Meat grinder

[Nsghunter]

I am in the market for a grinder but I'm lost. I wouldn't use one that often and I'm not sure which one or what type I need. What type do you guys use and how often /how much meat are you grinding?

I've seen the LEM at bass pro and the fancy ones from cabelas but they seem much more expensive than the cheap ones on ebay and other sites. Are the expensive ones so much better?

Also does anyone use a manual?

Does anyone use a jerky or cubing attachment?

I'm pretty good at selecting products through research but there are alot of these grinders on the market!

All feedback appreciated.

I will be grinding domestic meats to make sausage and burger, as well as wold game. I would also like to use one to stuff sausage if anyone is into that.

 

[LanceS4803]

If you are looking to try one out, take a look at the one at Harbor Freight, #99598. About $50 with coupon. It has very good reviews.
I have used the attachment on our food processor, and it was a pain. Okay for very small amounts.
For first time use, the HF one went through a roast we ground for burgers very, very easily. I'll eventually go bigger, more powerful, but for the foreseeable future, this one meets our needs. My big tip is to NOT put the parts in the dishwasher. The anodizing on the aluminum will be discolored and chalky. That is not mentioned in the manual.
BTW, for sausage, we used a LEM manual crank stuffer.

 

[lightsareout]

I have a LEM #8 big bite, I love that thing. Its a big investment but worth every penny if you are doing several deer each year.

 

[Mike Belt]

The problem you'll run into on using a grinder to stuff sausage tubes is that once all the meat is fed into the grinder the last of it will not auger through because there isn't anything behind it to push the rest of the meat through. It'll openly grind all of it but once you put pressure on the meat (as in stuffing the sausage casings) this will happen. For the best results you need a separate sausage stuffer. This way the only meat not pushed into the casing is the little bit left in the tube itself.

 

[MR Yote]

I have a cabelas grinder with a size 12 throat. Love it, nothing better than processing your own meat me & the wife grind & package between 5-6 deer a year. We don't eat ground beef around here. If you think about how much you spend on taking your deer to a processor, it'll pay for itself within a few deer. Just my thoughts. Try looking at one with a size 8 throat like lightsareout has. Good luck.

 

[DntBrnDPig]

I bought a LEM #5 Big Bite last year and finally used it. It was awesome. Much better than using the kitchen aid grinder attachment. I went directly into game bags and sealed them up. Cleaning it was easy as pie. LEM had a deal when I bought mine that I could get (through the mail) a foot switch for it which was great. I did an entire deer in less than 30 minutes by myself.

 

[shootsme1]

spend the money buy a good one

 

[WG3]

Make sure it has metal gears, some cheaper ones have plastic gears


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[Mike Belt]

I have the Cabelas 1 1/2hp grinder. It's expensive and the truth be known the only reason I have it is because a friend had bought it and never used it and sold it to me for about 1/3 what he paid for it. It does a great job and will grind as fast as you can drop meat in it. That speed is what you gain with the bigger hp. Straight out grinding with it works great but when you get down to stuffing tubes the barrel is so large that it won't push meat into the stuffing tubes once you run out of meat feeding into the grinder itself and you end up with about 3/4 pound of meat in the barrel you have to manually stuff. If your intentions are to stuff casings you'd be much better off with a separate stuffer that feeds from the bottom. Most of those are hand crank but you can get them motorized if you want to invest an extra $3-$400 for them. You can virtually stuff all your ground meat with these. You can get foot pedals for feeding on almost any electric model and they sure beat having to handle the meat while feeding and at the same time turning the grinder on and off.

 

[Hunter 257W]

I bought a LEM #12 three years ago. I only process one or two deer a year most of the time so I didn't really need it but it sure is nice to use a machine so solidly built and capable. Part of the reason I bought such a large machine is because on the day I bought it I had a buck that I'd shot and a larger buck a guy have given me to do. The processor I had used prior to this suddenly stopped taking deer so I was back to doing them on my own again. I'd always done them with a hand grinder but there was no way I was going through that again. Also I grind everything but the backstrap on all my deer and I had to have both these bucks all done the next day so I could go out of town for a week. So I leaned towards "too big" rather than "too small". I've timed it at less than 2 minutes to run an entire ham through. I don't see how I could ever need another grinder for the rest of my life. Also three years has dulled the pain of the $400 price tag!

