Meat grinders


 
E

Edwin Vickers

TVWBB Fan
I'm thinking abouit trying my hand at sausages. What is a good inexpencive meat grinder to start out on? I have a KitchenAid mixer, but have heard too many complaints about it.

I don't want to invest too much to give it a try.

Thanks everyone.
 
I don't know who has said what about the KitchenAid, but I love mine. I've made pounds and pounds of chorizo with it. I made some brats and smoked sausage, too. The sausage stuffer isn't all that it could be, but the grinder part is just fine.
 
Lem is suppose to make a pretty good grinder at a pretty decent price, shop around a bit. Grizzly makes a 5 lb stuffer that is the cheapest I could find. the gears are nylon but so far I have not had any issue and don't think I will unless I decide to do the small snack sticks and use the smaller tubes which would put more strain on the gears. Lem makes a 5 lb stuffer too that has metal gears. I know the gears from the Lem does fit the Grizzly stuffer so if I ever have an issue I can get the metal gears.

The grinder I have now is from Harbor Freight. It was only $35.00 and I had to try it. It works well enough not to throw it out but not good enough to recommend one. I say it works just as well as the Kitchenaide one. I don't do enough sausage to justify getting the best equipment to do the job. The stuffer for the Kitchen aide is just plain frustrating, it gets the job done but its aggravating.
 
I 2nd what Jeff says above...I have been grinding burger and sausage for years...the kitchen aide does good in the grinder department...I can do 5 lbs of chuck roast in 10 minutes...I have ground up lots of venison as well..

If u are doing small batches of sausage the stuffer works...it's time consuming and works better with a helper to get a continuous feed..I have been on the lookout for a separate stuffer

Good luck in your research!!
 
I have read that the kitchenaid is slow therfore the fat heats up and can clog the plate. Do you refrigerate the meat before you grind? I am also from the school that a tool designed to do one job does it well as apposed to multi use tools. Old school I guess. For convenience I may try the KitchenAid and them move up. Thanks to all.
 
Edwin Vickers said:
I have read that the kitchenaid is slow therfore the fat heats up and can clog the plate. Do you refrigerate the meat before you grind? I am also from the school that a tool designed to do one job does it well as apposed to multi use tools. Old school I guess. For convenience I may try the KitchenAid and them move up. Thanks to all.
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Edwin I do keep things cold...start off with all the grinder components chilled as well as the meat and fat! I really hadn't noticed it being real slow but then I use to hand grind all my own meat!
 
We have the KA Professional. It has more power than the Artisan. I love grinder attachment! I have the sausage stuffer attachment but have only used it once.
And it's best to keep the meat as cold as possible before grinding.
 
I have the Lem no 5 grinder, and like it so much that a bought a second one. Purchased both off Fleabay. Paid 125.00 for the first one. It was new/never used. Paid 100.00 for the second one, it was slightly used.

I use the SS grinding plates and SS knives, purchased from Smokehousechef.com for both my Lem no 5 grinders.

My son in law bought the SS grinder attachments for their Kitchenaid mixer from Smokehousechef also, and they are far superior to the kitchenaid ones.
 
My vote is electric, we have Barb's Grandmothers old hand grinder and it does okay but really slow and tiring and a pain to clean. We also have a kitchen aid so I'm going to get the attachment and let Mr. volts and amps do the work.
 
Man maybe it's because I'm young and strong but I can crank through 10 lbs of meat in my #10 hand grinder in about 5 minutes. Sure it's a little tiring, but eat some sausages right away and you've got your calories back.

I had an old Northern Industrial electric grinder that was faster but it overheats and turns itself off after not too long, so meh.
 
Dave from Denver said:
Man maybe it's because I'm young and strong but I can crank through 10 lbs of meat in my #10 hand grinder in about 5 minutes. Sure it's a little tiring, but eat some sausages right away and you've got your calories back.

I had an old Northern Industrial electric grinder that was faster but it overheats and turns itself off after not too long, so meh.
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.....hope you don't mind Dave, but here's a pic of his hand grinder in action (in the first post): http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?54909-Double-Pork-Butt-Weekend&p=605677&viewfull=1#post605677
 
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