Hat Trick

[Nefarious]

I had a good day yesterday, I began my first cure, A corned beef with much help from SmokinEdge , tallbm , thirdeye .

Some numbers:
1495 grams meat +1920 grams water + 51 grams of spices = 3466 grams
salt added at 1.25%(43.33gr) and cure added at .25%(8.66gr)

largest thickness is 2", and will cure for about 11 days, with cook on Mar 14th. When I saw this brisket I immediately thought of TNJAKE and his cowboy bacon. This piece would be perfect for that project, that will come later.



Then I made my second batch of bulk fresh hot Italian sausage. First time I was not sure that my scale was good so I bought a .01gr scale and got the measurements better. Next test will be some Mexican chorizo for some Mexican lasagna. Hope to get that done in the next week. I plan on first cased sausage after I recover from my surgery.



Now for the Hat trick. I was grinding the sausage and my wife kept asking when I was going to be done. It was so loud and for so long(15 minutes), I actually ground it twice so I could see if that made it better, 15 minutes each grind. First through the big plate then through the small plate with a chill in between. The answer is no, at least at this stage in my development. Wife works from home and she needed to make a client call. I was only grinding 1.3Kg and maybe I took a little longer then required , and she kept asking.

So, this morning I sent her some info on a real grinder along with my plans for the chorizo sausage, a full 8lb butt. If 3lbs takes 15 minutes, 8lbs will take 30 minutes. A real grinder can grind 4 to 5lbs per minute. I can see a real grinder coming my way real soon.

Thanks for listening.

 

[DougE]

I don't have an overly expensive grinder. I have a Weston 8# grinder and it will grind a whole butt in less than 10 minutes. I cut into 1 inch cubes, partially freeze, and run through a medium plate once for making Italian or breakfast sausage.

 

[Nefarious]

I don't have an overly expensive grinder. I have a Weston 8# grinder and it will grind a whole butt in less than 10 minutes. I cut into 1 inch cubes, partially freeze, and run through a medium plate once for making Italian or breakfast sausage.

How much noise does it make?

 

[DougE]

How much noise does it make?

It's a little noisy. Maybe the noise level of a blow dryer on high.

 

[SmokinEdge]

How much noise does it make?

Not sure of your budget but my LEM #8 Big Bite grinder eats meat as fast as I can feed it and is very quite maybe on par with a kitchen aid mixer or less.

 

[Nefarious]

Not sure of your budget but my LEM #8 Big Bite grinder eats meat as fast as I can feed it and is very quite maybe on par with a kitchen aid mixer or less.

I'm using a kitchen aid mixer with the grinder attachment. I will have to turn it on without the attachment to see if less noise.

 

[tx smoker]

So, this morning I sent her some info on a real grinder

Sounds like you know how to play the game. That is exactly how I play it when there's something I deem that "we" need

Robert

 

[Sven Svensson]

That's exactly how oysters turn an irritant into a pearl. May all that noise turn into a nice grinder for you!

 

[tallbm]

I had a good day yesterday, I began my first cure, A corned beef with much help from SmokinEdge , tallbm , thirdeye .

Some numbers:
1495 grams meat +1920 grams water + 51 grams of spices = 3466 grams
salt added at 1.25%(43.33gr) and cure added at .25%(8.66gr)

largest thickness is 2", and will cure for about 11 days, with cook on Mar 14th. When I saw this brisket I immediately thought of TNJAKE and his cowboy bacon. This piece would be perfect for that project, that will come later.

View attachment 527498 View attachment 527499 View attachment 527500

Then I made my second batch of bulk fresh hot Italian sausage. First time I was not sure that my scale was good so I bought a .01gr scale and got the measurements better. Next test will be some Mexican chorizo for some Mexican lasagna. Hope to get that done in the next week. I plan on first cased sausage after I recover from my surgery.

View attachment 527501

Now for the Hat trick. I was grinding the sausage and my wife kept asking when I was going to be done. It was so loud and for so long(15 minutes), I actually ground it twice so I could see if that made it better, 15 minutes each grind. First through the big plate then through the small plate with a chill in between. The answer is no, at least at this stage in my development. Wife works from home and she needed to make a client call. I was only grinding 1.3Kg and maybe I took a little longer then required , and she kept asking.

So, this morning I sent her some info on a real grinder along with my plans for the chorizo sausage, a full 8lb butt. If 3lbs takes 15 minutes, 8lbs will take 30 minutes. A real grinder can grind 4 to 5lbs per minute. I can see a real grinder coming my way real soon.

Thanks for listening.

Sounds like a nice day other than the wife being annoyed a little.

A real dedicated grinder is sooooooo helpful.
Just be sure you check on the size and weight of the grinders you start eyeballing.

This sausage making equipment gets big and heavy real fast... I'm talking real fast!

My 10L (22 pound) stuffer weighs about 50 lbs and is a beast. When stuffing sausage into hog casings it takes 1 sturdy person to crank and another person to feed the casings as the meat comes through where the 5 pound stuffer I can do as 1 person and it is like 10 pounds max.
Grinders and slicers will get big and heavy like this as well as you go up in productivity :)

Finally don't forget the ease of cleaning.
I can put all parts of my stuffer (except the frame) into the dish washer.
I can only put like 50% of my grinder parts into the dish washer.
I can put like 90% of my slicer parts in the dish washer and my slicer base unit is EASY to clean. These are notorious for being longer and more painful to clean than it takes to actually use the thing hahaha.

Why does all this matter? When you are doing 20 pounds of sausage or more you start loosing tons of time cleaning materials. Also if you start doing 3 or more different types of sausage per go it gets even worse if you have to do cleanings between types of sausages.
I usually do like 200lbs of sausage and pure grind at a time about once a year and every time saving you can get makes a real difference in days spent working on the stuff :)


I hope this info helps as you start looking at more equipment :)

 

[TNJAKE]

Gonna be some good stuff in your feature. I'm in for the ride