 

[Big Pop]

In order to get the last bit of sausage out of the grinder run a couple pieces of bread (better a little stale) down the tube. I never lose any meat or very little. I use the grinder from Northern Tool for about $80 or $90. Works great for 4-6 deer per year.

 

[dsa5455]

I have never used a hand grinder so no input there. I have a smaller Bass pro shop one I bought for $50 dollars a few years ago. It worked ok but slower and it seemed to gum often. I bought the Lem Big Bite #12 from Academy and that thing is awsome. I can go through anything pretty quickly and it doesn't gum up so much. Later I purchased the foot pedal which helps free up both hands to work. BIG PLUS!!! This year I made sausage for the first time and used the Lem sausage bags and tape machine. As stated above the last batch of meat will not go all the way through like a stuffer would but I just dismantle it push the meat out and that is my next day breakfast.

 

[Crosshairy]

I fed ice cubes (partially crushed) behind the last of the meat and the ice chunks pushed it out into the tube. Worked pretty well. Just a thought.


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[Mid-Tenn]

I have the 1.5 hp Cabelas Carnivore grinder, it's a commercial grade #32 sized grinder and will run about 20lbs a minute, basically as it will grind anything you put in it as fast as you can feed it.
It has the cool-tek ice pack that is secured around the grinder to keep the throat chilled.
It's definitely over built and truth be known more than what I need.
Before I bought it I was considering the #22 now am seriously looking at downsizing to the .5 (#8) or the .75hp (#12) models.
While it's great for doing a large quantity of meat the grinder weighs 75lbs and is a little bulky to set up on a kitchen counter just to do a specialty grind or small batch.

 

[Nsghunter]

What do the numbers mean. #8, #12, #22...?

 

[Grnwing]

if you process several deer a year, definitely go with a larger horsepower(1.5-2.0hp) grinder. I messed around with some of the smaller ones and it took forever to get through several deer. I purchased one of the larger Cabela's grinders and it has worked really well. Takes more time getting it set up then it does to grind through the meat. As mentioned earlier, if you are looking at stuffing sausage, get a separate stuffer, it is really difficult to get uniform filling with a grinder; a stuffer will give you more control and steadier pressure to fill your casings. Spending a couple hundred dollars to get the right equipment will make it worth while in the long run.

 

[Pioneer1789]

What do the numbers mean. #8, #12, #22...?

It's the size of the grinder. A #5 has a 2 1/8" grinder plate. #8 is 2 1/2" and so on. I have a 1/2hp #8 grinder I bought on clearance from Gander Mountain. It seems to be made by the same company that makes the Cabela's grinders. That thing is a beast. Definitely worth the investment if you're going to process your own animals.

 

[MickThompson]

I got a Cabelas heavy duty grinder ($89) last year. It was head and shoulders above the previous one from Dunham's. It grinds as fast or faster than I can feed it. I put 2 deer through it and was completely satisfied.

If you chill your meat until it's stiff but not frozen through, the grinder will go right through the sinew without clogging your plate. Also put the metal parts in the freezer whenever you take a break to pack the meat away.


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[Nsghunter]

I got a Cabelas heavy duty grinder ($89) last year. It was head and shoulders above the previous one from Dunham's. It grinds as fast or faster than I can feed it. I put 2 deer through it and was completely satisfied.

If you chill your meat until it's stiff but not frozen through, the grinder will go right through the sinew without clogging your plate. Also put the metal parts in the freezer whenever you take a break to pack the meat away.


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I passed up this grinder a few days ago because of some poor reviews. I may have to revisit the purchase. That's a good thought about chilling the meat and the grinder parts. I had never heard that. I do it for my steak if I am going to slice it.

 

[MickThompson]

It's been good to me so far but I only have 1 season on it. No idea what the long term durability will be but I couldn't swing $200-$300 for one. Plus I don't care for the idea of setting up and tearing down a 40 pound appliance every time I kill a deer.


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