Want to take the plunge into sausage making...equipment advice


 
C

craig hess

TVWBB Fan
I want to start making sausage and since the Holidays are here, no better way to take the plunge than to ask Santa for some equipment!

Do they make combo grinders and stuffers or is it better to get them separately?

Any advice on some good equipment that isn't crazy expensive?

Thanks for the help everyone!
 
Northern Industrial makes some good entry level stuff.

You can get their #12 grinder and a 5-lb stuffer for under $200 total (not sure what your price point is).

You'll find that using a dedicated stuffer is much easier than using a combo grinder-stuffer and will generally produce better results.
 
Hand-cranked grinders like you might find on Craigslist will also work well for the grinding aspect. However there's not a lot of substitutes for a piston-driven stuffer.
 
If you have a kitchen aid mixer you might also want to look into the grinder attachment for it, it will be cheaper than using a stand-alone grinder and most people find it adequate in my experience.

Sorry for the triple-post.
 
I've used several meat grinders and bought this grinder that Dave referrenced. Strictly for home use, it'll grind 10 lbs as fast as you can feed meat into it. And someone (Dave, Jay, ???) recommended cutting meat into strips which lets the grinder grab the end and pulls the rest into the mouth. Great idea and works like a charm. I still use it for stuffing and it works pretty well. I can see the advantages of a stand alone stuffer, but for now it is sufficient. For under $100 it's about the best rated grinder I could find based on reviews.

Paul
 
You guys rock...thanks for the quick replies!

My goal is to start with simple sausage that I can cook/smoke, and then step up to charcuterie...baby steps, baby steps.

I hope that I'm on Santa's "nice" list!
 
Originally posted by Paul K:
I've used several meat grinders and bought this grinder that Dave referrenced. Strictly for home use, it'll grind 10 lbs as fast as you can feed meat into it. And someone (Dave, Jay, ???) recommended cutting meat into strips which lets the grinder grab the end and pulls the rest into the mouth. Great idea and works like a charm. I still use it for stuffing and it works pretty well. I can see the advantages of a stand alone stuffer, but for now it is sufficient. For under $100 it's about the best rated grinder I could find based on reviews.

Paul
Click to expand...

Paul-

I like it...good price point too. So this will grind the meat and stuff into the casings?

I know, stupid question, but I have no clue what I'm doing (kind of like when I started doing serious BBQ many years ago)
 
it "will" stuff the casings but it's tedious and you run a significant risk of fat smearing due to friction from the auger mechanism.

I made a few batches of sausages using the northern tools grinder/stuffer. I even went and bought a stuffer plate to make it easier. But, in the end, it was too much work and I ruined a couple batches of sausages (texture ruined, still edible though) by doing it this way, so I bought a dedicated stuffer.

Now it takes me 10 minutes to stuff 10 lbs of sausages. Before, using the grinder, it would've taken at least half an hour.
 
Originally posted by Dave from Denver:
If you have a kitchen aid mixer you might also want to look into the grinder attachment for it, it will be cheaper than using a stand-alone grinder and most people find it adequate in my experience.

Sorry for the triple-post.
Click to expand...
I use the wifeys Kitchen Aid mixer (i bought grinder attachment) for grinding, works pretty decent. For stuffing i use a Lem 5LB stuffer. I beleive Bass Pro sells Lem or a similar unit.
 
One of these is a pretty cheap way to get into it. We've made probably 60-70 pounds of sausage in 3 batches and it's been great. Comes with all of the stuffing equipment, too. All you need is meat and casing.
 
I agree with Stefan...the KA grinder attachment works well for that chore. I bought a reconditioned one from the KA website a few years back for about $35 and it has worked like a champ. I use a 5 lb. Northern tool stuffer and that works great as well. I made 70 pounds of sausage and bacon a few weeks ago with no trouble at all.

Ron
 
So this will grind the meat and stuff into the casings?
Click to expand...

Yes, but dedicated stuffers are better/easier. Now, you mention 'baby steps'. I'd recommend going with just the grinder and use it to stuff as well. The trick here is to work with very cold meat; borderline frozen for both grinding and stuffing and you won't have the fat smear issue Dave describes. The other thing I would recommend with regards to baby steps is to try a few fresh sausages first. Fresh as opposed to smoked. With fresh, you grind, season then stuff; no pink salt, no smoking. A smoked sausage requires pink salt, Prague Powder, Morton's Tender Quick, etc. to retard bacteria. Smoking sausage requires a low temp like around 170. If you smoke above this temp, you run the risk of rendering/melting the fat. If this happens you get an odd texture to the sausage which results in an undesireable mouth feel. A site I recommend for technique and recipes is this one.. Good stuff.

Paul
 
I realize some people like to make things just for the sake of eating and sharing something they made. But for me, if I'm going to go through the time and effort of making something, I want it to come out as good or better than something that was professionally produced. I played around with stuffing through my grinder and was semi pleased with the results. Now that I have a 5lb stuffer, I cringe to think about how difficult it was to make those sausages and how bad they were.

You want a hobby, not a job, so get a stuffer and be amazed at how easy it is to make awesome sausages.

Here's some additional items that I feel are indispensable:

4 qt buckets. Grind up two butts and you'll fill these three buckets each with enough to do a 5 lb batch. I'll spend a night filling the buckets. the next night, I'll mix and stuff one or two of the 5 lb batches, and do the rest the third night. That way everything has a chance to get cold between steps and I can pace myself with clean up.

hotel pans. These are nice because you need something low enough to fit under the outflow of your grinder, yet have some capacity. You can stack two and have ice in the bottom one, if you are particularly keen on keeping things cold.

A nice big sheet pan is helpful for stuffing, to keep the growing sausage contained and off the counter.

16" diameter pizza screens are a perfect fit for an 18" wsm and hold a 5 lb coil of sausage perfectly for drying and smoking
 
Buy yourself a digital scale as well, where you can accurately measure a few grams of spices, pepper or salt. "normal" kitchen scales can't do this.
 
I was in the market for a small but decent quality grinder. Got an LEM#5 from Bass Pro, and am very happy with it. I did up an 18# batch of polish sausage for my first time out, and it performed great!

If I decide to to any more at one time though, I'll probably get a standalone stuffer.
 
I'm just into grinding/stuffing with an electric as well. Previously used a hand grinder from long ago and from start to finish would take me about 3 hr (including cooking "patties" and setting up to freeze for storage). I'm hoping with this new setup it'll take a half hour max (not including near-freezing time).

The part about almost-frozen meat is right on. And not just the meat but the auger, plate, and cutter blade as cold as you can get it.

Then after the meat is sliced (before grinding), almost freeze again (meat chunks on a cookie sheet in the freezer) for about an hour.

Then grind.

I've read that almost everywhere I've researched.

Then use your mixer (I've got a universal plus) with the dough hook to mix it up with your spices.

Then put it through the ice cold stuffer-attached-to-the-grinder into casings (or not as you prefer). Some just let it come out in casing-less tubes and carefully line them up on a cookie sheet and freeze completely then re-bag for storage.
 
Guys this is great advice. I am getting a grinder this weekend and plan on making up my first batch on Sunday. Woot can't wait
 
I got this grinder as a late Christmas present from one of my brothers.
On Saturday night we went ot make hamburgers and found we were short on ground beef so I pulled a Sirlion steak from my freezer defrosted it in the microwave and ran it through the grinder. It chewed up the steak like nothing. Made great ground beef for dinner.

The next thing I did was make breakfast sausage for Sunday morning to have pork sausage gravy. Again the grinder ate up the pork up like it was nothing.

I'm going to create another post about my problems and questions while making this.
 
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