Looking for advice on grinding brisket

[cptnding]

Today I picked up 2 full packers on a great deal with the intention of grinding them for burger meat. (Thank you tallbm and dr k for the info!)
Santa brought me a LEM #8 but I've only used it for pork shoulder with the 6mm plate for bulk breakfast and Italian sausage with one pass through the 6mm plate. I like a somewhat course grind but the sausage gets well mixed and I'm thinking this may not work so well for ground beef.
I have the 4.5mm and 3mm plates. Recently bought the dual grind add on attachment on sale but have not used it.
What grind do you you folks think would be the best all purpose grind size for this brisket? I did a bunch of searching but didn't find much on grind size.
Thanks for the help!

 

[HowlingDog]

I just ground up an 11lb brisket yesterday. I have the same LEM #8 grinder and the new duel grind attachment. Made smashburgers today with it and it was great. Even the pup got some and enjoyed it.

I would recommend using the dual grind. It comes with two plates, the larger kidney shape for the first cut and a smaller plate, do not recall the size off hand. It makes a nice grind an with just a little handling and shaping, the meat holds together well. One pass and done....... I tend to use it for all grinding now and am moving away from the courser grind unless the recipe calls for it.

I usually cut the brisket in strips about 4 -5 inches long but this time I cut it all up in smallish 3/4 inch to 1 inch cube, chilled them, and the grinder really well and it took about 5 minutes to run through it all. Came out nice and it was one of the easiest and quickest I have done.

If you do not already have some some, get some food grade lube for the grinder shaft and that will make it easier on the motor. You may see some small greyish blobs of meat come out and I just pick it out and toss it.

Some folks will cut the meat separately from the flavor (fat) and weigh each to get the ratio they want, 70/30 .... 80/20.... I just eyeball it, but I di try and trim the stringy fat off.

The dual grind attachment is nice, but I needed a big set of wrenches to make the switch on the shaft, and it took me a little time to get the hang of assembling it the first time, but now I got it down.

Good Luck and enjoy it.

 

[tallbm]

Today I picked up 2 full packers on a great deal with the intention of grinding them for burger meat. (Thank you tallbm and dr k for the info!)
Santa brought me a LEM #8 but I've only used it for pork shoulder with the 6mm plate for bulk breakfast and Italian sausage with one pass through the 6mm plate. I like a somewhat course grind but the sausage gets well mixed and I'm thinking this may not work so well for ground beef.
I have the 4.5mm and 3mm plates. Recently bought the dual grind add on attachment on sale but have not used it.
What grind do you you folks think would be the best all purpose grind size for this brisket? I did a bunch of searching but didn't find much on grind size.
Thanks for the help!

I'm no grind expert here but I'd probably go with the 4.5mm plate, that's over 1/8 of an inch but closer to 1/8 than 1/4 of an inch.

Using just my eyeball, that seems close to the grind I see in meat on the shelves at the grocery store. :D

 

[02ebz06]

I'll be grinding one in a couple days.
Last one I did I left a little too course and had issues with burgers falling apart.
Don't remember what plate I used, but will see if it is larger than 4.5mm.

 

[chopsaw]

. I like a somewhat course grind but the sausage gets well mixed and I'm thinking this may not work so well for ground beef.

I clean them up just like I would if I was going to smoke it whole .
Then I cut into strips and go one time through the 1/4" plate .
Holds together better than you think it would .

 

[hoagiehut]

What grind do you you folks think would be the best all purpose grind size for this brisket?

I have the same #8 dual grind attachment. I use a 4.5 mm dual grind for the 2 briskets I did over the weekend. I removed the the hard fat and cut into 1-1.5" cubes. I don't have the patience to separate the fat from the lean, but if I were to guess the end result is closer to 70/30. The most important thing I learned is to make sure the meat is cold... <32F. Previously I did a 6mm grind and I was not happy with the results. I usually make snack sticks, fresh sausage and burgers. I just like the texture of the 4.5mm grind vs. 6mm.

 

[cptnding]

I just ground up an 11lb brisket yesterday. I have the same LEM #8 grinder and the new duel grind attachment. Made smashburgers today with it and it was great. Even the pup got some and enjoyed it.

