- May 13, 2021
- 602
- 575
Hoping some of you guys with experience can help me understand what went wrong here.
I have a LEM #8 that I got back around Christmas. I've used it with many pork butts, brisket, and top round with no issues at all. Cube it, chill it in the freezer mixing around occasionally, feed it to the grinder. I never used the stomper a single time until today.
Recently I stumbled across a sale on whole beef rib roasts for $6/pound and bought 3. They were about 8-9 pounds each. I already have way too many steaks in the freezer so I decided to grind it for burger meat. I trimmed off a good portion of the heavy fat cap, cubed it, chilled in the freezer and started feeding it to the grinder. Everything went as expected for a while and then the grinder stopped pulling the cubes away by itself. I used the stomper a couple of times and decided to stop and see what was going on. I pulled the auger and the channels in the grinder head were packed full of fat. I thought I was going to have to wash everything down and my wife had the idea to see if a small spatula would push the fat out of the grooves. Much to my surprise it popped right out with little effort and was cold to the touch and still solid. I finished up the rest and broke the grinder down. Fat was packed into the channels of the grinder head but not as bad. Came out with little effort again.
So I'm wondering did I not have the meat cold enough? I've never had this problem with pork that has more fat. Maybe it was the difference between pork and beef fat? Beef fat seems more solid to me. I dunno lol.
On the upside... the delay didn't take long thanks to my wife and the grind looks and smells wonderful! The difference from store bought ground beef is remarkable.
I have a LEM #8 that I got back around Christmas. I've used it with many pork butts, brisket, and top round with no issues at all. Cube it, chill it in the freezer mixing around occasionally, feed it to the grinder. I never used the stomper a single time until today.
Recently I stumbled across a sale on whole beef rib roasts for $6/pound and bought 3. They were about 8-9 pounds each. I already have way too many steaks in the freezer so I decided to grind it for burger meat. I trimmed off a good portion of the heavy fat cap, cubed it, chilled in the freezer and started feeding it to the grinder. Everything went as expected for a while and then the grinder stopped pulling the cubes away by itself. I used the stomper a couple of times and decided to stop and see what was going on. I pulled the auger and the channels in the grinder head were packed full of fat. I thought I was going to have to wash everything down and my wife had the idea to see if a small spatula would push the fat out of the grooves. Much to my surprise it popped right out with little effort and was cold to the touch and still solid. I finished up the rest and broke the grinder down. Fat was packed into the channels of the grinder head but not as bad. Came out with little effort again.
So I'm wondering did I not have the meat cold enough? I've never had this problem with pork that has more fat. Maybe it was the difference between pork and beef fat? Beef fat seems more solid to me. I dunno lol.
On the upside... the delay didn't take long thanks to my wife and the grind looks and smells wonderful! The difference from store bought ground beef is remarkable.
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