Dakotah Sausage Stuffer

I was at my favourite new store Halford's, and asked the guy what he'd recommend for home sausage making. He said 'don't even waste your money on one of those Porkert hand cranks for $99 ... people bring them back all the time unhappy, get a Dakotah sausage stuffer and hook it up to your kitchen sink'. Product info here.

I've googled and found mixed reviews but I was wondering if any here have tried it or own one and can give me the skinny on it good/bad. It's $160 here at the store, plus some for attachments and connectors.

I don't have any first hand experience with this particular stuffer, but it looks intriguing.

When I first startd making sausage, I stuffed by using the grinder itself, first a manual then an electric grinder. This works, but you really need a third hand if working alone. I've played with a friend's horizontal horn stuffer a couple times and wasn't particularly impressed.
Horn stuffer

I happened by a close out sale on an LEM vertical stuffer and have been happy ever since.
LEM vertical

That horn stuffer looks just like the Porkert he showed me (the one to avoid) only it wasn't stainless (stainless was more expensive).

I guess I should not have called it a hand crank after looking at yours, lol, maybe armstrong would have been a better word

couple hundred bucks? I dunno ... then again looking at the recipes on the Dakotah site I was groovin to the idea of even making my own hot dogs and bologna so maybe it would be a good investment for me after all

Shawn,

LEM has a smaller model of the same stuffer with a 5lb. capacity that might fit your needs a little better. I do a lot of summer sausage, so the extra capacity is great for me.

I bought a horn type stuffer last winter from Princess Auto. I haven't used it yet, hope to butcher a pig in the next few weeks. I only paid $25 includes shipping, so if it doesn't work well, I'm not out a lot of money.

I bought a horn type stuffer last winter from Princess Auto

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ha! is there ANYTHING that store DOESN'T sell? I bet they even carry packer briskets )

thanks for the tip, $25 sounds better, I agree, I waste more than that on movie night

a great thing about the Dakotah, is is almost nothing to go wrong with them ... the o-rings wear out but they are standard size

the lousy thing about them is you HAVE to ensure all the chunks will pass through otherwise the end blows off and the kitchen gets a new 'Sausage' paint job

Shawn, Not sure if you have any flea markets near you but you can find some old Enterprise stuffers around in good shape and cheap. I have an old 8 qt. I picked up on Ebay years ago. One thing to remember with any stuffer is finding the right water to meat ratio for easy stuffing. If using a horn style stuffer, they require more water in the mix than a crank/gera drive stuffer. HTH

I actually just read about the hydraulic style stuffer in a sausage book from the library, they sounded cool, and now I know what they look like and how much they cost, thanks for the helpful link.

I currently use my grinder as a stuffer. It does require 2 pairs of hands, but I look at it as excuse to invite someone over to have a few beers.

The hydraulic deal looks like it would be perfect for me, since I've converted a darkroom with sink in my basement into a small kitchen. I've just bolted my slicer to the counter to keep it from sliding around. I'm thinking I could do something similar with the stuffer and have it permanently attached to a water line.

I don't like the fact that it looks entirely made out of plastic. And I frequent a local catalog company's showroom (www.sausagemaker.com) and they only stock and sell high quality equipment that works and is meant to last. They don't even stock anything like this which makes me a little suspicious.

The hydraulic deal looks like it would be perfect for me, since I've converted a darkroom with sink in my basement into a small kitchen. I've just bolted my slicer to the counter to keep it from sliding around. I'm thinking I could do something similar with the stuffer and have it permanently attached to a water line.

I don't like the fact that it looks entirely made out of plastic. And I frequent a local catalog company's showroom (www.sausagemaker.com) and they only stock and sell high quality equipment that works and is meant to last. They don't even stock anything like this which makes me a little suspicious.

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The store owner uses the Dakotah over the electrics and hand crank models they carry so I think he's sincere in his recommendation.

