Meat Grinder

[AtlLaw]

I was reading a post on some forum.  A member was asking for recommendations for a meat grinder.  I'd like to expand that subject here.
 
I just made up about 15 lbs. of venison sausage.  I've got 3 pounds curing for summer sausage and I made the rest into patties and fried them up last night.  I'll vacuum pack and freeze them tonight.
 
To grind the meat (deer and a couple of Boston butts) I used a small grinder I bought years ago (Ronco maybe) when I was young and money was tight; mostly plastic.  I'd never used it before and probably never will again!  I had to pull the blade and plate to clean off the connective tissue every few oz. of meat!  It literally took HOURS to grind 15 lbs!
 
Has anyone anyone ever had this problem or have any thoughts on that?
 
Next, members suggested Weston and LEM grinders.  In looking at those two brands, I kind of like something in the nature of the Weston #8 one-half HP model.
 
All I'll use it for is to grind a few deer a year.  Anyone have any brand suggestions, experience, thoughts or comments?

[blind ear]

Any grinder that has dull blades will not cut connective tissue. On a quality grinder you can get the blades sharpened or buy new ones.The tollerances on the chepo grinders arn't tight enough, blade/extruder plate, to cut the connective tissue
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It helps to have the meat slightly frozen. . The feed screw setup can aid in pushing through the cutter and extruder plate if the feed screw takes up most of the feed bore. ear

[AtlLaw]

Any grinder that has dull blades will not cut connective tissue. On a quality grinder you can get the blades sharpened or buy new ones. ... It helps to have the meat slightly frozen.

Thanks ear.  The blades had never been used so should be sharp; but I wouldn't bet on it.   And the meat was slightly frozen.  Now!   
 

The tolerances on the cheapo grinders aren't tight enough, blade/extruder plate, to cut the connective tissue ... The feed screw setup can aid in pushing through the cutter and extruder plate if the feed screw takes up most of the feed bore.

I think this is the um... meat of it!     It appeared to me that the knives kinda skimmed over the plate, mashing the connective tissue onto the plate and into the holes rather then cutting it.  That's what i had to clean off, by scraping the plate with a knife.  Basically doing what the the grinder blade should have done.  Isn't that correct?   
 
And the auger is real sloppy in the bore!   

[SHOOTALL]

We try to trim as much of that off as we can , we have same problem also temp can cause problems if to cold fat in particular.

[AtlLaw]

Is that with a grinder like the Weston?   

[SHOOTALL]

not sure about a Weston . Ours came from BassPro it was supposed to be a nice one and does work well .

[blind ear]

ATLAW, I believe you have it. Connective tissue is just a curse to deal with and cold fat just fills all the open space and slicks everything over and nothing moves. If you have a resteraunt supply near it might be a learning experience to look at the screw, feed bore and cutter/plate setup. The screw doesn't fit tight but some are closer than others and some bores have ribs or a reverse spiral shape to them. ear

[hillbill]

if you want a really good grinder you mite look at some of the old cast iron ones.lots of them out there with very little use on them.mine is probably at least 75 years old. my gpa fitted a large belt pully to it, screwed it to a board, screwed a small electric motor to the other end of the board and conectted them by a belt.it has coarse and fine plates that fit on the end for diff burger consistency.i can grind at least 1 deer without cleaning the blade of connective tissue but im carefull about putting a lot of forearm meat in it and stuff like but it will take it just fine. to sharpen the blade i just lay it flat on a large carborundum stone and swirl it around.
a buddy of mine that has a large free standing meat saw grinder he got from bass pro was totally amazed at how fast mine would grind and the size of the meat you could put in it.it will litterally grind as fast as you can drop meat in it.ill bet i could grind 10 lbs in 5 minutes. the best thing i did was buy a plastic sausage stuffer tube from bass pro,it lets you grind meat while holding one of the plastic tube burger bags over the sausage stuffer, when they are about full yu stop puttin meat in, tie them off with a zip tie and grab another bag.i get the bags from a local butcher for 5ct apiece. for clean up i unscrew everything and take apart and wash down in a 5 gal buket of soapy water.my hunting buddy and me last year did 4 deer, cut steaks and jerky and bagged it and ground all the burger and bagged it and cleaned up in 2.5 hrs. deer were already skinned tho.

