Finally started to get some sausage making equipment

chainsaw · Apr 14, 2010

I posted a thread last year about wanting to make sausages, and I finally was able to buy a meat grinder and some casings. My question is, the grinder has stuffing tubes that come with, but should I plan on a separate stuffer, and meat mixer, or will the one-step with the grinder work? It is rated at 1000 watts. I also have a nice food processor, but it seems most folks have a separate stuffer.
My plans are for only two of us, not hundreds of pounds of meat-maybe.
It gripes my ass to pay $3.99 for a lb. of sausages/brats. (Johnsonville)

rbranstner · Apr 14, 2010

In my experience it depends on how many lbs of sausage you are going ot make at a time. If you are doing small amoungs like 10-20 lbs a time then you can get by with the grinder/stuffer just make sure you grind it first then put in the stuffing plate and stuff it. But if you are making a larger amount of sausage or you are going to make it quite frequently just bit the bullet and get a verticle stuffer. You WILL NOT regret it. We stuffed our sausage one year with the grinder/stuff and another year with a hand style piston stuffer and we said enough is enough. We went to Gander Mountain and picked up a 15lb verticle stuffer and we never looked back.

macbillybob · Apr 14, 2010

I used just the grinder for quite a while but it is a pain. Got a Grizzly 5 lb stuffer and it makes things much easier. Might should have gotten a larger stuffer but it is ok for now.

I always did the grind, then mix, then stuff. Not grind and stuff at one time.

DanMcG · Apr 14, 2010

Congratulations on the new grinder! If you can swing it go with a dedicated 5lb. vertical stuffer. You will be so much happier with it then trying to do it thru the grinder.

roller · Apr 14, 2010

Well chainsaw from one NAVY man to another. Grizzly has a 5lb vertical stuffer for 72.00 and I just bought one and I like stuffing with it and not the grinder as I have done for so many years.

pandemonium · Apr 14, 2010

I agree with everyone that you will be much happier with the grizzly 5lb stuffer, its been great to me and makes stuffing a breeze. its about 85$ with shipping, i have that and a 50$ grinder and have whipped up some great sausages for around 150$ in tools, i wanted the 15 lb stuffer but i will tell you its not hard to reload it so i am happy with it.

macbillybob · Apr 14, 2010

Wish there was a 10 lb stuffer or a 8 lb stuffer. I make "5 lbs" of sausage at a time usually but it will never all fit in the 5 lb stuffer.

My arm gets tired cranking that piston back up to reload....

What a baby right?

hounds51 · Apr 14, 2010

Take off your handle when the piston is down,then Hook up a 1/2" drill hit reverse, and your out in no time. When ready to stuff you can either forward the drill, or put the handle back on. Either way you want a sloow drill speed.

mossymo · Apr 15, 2010

chainsaw
Congrats on the grinder !!! Use what you have for now and plan on a vertical in the future; biggest obstacle is taken care of and you are ready to make some sausage now !!!

Note: Your sausage stuffing experience with the grinder will dictate how soon you get a stuffer.

macbillybob · Apr 15, 2010

I was joking but nice tip.

roller · Apr 15, 2010

If it will work it is a nice tip...

pandemonium · Apr 15, 2010

im with you there thats why i wanted the 15 lber because if im gonna make some its gonna be between 7 and 10 lbs, but its easier than i thought it would to reload it, if moneys no problem them go with a bigger one.

caveman · Apr 15, 2010

Question: Do you have to bolt that down?? I only ask because I want to get a grinder to start doing my own sausage as well but I rent.

Modifications to the apartment are frowned upon.

rstr hunter · Apr 15, 2010

Congrats on the new purchase. I agree that you will want to get a vertical stuffer though. The meat mixer probably won't be necessary for small batches like you are looking for. Happy Sausage Making.

chainsaw · Apr 15, 2010

Thanks everyone for the great tips!

pantherfan83 · Apr 15, 2010

Not sure if you are talking about bolting down a grinder or a stuffer?? I'll go ahead and answer for both.

Grinders: Hand-crank grinders just clamp onto the edge of a counter. Electric grinders just sit on top.

Stuffer: A piston style stuffer should be secured to the work surface somehow. You don't have to drill holes in your kitchen counter to do this though. I use bolts and wing nuts to secure mine to a board, then use C-clamps to secure the board to the edge of my counter top. I countersunk the holes on the underside of the board so the bolts don't make contact with the counter top and possibly scratch it.

macbillybob · Apr 15, 2010

I took an old corian cutting board, cut it in half and sandwiched a piece of porcelain tile between them. Bolted these to the stuffer. This gives me height and weight. I still use the clamp to stabilize it.

dionysus · Apr 15, 2010

For me the meat mixer was the BEST thing I bought. Even for small batches, it's sooooo much easier to get the spices blended evenly with the mixer.

chainsaw · Apr 15, 2010

OK, one step at a time. I decided to "bite the bullitt" and bought the Grizzly 5Lb stuffer too. Life is too short. I will post some qview when I finally master it. I have tried to post life -size pics w/o using photobucket because of all the viruses associated with that site. I only recently had to re-configure my computer for the virus that demanded I submit my credit card # to fix it-

ha ha. I used the thumbnails (not the same) established a Google account for pictures (did not work) I have been smoking every weekend and took pics but I have not made any viewable except for thumbnails.

I would mention 12-14 hour days at work are a factor, not many hours left at the end of the day. I love this site & appreciate your time!

caveman · Apr 15, 2010

With all due respect to Chainsaw. I was not trying to hijack your thread. Thought you were going to answer the question & Panther responded so I am responding in kind. Thank you for the answers Panther. Gives me someplace to go with the way you set it up. Oh....I was talking about grinders for homemade burgers.

Finally started to get some sausage making equipment

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