Well, it took awhile, but I finally received my foot switch from Harbor Freight. Used grinder a couple of days ago for first time.
The foot switch is just as handy for grinding, as I expect it will be for stuffing too.
AWESOME! Is all I can say about the STX 3000 MF.
I ground 6 lb. (after trimming) of eye of round for Chili grind, and 2.5 lb. of chuck roast (after trimming)
I saved the trim for when I make stock again.
I was going to make a video of my first time using it. Got my little camera out and showed my wife just how far away to hold it, and etc. and.....
oops! Batteries went dead after 2 seconds of video. LOL CRAP!
So I have no Q-view for this. But actual grinding time for 8.5 lb. of beef (6lb. single grind, & 2.5 lb. double grind for burgers) was about 4-5 minutes, maybe less. I couldn't keep up with it. We couldn't believe how fast it went. The longest time spent in grinding was when I changes plate for second grind for the chuck burgers. That took almost as long as the actual grinding, because of cleaning out the grinder before placing new plate in.
Total time from start to finish, was about 10 minutes. And this was my first time ever using an electric grinder!
I washed, dried in oven, oiled, then cooled down, and placed all grinder parts into freezer for a couple of hours or more, including the hopper
.
I trimmed the chuck roast for burgers 1st, and put into freezer. Then did the eye of round for chili meat. So the chuck was almost totally frozen after over an hour in freezer, and the round was partially frozen on outside.
After grinding it all, all metal parts were still very cold to touch. No heat generated to speak of, at all. Never needed reverse gear.
I did not cube the meat either. I cut into long strips about 1 1/2' to 2" thick, just so they would fit in the feeding tube. Worked perfect! Only had to use the pusher on the thicker ones to get them down to the grinder screw. And of course I had to use pusher for the second grind of chuck.
Another thing I did, to save washing and clean up was, I took gallon Zip Lock bags, folded tops down, and just held the bottoms tight over grinder as I ground the meat. Talk about pre-packaging! LOL
I will be making Chili in a week or so to can up, so no need to vac pack this batch. But if I was going to do large amounts for much later, I would do same thing with vac bags. Fold over, hold over the exit end, and then vac-pack. At least one or two less pans/bowls to wash.
Oh yeah... one more thing. The burgers were great, and took me back to my childhood, as it tasted just like our burgers after church on Sunday night. But that was when grocery stores had an actual meat market, and you didn't have to search out, or pay extra for something so simple as fresh ground burgers from the same cow.
I told my wife tonight; "You know in the 25+ years we've been married, we've had a lot of burgers with tomato and onions slices, and never once did I think back to childhood until we made these." It's almost spiritual. I went back 55-60 years with one bite.
Just for that experience, this grinder is worth every penny.
