 5 lbs, I have since learned to make 1 lb test batches to see if I like the recipe before I make a large quantity, not to rub it in, but starting tonight for smoking this weekend I'm making 4 different sausages, Nepas' pepperoni, lop chong, breakfast and chicken with sun-dried tomato, ...you see what I mean, sausage making is fun and the results are tasty and don't last long, don't wait until May if you can help it.

Gene
Sorry to hijack Goldbarron
biggrin.gif
Justpassingthrum care to share some recipes? I have never heard of lop chong, it sounds ethnic and i love recreating ethnic foods!
 
 
Hey Gold,

Thanks, looking forward to you bacon post, I haven't tried any of that yet, pork is scarce here.

Using the grinder tubes might be a good idea, that way if the head is different (my stuffer tubes are flat and my grinder tubes are flat with a bevel that positions the tube in the ring that holds them)  you would only have to turn a ring that would cause it to seal.

Nogoer, lop chong is the Chinese sausage you see in the frozen food sections, I have posted the recipes in my threads, also so as not to high jack this thread I'll send you a PM later today, it's time for work now.

Gene
 
In the book "Charcuterie" they recommend grinding the meat into pastry stuffing bags.I have a LEM #8 Grinder and will fill the pastry bags thru a 2"diameter stainless steel stuffing tube.. I am making beef hot dogs from short rib meat and will stuff the meat into hot casings. Whatever method you attempt it is bound to be a learning experience.
 
First off welcome to SMF sloweddy and were glad to have you aboard...Can you swing over to roll call and introduce yourself so we can give you a proper welcome and don't forget to fill out your location in your profile........

Thanks and happy smoking

Joe

This is an older thread........ You making some hot dogs? if you need any help just start a new thread in the sausage forum and ask for help with what your doing or if your experience in making hot dogs start a new thread so you can share your experience with us....... We want to see............
drool.gif


Boykjo
 
Last edited:
Hello sloweddy.  Welcome to the forums.

I realize it's an old thread too but it's nice to see someone tack onto an old thread instead of starting yet another on the same subject.  A few thoughts on the previous posts....

I don't find sheep casings at all tempermental just more fragile than others so you need to be cautious about over stuffing them.

Any finely ground meat mixture is going to tend to bypass the grinder's auger even when grinding finer but especially when trying to stuff with a small tube.  For finely ground or emulsified mixtures a stuffer is head and shoulders easier to work with than a grinder.

My experience has been that for hand craked stuffers a tall skinny stuffer is less work (and less strain on the gears when stuffing small casings than a short fat stuffer is.

I've never use a pastry bag to stuff casings and suspect that I lack one hand for the process.  I may just be unimaginative but I can't figure needing less than three hands for that.

Have a great day.

Lance
 
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