LEM Big Bite #12 Meat Grinder Arrived

cliff43j · Feb 6, 2017

I did my first batch of ground pork shoulder using my wife's KitchenAid Pro counter top mixer with its meat grinding accessory and sausage stuffing accessory. I bought the pork shoulder from Sam's. They had bone-in only. If I had known that the pork shoulder preparation for grinding and then the grinding itself would be so difficult for this old man (73) I never would have started to make sausages in the first place. It was a marathon project of nightmarish proportions. The next day I could barely move.

Fortunately the sausage was so delicious that I decided to give sausage making one more try - this time with better equipment, and as luck would have it, better meat.

I bought a stainless steel, 7 liter, vertical, sausage stuffer. Next I bought an LEM, Big Bite, #12 meat grinder and on a whim a Costco membership. The Costco card turned out to be the first of 3 blessings as they had BONELESS pork shoulder which was a snap to cut into 2" strips, and it was less expensive at $1.99/lb. vs. $2.38/lb. too! I bought 2 packages for a total weight of 34 lbs - no waste also.

The LEM #12 Big Bite meat grinder was simply AMAZING! I could not feed it fast enough to keep up with it, and I was feeding it strips of pork that were 2"x2"x various lengths. Color me happy. I was finished in less than 15 minutes compared to the almost an hour with the KitchenAid. Putting through the first-ground-batch of pork was a breeze too! I DO LIKE THIS NEAT GRINDER VERY MUCH!!!

The sausage stuffer works well with the Syracuse casings that I now have. My first batch of casings was bought online on eBay and was a disaster - very frustrating to use basically "culls".

I've taken some photos of the grinding process and will take more while stuffing later today. This has turned a sausage-making nightmare into "tasty fun".

Cliff.

tallbm · Feb 6, 2017

Congrats Cliff!

Having a real grinder and a real stuffer really make a huge difference. Another nice add is a good way to mix sausage. I just posted in another thread about how I use a 7 gallon bucket, a chorded drill, and a stainless steel mud mixer to mix my sausage. In the past I had hand crank paddle mixer that mixed about 17 pounds.

The mixer sucked in the fact that I do 20-25 pound sausage batches and it was a pain to clean. I have now upgraded for sure and mix more in fast times and cleanup is a breeze with a water hose out in the grass.

Welcome to the sausage world! :)

daveomak · Feb 6, 2017

Cliff, afternoon.... Syracuse casings is a great outfit... I'm guessing you are sticking with them... The culls you bought are a disaster... Also known as "Home Pack" casings and various other names.... Not worth the time...

Seems you and I had the same initial experience on grinding and stuffing... I quit ... about 8 years then I found this forum.... I'm a happy camper also....

cliff43j · Feb 6, 2017

Right now I am 1/3 of the way through the sausage stuffing process. I've decided to make the links about 6" long as the small ones were always a PITA to me to turn in the fry pan. The longer ones are much easier to turn and eat :-) I've eaten 3 pansful already.

I'm going to rethink my stuffer. It is a 2-man piece of machinery, and today there is only me as my son is under the weather & my wife refuses to have a hand in making sausage as she doesn't eat sausage...phttt... I am doing it by myself today, but there is a steep learning curve. I'm thinking that an electric option would be nicer.

tallbm · Feb 6, 2017

Cliff43J said:
Right now I am 1/3 of the way through the sausage stuffing process. I've decided to make the links about 6" long as the small ones were always a PITA to me to turn in the fry pan. The longer ones are much easier to turn and eat :-) I've eaten 3 pansful already.

I'm going to rethink my stuffer. It is a 2-man piece of machinery, and today there is only me as my son is under the weather & my wife refuses to have a hand in making sausage as she doesn't eat sausage...phttt... I am doing it by myself today, but there is a steep learning curve. I'm thinking that an electric option would be nicer.

I totally understand the sausage stuffing being a 2 man job. I do batches of at least 25 pounds at a time usually 100 pounds of sausage in one processing cycle and about 30-40 pounds of ground venison that I stuff into 1 pound ground bags. I can do the ground venison in the bags by myself with a little effort BUT doing sausage by myself would be a disaster.

