Advice on a new meat grinder
Elk
My wife bought me about a hundred dollar meat grinder a few years ago, it definately paid for itself many times over since then. We processed two deer and an elk with it and also have made probably a hundred pounds of pork sausage. I knew it wouldn't last forever and last night we were stuffing elk beer brats and it finally gave up. Were looking for a new one and would love to hear some suggestions from you guys. We will have about 350 to 400 to spend. Thanks!
Did the motor go? Something else? I have (probably) the same thing and now wonder how much life is left. BTW - it has done ~10 deer and an elk so far. I got it after twice hand grinding all the burger from a moose (80-100 lbs).
I would like to know the 'bulletproof' grinders also.
Look at Weston grinders, I have had one for a long time and still going strong. I also here good things about Cabelas heavy duty meat grinder. On sale for 99 bucks, 400 watts. The Westons will run around $350 and up. Shawn
LEM has some nice grinders, I have the .75 hp one and that thing is a beast. I used to have a cheap $100 one too and they don't even come close to comparing the two, wished I'd got the LEM one sooner. You don't even have to push meat thru it, ya just drop it in, unless its bigger pieces.
One of the fans on the shaft came of first. After an inspection we decided to finish the brats, there was about five pounds left, letting the grinder cool between links. It was all down hill from there by the end the auger would barely turn. The motor is not completely fried but it would be soon.
I've got a Cabela's commercial grade 1 hp and we use it for grinding burger from all of our deer. It will grind an entire deer's worth of burger in about 5 minutes.
--Mitch
Some of the cheap ones have plastic corkscrews....you want Stainless for that for sure. Silver skin and such mucks up those cheap grinders easily.
I have the LEM 779 and its a beast, served me well.
I would get the heaviest dutiest you could afford. My next one will be an LEM than you can connect to their mixer.
My family went together and got the setup that is pictured above. Worth every cent. Grinds about 20 deer a year and mixed 300lb + brats/summer sausage as well. Still going strong after more than 10 years. Just buy new knives and plates every 4-5 years and good to go.
That mixer is the bomb! No more frozen fingers!
is there anything special you need to do to maintain these heavy duty mixers to keep them working good and prevent the motor from burning out?
like someone said the cabelas 1 HP grinder, mixer, sausage stuffer and all that go with it has done my family well for about 10 years now MikeC
If you are thinking about a new one, look at LEM grinders. If anything goes wrong or wears out, they sell parts to fix it.
If you are thinking about a new one, look at LEM grinders. If anything goes wrong or wears out, they sell parts to fix it.
The cabelas has been awesome for me. I usually grind 5-8 animals a year from antelope, deer, elk, to bear and I haven't had one issue.
I did a bunch of research a couple years ago. Weston, LEM, Cabelas Commercial (they have a few different grades) in the 3/4 to 1hp range were all good units with great reviews.
Went with the Cabelas 1hp mainly because I had a few points to burn and they went on sale at exactly the right time.... including free shipping that unlike nearly everybody, they honored to HI. These units are heavy, some 60+lbs and some of the shipping quotes were $200 alone.
It's been a great grinder.
TD X2.
I haven't used mine a lot, but so far I've been very happy with it.
With the BPS buyout of Cabelas, I would watch for a sale on them. They seem to run sales on them pretty frequently.
I use a Northern tool grinder. Grind 2 or so deer per year for sausage, brats, burger, etc... I have never had a problem with it. I chunk the loins, shoulder meat, rib meat, and brisket meat into big bowls. Before I can get the neck trimmed out, my wife is waiting for more. That don't take long. I think it is advertised as 7-10 lbs/minute and I'll say it has zero problems doing that. God Bless
So after a few hours of researching in thinking about going with the lem due to the big bite auger i hate pushing sometimes forcing meat through the grinder. I also have not yet ruled out the cabelas.5 hp commercial though as i like the idea of the cool tek i believe its called. I also like lem for their replacement parts. Has anybody had experience with both of these grinders. Thanks a bunch for all the insight so far it has made my researching alot easier.
Thanks wvmountaineer that's one u have not looked at yet i will look into it as well.
I have the LEM #1113 and it has worked great for me. I grind deer and elk every year, just finished my pronghorn too.
There are some tips I use to help the grinder work at its best tho.
