I typically make 15-18# at a time.
Next Vevor mixer down it the 15# one.
Reviews say putting max in is a bit more than you can mix.
Besides, it was only $25 more.
Those are some big machines.
I cannot speak to the Vevor 30# mixer but I once had a "20lbs" hand crank box mixer and used it about 3-4 times, it only fit about 17 actual pounds of meat. Worst meat processing item I ever bought so I ended up just moving a using a rectangular cooler with a high power drill and a long mud mixer paddle bit. This was way way way better but I rarely break that out unless I'm mixing over 40 pounds of sausage. These days if I do 40 pounds it's usually 2 different types of sausage (20lbs each) and I've found it to be easier to just hand mix 20 pound batches or less.
Why was the box mixer no good for me? The cleaning was a nightmare AND it couldn't even fit the 20 pound batches of sausage I was working with.
As for mixing, it worked well but it couldn't match the capacity I needed AND I spent more time cleaning than it was ever worth.
I myself just upgraded to a 3/4 horse power Weston Pro #8 grinder that I have yet to use. It's rated for 4-6 pounds of meat per minute which is way way way faster than I can work as a 1 man or even with a 2 man operation. I used to have an older smaller Warring Pro 500w grinder that has been fine for many years but I gave it to my brother as a gift and took the opportunity to upgrade a little.
This Weston #8 is as big as I want to go and is 38.5 pounds. I just don't have room to be storing or housing something bigger and I did enough research to land on this one for all the important functional pieces and behaviors like all steel gears, reverse, and plenty of reports of not heating up when grinding while also being easy to clean.
I'm with you 100% on cranking those higher pound stuffers. I have a manual one that holds about 22 pounds of meat BUT I cannot work it as one person when stuffing sausage. It take grown ass man strength of 1 person to crank and a 2nd person to feed and work the sausage as it's being stuffed. This lead me to buy a 7 pound Hakka stuffer so I could easily do 5 pound batches as a 1 person operation. I would love a 10 pound LEM.
I fantasize about a 20 or 30 pound pound automated stuffer so i can get 20 pound batches done in 1 go but again due to size, weight and storage limitations I would likely have to settle on the 10 pound automated. Honestly as long as it's automated a 10 pound motorized stuffer would likely work fast enough for my applications even though I'd have to load it multiple times.
For context. In the past I'd do 150-250 pounds of sausage stuffing each year after my big yearly hunting trip with my brother. This has been anywhere from 5 animals to 14 animals all processed at once so this was the main scale of my operation with the equipment I have/had.
The mixer was just not worth it even working those volumes. I moved to the drill + cooler/bucket + longest mud mixing paddle I could find and Mix 10 -15 pounds of sausage at a time with ease. 15+ is a little bitt too much meat for the drill and paddle to be moving all at once but it makes fast work of mixing
The 22 pound stuffer was worth every penny in speed savings but is a 2 person machine so for 1 person jobs doing no more than 40 pounds of sausage I use the 7 pound manual Hakka stuffer.
The little 2-4 pound a minute grinder worked perfectly fine but now I'm even faster. We would cut meat and fat at the same time while feeding the grinder and never had to wait on the grinder, so with my bigger more powerful grinder I suspect me and my brother cutting meat will continue to be the bottle neck of grinding.
So in conclusion after typing up a giant post.
I think you are fine on the grinder upgrade since your is tripping the breaker anyhow, and I see nothing wrong with the 20 pound motorized stuffer, just don't expect it to actually fit 20 pounds, more like 17 pounds is my guess but that won't be an issue since the benefit is not having to crank on the thing. Refills should be a trivial issue and not take up much more time.
I would seriously encourage more thought on the mixer. Out of curiosity I googled the Vevor 30lbs mixer and of the 11 reviews 2 spoke about difficulty of cleaning with details that match my experience, while 2 mention that it was easy to clean but no details on cleaning.
indaswamp
maybe you can weigh in on meat mixing in a cooler with a big paddle that looks like a boat ore. I do the drill and mud mixing paddle BUT with how powerful the drill is you have to use caution and not fling meat all over the place and not destroy the cooler hahaha. Your approach might be a perfect middle ground :D