They can be converted to air very easily and only require like 60psi. I think a perm air setup would be ideal. Instead of a vacuum line rig up quick couplings to attach the pressure line to the front to push the cylinder back in position. Using water, the second hose is to withdraw the cylinder (can be pushed back by hand but it's awkward). The guy said he runs his second water hose down to the basement to get good siphon action.

I found a few enterprise stuffers on ebay Bryan, thanks for the tip, I may go that route, spend under $100 with shipping.

Shawn, it could be that these personal hydraulic deals are only made by this company and sausagemaker.com tends to only sell stuff that they make. I noticed that they sell the stuffer by the individual parts so if a plastic part does break, it doesn't look too hard to replace.

air seems more practical than water, but then I'd be in for at least another $100 for a compressor.

I had a flash of an idea that this shouldn't be too hard to build out of pvc. I went to a home depot to scout out parts to see if it was possible.

problem 1: pvc diameters were 2" which looked too small (hard to fill, limited capacity, long tube) or 3" which looked too large. 2" had more parts options, but I decided to see what could be done with 3"

problem 2: in 3", they had connectors that went smooth female to threaded female which would allow the ends to screw on and off. But the only thing that they sold to screw into it was a cap with a raised square knob. I was hoping for a male thread connector with a rounded cap that could be drilled out to accept a stuffing horn.

problem 3: I figured the sliding piston could be constructed out of smaller diameter pvc, since in the past I've found pieces of pipe that nested together perfectly. I guess these were smaller diameters and size options become limited in larger pipe. I didn't want to make the piston out of wood for hygienic reasons, but I just noticed I have a bit of corian in my scrap wood pile that could probably work. I'm also wondering how easy it would be to put a thread on a piece of corian, because a disc of it could probably be drilled to accept the stuffing horn.

no worries, it gave my overactive brain something to do for 24 hrs since q'ing aint happening at my house in the snow. If anybody has some ideas or suggestions like: give it up, you're crazy, I'd be glad to hear them.

If your thinking of SCH40 PVC pipe.
FOR NON PRESSURE USE ONLY is stamped on each length.
I have seen plumbers pump air into the DWV lines to check for leaks, but I don't recall the PSI.

Tim

Originally posted by timothy:
If your thinking of SCH40 PVC pipe.
FOR NON PRESSURE USE ONLY is stamped on each length.
I have seen plumbers pump air into the DWV lines to check for leaks, but I don't recall the PSI.

Tim

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According to this:
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pvc-cpvc-pipes-pressures-d_796.html

4" SCH40 PVC max operating pressure is 133 PSI, 4" SCH80 is 194 psi.

Household water pressure is <80 psi. (50-70)
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Safety/PlumbMaint.html

You can get copper pipe up to 4" but it ain't cheap
http://www.plumbingsupply.com/copperpipe.html

This is evolving into DIY hydrolic sausage stuffer ... neat! (though maybe it could go in another thread)

the dakotah is spec'ed for 15 psi min. We aren't talking about a high pressure application here. PVC would seem to be fine.

I think I would like the tube to be 6" myself, smaller would be cumbersome to load and clean and need to be loaded more often to complete a batch.

Tolerances would be the thing I think ... like it comes to mind to get the piston done by a machine shop so it fits well, put a groove or three around the circumference to fit some o-rings on.

Yea disregard my post, that was some totally useless info.

Tim

Tolerances would be the thing I think ... like it comes to mind to get the piston done by a machine shop so it fits well, put a groove or three around the circumference to fit some o-rings on.

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I was thinking I could use my router on the corian. It would be just a matter of using the pvc to create a template. I haven't worked out the logistics but I would assume the procedure would be similar to creating an inlay.

I was also thinking that I might be able to use the same procedure to make corian plugs to go into a threaded connectors at the ends. that way you would have a screw on end cap that could be configured to either accept the horn or the smaller diameter water line.

Used my horn stuffer this week. It worked well. We did 25 lbs of sausage in about 1/2 hr. Not as quick as an urpright that we borowed from a neighbour last year, but hey for 25 bucks it worked fine. It I was to use it more than two or three times a year I might want something better, but it served it's purpose for what I need.