1- cut meat into smaller cubes, the auger will grab them better and you wont have to push the meat as much
2- partially freeze the cubes on baking sheets
3- spray non-stick spray in the throat of the grinder before you start grinding
The cabelas .5hp commercial grade grinder is on sale right now. $50 off regular price.
I have the LEM .75 horse power as well. I like that size. They go on sale at Bass Pro twice a year.
Do yourself a favor and buy a sausage stuffer and you'll get more life out of your grinder.
Idly that's a great point thanks.
I bought my wife a kitchen Aid, big one, about 20yrs ago- she's Italian and uses this thing a lot, loves to make things from scratch. Found out you could get attachments, meat grinder/sausage stuffer. I have now done 6 deer and 5 elk through this thing and it is still going strong, and it has a limited life time warranty, may need a new switch here soon. Wife loves this thing and I like it for the grinding & etc. Cost about $250.00, wife gets a great gift and you get a great grinder!
ghost, The one I have is $400 plus dollars now!!!!! Gheez. Next time I see my dad I'm going to give him a hug for giving me this one for Christmas 5-6 years ago. When in the world did meat grinder's gets this expensive?
What Idly said, get a stuffer too. I fought back and forth with the sausage tube attachment on the grinder for a year until I broke it. Best thing I ever broke.
Picked up a stuffer on Amazon for not a lot more than the cost of a set of stainless stuffer tube attachments. A big tower of a stainless unit that holds like 15 lbs or something with stainless tubes at a fraction of what Cabelas and LEM wanted. (with free shipping for Prime) I was very impressed with the quality of it, I'm a tool... um... guy..... Forget offhand the name of the brand but if anybody interested I could look it up.
I make/stuff sausage from time to time but hands down my main use is use the large tube to stuff the ground meat tubes/bags. Seal em with a metal crimp. Done a few hundred pounds of those and have it down pretty well. Can get the bags in 1 lb and 2 lb, IMO those heavy plastic bags, filled from the bottom out so no air, last as long or longer in the freezer than vacuum packing and much more "professional" looking for "picky" cooks who don't trust the product.....
The blades and plates are universal to size. LEM and a few others sell some high end German blades and plates that fit any of the higher end grinders. Blades are easy to sharpen on a big 11x3 DMT diamond stone. As with anything.... sharp blades are critical. Sharp blades and as cnelk said, semi-frozen meat and there's not much that will clog up a good grinder.
Take up hunting with the trad bow and you can just buy another cheap one! At least that's my experience! In reality, maybe you just got a lemon or it could be the sausage stuffing. That has to put some extra strain on the motor! I also cycle mine on and off for a while so it doesn't overheat when I'm grinding. Just a thought!
A couple friends and I went together and bought the cabelas 1 1/2 hp model with all of the different attachments. We average about 10 deer a year. Plus elk, hogs, and we have the juicer attachment that we put up around 100 quarts a year of different juices from the garden. Ive replaced the blades and die plates a couple of times but other than that it runs like a champ.
Another option from above is if you do not make sausage or only do a little and have a Kitchen Aide mixer you can buy the grinder attachment and it does a great job.
I have had my grinder attachment for 20 years and in that time have put 100+ animals through it. It makes great burger and costs like $40.
I also make sausage with it but it's not ideal for 300 lbs as mentioned above.
keep your fingers out of it
Lol Dr. Bob. Well after looking at alot of options and taking into consideration everything you guys had to say I'm going with the lem #5 of Amazon its $250 free shipping. I will up date after i get it and run some meat through. Thanks everybody for the insight. Also going to get a sausage stuffer to prolong the life of my grinder.
Semi-frozen is the single best key advise so far.
We freeze all our trimmings as we butcher, then take them out after the season is over and grind it all at once. The stiffer it is, the better it grinds.
"The stiffer it is, the better it grinds. "
That's what she said.
LEM is a good choice ghost30. I have the 0.3 hp model and really like it. As others have said semi-frozen chunked meat is the way to go.
If you end up looking for a sausage stuffer I have a Dakotah hydraulic stuffer that I really like. I installed a 110 volt solenoid switch in the water feed line which I control with a foot switch so I can have both hands working on the sausage stuffing. Works great. Amazon has the 9 pound stuffer for about $140 (link above).
Cabela's 3/4 HP commercial...its reliable,and you simply can't feed it fast enough...Midwest is dead on,the optimum meat grind temp is about 40 degrees...warm meat,total pain in your ass...
