Kitchen Aid Meat Grinder?

invader q · Aug 21, 2008

Was thinking about replacing my not very well made manual meat grinder with a small electric one. I don't make tons of sausage, and don't have a big budget right now. I saw Kitchen-Aid makes a grinder that hooks onto their mixers. Anyone use one of these? Are they any good? And, does anyone know what size cutting die it uses?

Thanks!

fatback joe · Aug 21, 2008

It is ok......for real small batches it gets the job done, but I wouldn't recommend it outside of that. That is for grinding......for stuffing, it is a pain in the butt IMO. Makes for a slooooowww process, but it works and I haven't had any trouble with it from a reliability standpoint.

I don't remember the die size of the top of my head.

dionysus · Aug 21, 2008

I have one for my Kitchen Aid. It works but I certainly wouldn't want to do much more than a couple of pounds of meat. I have a large motor on mine and it still works pretty hard to grind the meat. The dies are pretty small but I'm sure you can get bigger holes in them. I would invest in a grinder (either electric or manual) rather than rely on the Kitchen Aid. A meat grinder is designed for one thing .... grinding meat. The Kitchen Aid grinder is a nice little toy, but is not really designed for large batches. IMHO

Dutch · Aug 21, 2008

Hey IQ-I use that set-up it's not bad, but then I don't do more that about 5 lbs. of meat at a time. I'll have to look at my grinding head and see what size the holes are. There are two discs; one for coarse grinding and the seconded one has smaller holes for finer grinding.

On trick to get better results is to place the meat chunks in the freezer. You want the pretty dang cold but not frozen.

invader q · Aug 21, 2008

Thanks for the advice guys.

night train · Aug 21, 2008

I had to go measure the holes. The coarse plate has 1/4 inch holes and the fine plate has 3/16 holes and I think it is a #5 grinder. I've run a lot of meat through mine and it has held up very well, but it is slow going for large batches. I just got a Cabelas #12 and it almost took longer to clean it than it did to run through 6 pounds of buffalo and 4 pounds of pork.

shellbellc · Aug 21, 2008

I've used mine to ground up my own chuck for hamburgers! It worked fine.

blacklab · Aug 21, 2008

I asked that same ? about a yr ago and had mixed results. So I just bought a electric grinder for $100. Couldn't chance burning up my deceased mother inlaws K A, she'd kill me and I'd hate myself for doing it

bigwayne · Aug 21, 2008

The deceased MIL is going to get you?

I have the KA grinder. Have the big KA model, not sure the watts, but it's a 5.5 qt bowl.
Never had a problem with it. Never did more than 10 lbs of meat at a time though.

invader q · Aug 21, 2008

Thanks! I think I'm going to pick one up and see how it does. :)

dangerdan · Aug 26, 2008

What do the attachments for the KA run. I'm thinking about trying som sausage myself. Wife pointed out that the KA had the ability but if the cost is close to a decent grinder and stuffer then I'll just get them.

fanciesmom · Aug 26, 2008

Depending on where you get it they'll run $30 to $60. I think I found mine on eBay for a lot less. We use the daylights out of it for making sausage and just grinding beef for burgers, etc. Well worth the investment. I also have the sausage stuffing attachment (about another 13.00). I'm really looking forward to smoking sausages!

pantherfan83 · Aug 26, 2008

Dan,

Don't waste your money on the stuffer attachment. I would recommend getting a dedicated stuffer. The grinder attachment for your KA works fine for relatively small amounts of grinding.

pitrow · Aug 26, 2008

I tried my kitchen aid grinder for the first time last night. Had about 3 pound sirloin tip roast that was partially frozen. I cut it up in chunks and ground it through the large screen, then ran it again through the smaller screen. It seemed to work good, but at the very end of the second run through, I let it run on a little to try to push out the very last few bits. Seems I may have overheated it or something because the last little bit to come out had black stuff on it. It was like it got too hot and let some grease leak out of a bushing or something. Either that or it's very fine metal shavings from the blade scraping against the plate.

So, I'd have to say mixed results. It did a fine job of making a small batch of ground beef, just not the ending I'd hoped for. The mixer AND the grinder were both very hot at the end.

BTW, I didn't have any instructions in the box with my grinder. What speed are you supposed to run these at? I just cranked it up to full and let it go.

night train · Aug 26, 2008

Black stuff sounds like some lube from the mixer head. I've never seen any metal shavings on mine though. I usually throw the attachment fully assembled in the freezer for half an hour or so along with the meat after I cube it. Get everything nice and cold. Then, attach it to the mixer and just snug up the plastic nut on the grinder. If it's too tight, it generates more heat. I usually run the mixer about half throttle.

bigwayne · Aug 26, 2008

Mike,
I run it on stir speed or 2. The black discoloration is probabkly a chemical reaction with the metal blade, but I have never had that problem.

Here's an easy way to deal with the last bits. I always just grab a bit of the already ground meat and feed it back through to push the last of the unground out. Then when I disassemble it, I can get that redone bit out of the insides.

pops6927 · Aug 26, 2008

It's the fat in the meat overheating and burning, doesn't really hurt anything, but toss out that last little bit. The KA grinder does a pretty good and efficient job grinding, you have to cut up your product somewhat small, 1 to 1 1/2" size cubes. Stuffing, however, is quite slow. It can be done, I used one for a couple years, but it takes patience. I ended up buying a 1 hp. grinder from Cabela's for $349. Even then it didn't stuff as well as I'd liked, as it chewed up the meat in the auger. I finally just got a 15lb. Stainless steel stuffer from Northern Tool that is the best - cranks out sausage in casings like a champ and no degredation in the meat; it's nice and separated between the fat and lean, not partially emulsified. I paid $169 for it on sale this summer, it's regular $199, which is still half price from most other places, most are $399 to $499 for it. Now, if I can just talk momma into a mixer to hook onto the grinder... hahah.. never enough, y'know?!

t-roy · Sep 1, 2008

I process my own deer and used the grinder attachment on my wifes Kitchen-aid for both doe last season and it worked great. I've never used anything else, but I ground allot of burger from those two and it worked well. We got our grinder attachment free through a mail-in rebate card when Jen bought the machine.

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