I would recommend using the dual grind. It comes with two plates, the larger kidney shape for the first cut and a smaller plate, do not recall the size off hand. It makes a nice grind an with just a little handling and shaping, the meat holds together well. One pass and done....... I tend to use it for all grinding now and am moving away from the courser grind unless the recipe calls for it.

I usually cut the brisket in strips about 4 -5 inches long but this time I cut it all up in smallish 3/4 inch to 1 inch cube, chilled them, and the grinder really well and it took about 5 minutes to run through it all. Came out nice and it was one of the easiest and quickest I have done.

If you do not already have some some, get some food grade lube for the grinder shaft and that will make it easier on the motor. You may see some small greyish blobs of meat come out and I just pick it out and toss it.

Some folks will cut the meat separately from the flavor (fat) and weigh each to get the ratio they want, 70/30 .... 80/20.... I just eyeball it, but I di try and trim the stringy fat off.

The dual grind attachment is nice, but I needed a big set of wrenches to make the switch on the shaft, and it took me a little time to get the hang of assembling it the first time, but now I got it down.

Good Luck and enjoy it.

Thanks for all the great info!
I do have food grade lube. I'm planning to grind it in the morning so I think I'll just got with the regular set up and try the dual grind later. I couldn't find any info on what size plate come with the dual grind attachment on LEM's site. I'll compare it with the one's I have tomorrow for reference.

 

[cptnding]

I'm no grind expert here but I'd probably go with the 4.5mm plate, that's over 1/8 of an inch but closer to 1/8 than 1/4 of an inch.

Using just my eyeball, that seems close to the grind I see in meat on the shelves at the grocery store. :D

Thanks! I think I'll try grinding some with the 4.5 and some with the 6mm and see which one we like. I'd like to go a little more course than regular commercial ground.

 

[cptnding]

I clean them up just like I would if I was going to smoke it whole .
Then I cut into strips and go one time through the 1/4" plate .
Holds together better than you think it would .
View attachment 697886

Thanks chop. I was wondering how much to trim so that's how I'll treat it. I've tried cubes and strips with pork and cut into strips seems a bit easier and saves a little time. My knife skills suck.
I was afraid 1/4" would fall apart especially for smash burgers. Gonna give it a try.

 

[cptnding]

I have the same #8 dual grind attachment. I use a 4.5 mm dual grind for the 2 briskets I did over the weekend. I removed the the hard fat and cut into 1-1.5" cubes. I don't have the patience to separate the fat from the lean, but if I were to guess the end result is closer to 70/30. The most important thing I learned is to make sure the meat is cold... <32F. Previously I did a 6mm grind and I was not happy with the results. I usually make snack sticks, fresh sausage and burgers. I just like the texture of the 4.5mm grind vs. 6mm.

I don't have the patience to separate either. Yep very cold matters. Already made that mistake with pork.

 

[cptnding]

and a smaller plate, do not recall the size off hand.

Went ahead and drug it all out. It comes with the 4.5mm (3/16") plate.

 

[HowlingDog]

Thx. For some reason, I thought it was about 3mm. That would be kinda small.
Here a couple pics from what I did this weekend. You can kinda see the size of the grind in the second pic. Hope this helps...

 

[cptnding]

Thx. For some reason, I thought it was about 3mm. That would be kinda small.
Here a couple pics from what I did this weekend. You can kinda see the size of the grind in the second pic. Hope this helps...

View attachment 697938

View attachment 697939

Sure can. That looks good!

 

[chopsaw]

. I was wondering how much to trim so that's how I'll treat it.

Keeps the lean to fat closer to 80/20 .

I've tried cubes and strips with pork and cut into strips seems a bit easier and saves a little time.

I do strips out of most of it , but some of it gets cubed . I have a No.12 500 watt 1/2 horsepower , so I cut pretty big . Cut a taper on one end and it feeds itself .

My knife skills suck.

Practice . Watch some videos , and pay attention to how they hold the knives .

I was afraid 1/4" would fall apart especially for smash burgers. Gonna give it a try.

They can be " loose " for sure . Just have to be careful when doing smash burgers . If I flip and they want to break , a piece of cheese on the cooked side holds it together .
These are both smashed cooked on a Blackstone .