first time trying to make sausage (big failure)


 
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Well guys i have posted a couple questions about sausage making and i tried making sausage today and it was a big failure. I used pork butt and cut it into 1/2 in cubes. I then tried to put it into my meat grinder (waring pro meat grinder). I fed into the grinder just fine but no matter what i tried i couldn't get the meat to come out of the grinding plate. I thought maybe i wasn't pressing hard enough so i pushed harder which just made the meat come out of the chute i was pressing it into. It was pretty frustrating. Im guessing the problem is the cutter attachment but im not 100% forsure. The feed screw doesn't have anything on the end of it that exactly fits the cutter attachment. I thought maybe you had to screw everything down tighter which i tried with no luck. When you watch the cutter attachment when you turn the unit on, even before you put meat in, it will spin them stop, spin then stop. There is nothing to make it spin all the time. I would expect something on the end of the feed screw that fits exactly into the cutter blade but there is nothing like it. In fact, the middle of the cutter blade is square shaped. The end of the feedscrew is octogan shaped. It fits inside the square area on the feed screw but loosely. I went through the manual to make sure i wasn't missing any parts and i sure don't see any parts missing. I can't imagine this unit working this bad. Its a brand new grinder and warning isn't a crappy brand either. Aanyone have any ideas?

Maybe i should just get the meat grinder that comes as an attachment on kitchaid mixers. The only thing i didn't like about them was they only come with two grinding plates (course and fine). Im assuming they don't have universal grinding plates so i couldn't get a medium size one which is really the size i would use mostly.

anyways any help would be appreciated.
 
We have the kitchenaid meat grinding attachment and it works well for making hamburger out of whatever cheap, lean beef cut is available. We generally use the coarse plate.

Fresh ground hamburger tastes so much better than the store-bought variety and for you can frequently get the beef cheaper than the equivalent hamburger is selling for!
 
Brent:
You more than likely have a defective grinder. The cutter normally has a square hole which mounts on the shaft followed by your grinding plate and than held in place with the large front threaded front piece. It should not turn on the shaft. If you are really serious about sausage making I would stick with the dedicated grinder rather than the mixer attachment due to the increased capacity.
 
Without being able to actually see your machine, it sounds like you definitely have a problem. I agree with you that there should be a solid fit between the feedscrew and the cutting blade. Is there a possibility that the feedscrew is in backwards? That is, might there be a square fitting on the other end? (Sorry if that's a dumb question, but as I said, I've never seen your grinder).

On second thought, the square end that would fit into the cutting blade would be too large to fit into the hole that would accept the octagonal end. Any chance that you got the wrong feed screw (from a different Waring grinder)? Stranger things have happened.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Vernon N:
We have the kitchenaid meat grinding attachment and it works well for making hamburger out of whatever cheap, lean beef cut is available. We generally use the coarse plate.

Fresh ground hamburger tastes so much better than the store-bought variety and for you can frequently get the beef cheaper than the equivalent hamburger is selling for! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

We have had a Kitchen-aid mixer for years, and I have yet to look at what all you can attatch to it. I'll have to take a look. I'll bet those burgers are better freash like that! Off to see how much $$ they cost.
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I used to do the same thing. I thought it was a pain in the butt (no pun intended, well maybe
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) to dice and grind, mix, regrind & stuff. I would use the course blade both times. Seems like I got a medium grind that way.

Like I said I used to. Now I buy my meat ground in bulk. In Chicago, there is a place called Bobaks that will grind and sell you bulk meat. The problem is that there may be a language problem. Its a Polish market. Unless you find a 2 language employee (hard to do) or speak Polish you will have a problem.

Just buy a stuffer and you're in business.

I still have my grinder and use it occasionally. It sounds like there may be a bushing missing on yours.
 
OK guys so what should i do here. Im probably going to send the warning unit back. I want a descent grinder that i can make sausages from. If i have to buy a seperate stuffer thats ok. Id like to have an electric unit but im not wnting to spend a bunch of money here. What grinder would you guys recommend? Would you not recommend the kitchaid for what im going to be doing (making sausages) because it has only 2 plates and as far s i know they are not universal plates or would you go with someone else?
 
Brent, I have a #32 hand grinder that kicks some serious Butt. It's hard to beat hand grinders unless you go with a commercial electric one. I can put a motor on mine off of the Grain mill that i use for grinding my grain for Home Brew and it's a mean meat grinding machine. Even cranking by hand they are way faster than the small electric ones that attach to a mixer. I got mine many years ago from Cabelas. Of course as always this is JMO.
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Brent:
The one I use I purchased from Northerntool.com
Specs as follows:prince
Inlet: 2 1/2in. diameter at top and 1 3/4in. at bottom of feed
Outlet: 2 1/2in. in diameter
0.8 HP
Speed of motor without loading: 19525 RPM. After going through gear reduction the speed comes down to 300 RPM
Power consumption is 1200 Watts, while output is 600 Watts
Internal parts are all metal
Gear: 2 Pcs, carbon steel
Shaft: carbon steel
Knife: carbon steel
Corkscrew: cast aluminum
Hopper Plate: cast aluminum
Metal Tray: approx. 11 1/2in. L x 7 1/4in. at wide end and 6 1/2in. at smaller end
Cutting Plates Diameter: 2 3/4 inch
Has reverse switch
Priced out at $99 and includes 3 grinding plates and 3 sausage stuffer tubes. I believe the Kitchenaid attachment is going to run you about $50 with 2 grinding plates and no sausage stuffing tubes. Have had great results with this model.
 