[Drilling Man]

  I have an old electric american made grinder that i bought in the 70's, i've made a LOT of sausage with it since then!  IF, i was buying a new grinder today, i'd buy the 1hp one from Cabela's.  I believe they are made in Italy...
 
  My brother makes a LOT of sausage/brats and after seeing how nice his 1hp model from Cabela's has been working for him, i think it's worth the money.  Another thing, Cabela's will stand behind their product, that's worth something to me right there.
 
  I would NOT buy a hand turn grinder, i have a couple of those and i wouldn't want to have to go back to them! PEROID!
 
  I bought a grinder for the Kitchenaide stand mixer, and it does grind, but it's slow, rather sloppy made and looks like a pretty low quality product to me!
 
  Buy a GOOD grinder and if you want to keep makeing sausage, buy a sausage stuffer!
 
  DM

[AtlLaw]

if you want a really good grinder you mite look at some of the old cast iron ones.lots of them out there with very little use on them.mine is probably at least 75 years old. my gpa fitted a large belt pully to it, screwed it to a board, screwed a small electric motor to the other end of the board and conectted them by a belt.

This idea was brought up on my other thread and my grinding (and hunting buddy) was talking about it this morning.  He was told to chuck up the hand grinder to a drill and use that for power.  I tell ya, people sure are inventive!   
 

IF, i was buying a new grinder today, i'd buy the 1hp one from Cabela's.  I believe they are made in Italy...

Apparently the Cabela's grinder is pretty popular.  I was wondering about what the best HP is for what I'll do; a couple of deer a year. 
 

I bought a grinder for the Kitchenaide stand mixer, and it does grind, but it's slow, rather sloppy made and looks like a pretty low quality product to me!

That was my impression by just looking at pictures...    But I would love to have a KA mixer!   

Buy a GOOD grinder and if you want to keep making sausage, buy a sausage stuffer!

That's what I want to do.  Buy a grinder that works as it should without fail and will last me all my meat grinding days!     But why do so many folk say to get a stuffer as well?   

[chefjeff]

I started with hand grinders 30 years ago. Now have a small Oster for little kitchen jobs,and a one HP model from Cabelas. I grind about 6-10 deer a year,occasional beef,this year raising two pigs.The larger grinder is indespensable to me.

[hillbill]

ive not tried to stuff sausage with my gpas old grinder but i do have the tube for it and it works well for putting the burger into the bags.id think it would work well for sausage stuffing. what i do know is i got a sausage stuffer from bass pro and it is junk.its the kidney shaped one with the long handle. so much sausage bypasses the plunger its a joke.it will get the job done eventually tho.my next batch i will just run it back thru the grinder with the fine screen in place and stuff the caseings.my buddys all raved about my 1/2 deer, 1/4 beef, 1/4 pork brats last time i made them.im going to try sum summer sausage this year.

[hillbill]

if yu really want to try sumpin good! make the smoked deer sticks with the 3/4 inch caseing.add your ingredients and mix well and stuff into the stick caseings. then smoke or bake in oven.dont even let these get near a 6'3" teenage boy!they will be gone trust me!

[SHOOTALL]

for breakfast sausage grandma would save flour bage wash them and cut and sew them so you ens up with bags about 2.5 inches in dia when filled. She would grind all the meat and nix with sage and pepper then stuff into the bag, tie it off the roll in flour. Hang the bags ( as many as 100 some years ) in the smoke house and smoke along with hams and middlin or streak of fat /streak of lean (bacon) . She would also put up canned sausage for longer storage .