Sausage stuffing is definitely a 2 man operation without any engine or without the Dakota water pressure assisted stuffers.

A potential alternative to a motorized version is to get a little 5 pound (really more like 4 pound) stuffer so you can do small batches by yourself. I started with one and it isn't a cake walk stuffing sausage alone but is doable. You just simply go slow and do large rings of sausage then twist when all done. I do such high volume when I make sausage once or so a year that the 5 pounder takes too much time. It comes out to be like 25 refills to do 100 pounds of sausage :(

If you get a motorized version I would love to hear your feedback on it :)

cliff43j · Feb 7, 2017

I finally got the hang of stuffing sausage by myself.

One key point is to have a small bowl of water handy to dip one's fingertips in to transfer water to the casing on the horn as the casing dries out too fast, sticks on the horn and blows out. Once I got the hang of this it became much easier.

The second trick is to take the crank handle off the stuffer once it has reached 6 o'clock and put it back on at about 11 o'clock. Then start cranking again - the purpose of this maneuver is to always be applying downward pressure on the crank. When cranking from 6-12 o'clock it is almost impossible to keep the sausage stuffer steady. Clamping it to the counter would be helpful, but my wife would shoot me if I marred the counter top. So, the repositioning of the crank makes it much easier.

Another good idea is to not release the crank when one is too close to it. The meat is under compression and will force the plunger upward causing the handle to spin rapidly - I know as I got conked on the head by the handle...lol...

Of course I didn't really get the hang of stuffing the casing by myself until the last 6 or 7 pounds, but I'll be ready to do it myself the next time

SmokinAl · Feb 7, 2017

We do like our toys!

Congrats!

Al

tallbm · Feb 7, 2017

Good work! Your notes make me wonder if I can find someone to create a wheel or a 3 grip handle like a drill press to replace the crank. This way downward pressure from about 12 to 6 oclock could always be applied without need of removing the and reattaching a crank.

I think with a wheel or a 3 grip handle I might be able to do sausages myself. The casings I buy MIGHT be able to "auto feed" I buy very good casings that are easy to handle on the stuffing tube. If I went slow and steady I bet I could do the 20 pound loads of sausage by myself!

cliff43j · Feb 7, 2017

Al, this is my first toy that produces something that I enjoy eating

TallMan, I like the idea of the drill press handle. The booger in the ointment will be to find a hub with splines cut into it. By the way, I did 30# of breakfast sausages yesterday by myself - along with several pots of coffee. The proof was in the eating when my 22 month old grandson sat on my knee this morning and helped me eat my sausage & eggs. He couldn't eat the sausage fast enough! When we got down to the last 2 pieces, one large & one smaller, I gave him the smaller piece on the fork, and as I was concentrating on getting it into his mouth the wee lad reached out with his right hand, grabbed the larger piece and stuffed it in his mouth as fast as he could. I broke out laughing as he had a huge smile on his face as in, "GOTCHA!!!" It was so damned cute

tallbm · Feb 7, 2017

Cliff43J said:
Al, this is my first toy that produces something that I enjoy eating

TallMan, I like the idea of the drill press handle. The booger in the ointment will be to find a hub with splines cut into it. By the way, I did 30# of breakfast sausages yesterday by myself - along with several pots of coffee. The proof was in the eating when my 22 month old grandson sat on my knee this morning and helped me eat my sausage & eggs. He couldn't eat the sausage fast enough! When we got down to the last 2 pieces, one large & one smaller, I gave him the smaller piece on the fork, and as I was concentrating on getting it into his mouth the wee lad reached out with his right hand, grabbed the larger piece and stuffed it in his mouth as fast as he could. I broke out laughing as he has a huge smile on his face as in, "GOTCHA!!!" It was so damned cute

That is truly success!

cliff43j · Feb 7, 2017

I came across this interesting video on YouTube. The old man is quite the character.

The electric sausage stuffer looks wonderful.

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LEM Big Bite #12 Meat Grinder Arrived

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