Well guys i decided to try something out. I was like this thing has got to work. I took some hotdogs i had in the frige and ground them and it worked just fine. I was like hmm what am i doing wrong. I decided to try the largest plate the machine came with and try it with the pork butt. This time it started comming out but it still got clogged up. I guess this tells me this thing works for light work (hot dogs worked fine) but for heavier stuff like pork butt your out of luck. The plate seemed to get clogged up with fibers. I guess the best way to go would be either a #22 or a #32 manual grinder with a seperate sausage stuffer. Does anyone know if the plates are interchangable between brands of manual stuffers? Thats my main thing i want is to be able to get different size plates for the unit i get. I didn't know if it mattered what kind of manual grinder i get. If they aren't interchangable i will probably get a chop-rite unit since they are supposed to be very good. Thanks everyone for helping me through this.

brent
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Brent W.:
Does anyone know if the plates are interchangable between brands of manual stuffers? Thats my main thing i want is to be able to get different size plates for the unit i get. I didn't know if it mattered what kind of manual grinder i get.

brent </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Brent, Mine came with 2 plates. I have a 3/8" plate and a 3/16" plate. I would imagine they are cause the # is for the size of the grinder so if your using a #22 grinder then all the #22 plates should be the same size, but not quite sure. HTHMeat Grinders.
 
Brent, I have the Waring Pro Profession Seris and love it. Make sure that you have your cutting plate with the blades facing out toward the end of the grinder. Otherwise you may some problems grinding the meat before it it is pushed out. Does your grinder sound like it is struggling to grind the meat? I also like to cut meat into 1 inch by howerver long my meat is and feed it in. Hope this helps. interesting problem let us know what you find!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by shawn244:
Brent, I have the Waring Pro Profession Seris and love it. Make sure that you have your cutting plate with the blades facing out toward the end of the grinder. Otherwise you may some problems grinding the meat before it it is pushed out. Does your grinder sound like it is struggling to grind the meat? I also like to cut meat into 1 inch by howerver long my meat is and feed it in. Hope this helps. interesting problem let us know what you find! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


woohoo finally someone with the grinder. Shawn, i have took some high resolution pics of the feed screw and the cutter blade just to show you what i mean. Maybe since you have the grinder you can help me figure out whats going on. Here is a pic of the Feed Screw and here is the pic of the cutter Cutter

See how the cutter looks like it should fit into a square notch but the notch on the feed screw is octagon shaped?

To answer you questions, yes the cutter if facing out. When i have problems and i take the unit apart the cutter is always gunked up against the cutter plate and the holes of the plate are pluged up with fiberous material. The motor really does not seem to be straining until i get mad and press harder and meat just ends up comming out the feed whole anyways. Any ideas shawn?

thanks,
Brent
 
Brent -- it really does look like you are trying to stick an octagon peg in a square hole. If it is a new grinder, I would call Waring.
 
Brent, sorry if this is a dumb question, but you don't have anything square on the other end of the feed screw do you?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave M:
Brent, sorry if this is a dumb question, but you don't have anything square on the other end of the feed screw do you? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
It wouldn't matter if he did because the auger/corkscrew would be backwards and not feed the meat forward. The auger/cork screw starts out small and gets bigger out to where the meat hits the blade and gets pushed out through the plate. Brent, looks like poor quality control on that augar. Call the company i'm sure when they look at that pic they'll send you a new one.
 
Brent, If we have the same grinder either your grinder came with wrong peg or the wrong blade. My blade is not the same as yours. Your blades look slightly slanted. My blades are at perfect 90 degree angles. My peg and blade are both rectangle as well. Can you tell if the blade is slipping on the peg? I recived my grinder as christmas present but I am postiive that it is this one. Do we have the same grinder?
http://www.smallappliance.com/store/detail.html?sku=329...art=3329546615357893

I am pretty sure that the fiberous material is the "snew" or that really thin stringy white fat on some meats. My plates have never plugged up with it before however.
 
Sorry guys for taking so long to reply but im been a very busy boy. Shawn your grinder is the higher end one in the warning line. Its about $180. Mine was only $60 shipped. I wasn't wanting to spend quite that much. Anyways, i ended up returning my grinder. I called warning and the were like "umm no one else has complained". Maybe you got the wrong parts included with yours. Basically they didn't know. It was a PAIN in the butt to return. I bought it online at samsclub and it stated that you could return the item to your local sams club which i tried to do. The first time they told me they had to give me a gift card & they couldn't refund my shipping. I called the 1-800 number and they said they were wrong. I ended going back to my local sams and the same lady who said i couldn't the first time (sales manager) finally ended up giving my money back with shipping but she was complaining the whole time and acting like a total biznitch.

So anyways waring recommended i get another one but i didn't want to go through that again. I ended up order a manual #32 from northern tool. Here is what i ordered. Came with two gridning plates and stuffer:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/P...ductId=36988&R=36988
.

I really wanted a chop-rite unit but OMG they are so freak expensive. A #32 grinder is 240.05 + shipping. I was like NO WAY!!!! I ended up buying the one from northern which is made in china.

I just wanted to keep you guys updated.

thanks,
Brent
 
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