Questions/problems with regrinding burger.

[alaskanhunter]

I hunt and put up moose and deer every season and a large part of this involves grinding burger. Other than a few cuts of meat for steaks or roasts, I grind everything else. I am very meticulous about my processing and keep everything clean and spend probably way more time than needed trimming off tendon material from the muscle groups. So my burger is very clean. I add about 15-16% beef fat to the mix while grinding.

So for the last 15 years playing with the moose hunting and picking one up here and there, I have used my father's Chinese made heavy duty no-name grinder for the job. I measure out my meat/fat mix in five pound piles and run them through the coarser grinding plate, and I do this till the meat is all ground. Then I regrind with the finer plate and all is well. I can run 150 pounds of moose through each time in an evening. And this was without any fat/meat "chilling" or anything. All has been good...

...Till now. My girlfriend was very nice and decided that I needed my own grinder. I just got a nice Cabela's 3/4 HP #12 Carnivore grinder for last Christmas. I just processed a moose and got to try out this grinder. The first grind went as expected, not a problem. The fat was frozen, the grinder was frozen and even has the frozen gel pack thing around it. But then comes the problem and maybe where some of your experience and expertise my come in to help me...  

I tried the regrind and the auger does not want to push the first grind trough the plates. I have to use my fingers and apply a steady firm pressure to the inlet to force the burger through the plate. Sometimes even then it does not want to go through, then a spurt of energy and I make some progress before it stalls again. The included plunger won't work because the ground meat just passes around the head and little pressure is left to push it out the grinding plate. I was averaging about 25-30 pounds of reground burger through this process in about 40 minutes. That adds up to a lot of time pushing meat into the inlet when doing 130 pounds worth. This just seems sooo not right and definitely not my experience with my father's no-name grinder. I am not getting any tendon buildup on the grinding plate and the burger that is coming out looks good. I am at a loss here.

I have four deer that I need to process in a couple days and would like to see if there is a known fix or work around to my new found problem. I was going to start by making a tight fitting plunger that will work, but why is the auger not pushing the coarse grind through the smaller plate?

Thanks for your help.

 

[boykjo]

Your grinder should not stall. Do not run frozen meat through the grinder. meat should be chilled. With the Cabela's commercial grade grinder you shouldn't have to even chill the meat. Run it through right out of the refrigerator and skip the freezing of the grinder.

My 2 cents

Joe

 

[alaskanhunter]

The meat was not frozen but the added fat was. By the time of the regrind, the mix was nice and cool but far from frozen. 

I would not have expected it to stall either but it did for the entire 130 pounds. I wonder if I need to make the auger a little larger in diameter to create more push?

 

[crazymoon]

AH, it sounds like a dull knife against the grinder plate, I know it makes no sense for something new to be dull though . What size is the smaller plate , maybe go up one more size?

 

[boykjo]

So this was the first time you were using the grinder. was the blade installed in the right direction. The blade should be facing the plate. The nut or the screw on ring should be tightened slightly but not over tightened to put pressure on the plate and allow the blade to cut the meat. this is happened before when meat was not getting pushed through the grinder. also running through a fine plate your meat will be a lot slower. just throwing some stuff out there

 

[JckDanls 07]

yea... somethings not sounding right here... double check the blade installation... flat part of blade to the plate... just checking to make sure your not using the 3 blade deal that is used for stuffing only ?? Also.. your not using the white plastic donut gasket ?? that is for stuffing only as well... just trying to dual verify the unti is put together correctly... that would be the only reason it won't work correctly... as said above.. the second time through especially the fine plate.. things are gonna be much slower... why not just grind through fine plate the first time ??

 

[uzikaduzi]

You could try sharpening your blade and honing your plate if it's not any of these other options... take something extremely flat like a small piece of glass or mirror. Lay sand paper on it and gently sand them keeping even and constant pressure... I have only doneed it once to one of my plates and my blade. I took it to 600 grit and I think I actually had a better surface than new.

Basically follow the same way you would sharpen a good chisel or the blade from a plane

 

[crankybuzzard]

I'm leaning towards blade placement as well, but if it is dull, here is how I sharpen mine.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/175359/sharpen-your-grinder-blade-and-true-the-plates

 

[alaskanhunter]

The blade is proper against the plate and I'm not using any parts not intended for grinding. I have been grinding for years, this is just the first time with my new grinder. I think the plates are 7mm and 4.5mm. These are all brand new and appear sharp but thanks to Cranky Buzzard for the link to your sharpening video, I'll have to give that a try.

As far as to why a second grind, I use the first grind as a quick and easy way to add/mix my meat/fat but it does not look well mixed like burger should. On the smaller re-grind, the mix looks like a high quality burger. Just what I have always done and was not an issue till now.

I understand that a second grind with a smaller plate will be slower, but my issue seems to be with the auger not pushing the coarse grind though the plate. I should definitely be able to push more than 25 pounds through in 40 minutes.

I just made a plunger today with much tighter tolerances that will keep the coarse ground meat from squeezing past. I will at least be able to push much better now, or at least that is the theory. 

 

[crazymoon]

AH, I usually use a 3/16( your 4.5mm) or 1/4 plate for the final grind so  your plate size isn't the problem. Maybe your are feeding too much meat in at a time ? I like to form a ball and drop in down the neck and let the auger take it away and rarely use the pusher,my grinder is a #32 so maybe grinder size is slowing you down. Hopefully you resolve your issues !

 

[alaskanhunter]

Sharpening the blades did make a big difference. Still not as self auguring as I would have expected but much better than the last time I ground burger. With a tighter fitting plunger and the cutter sharpening, I was grinding the re-grind two to three times faster than last time. 

 

[daveomak]

AH, morning....   Glad you are hiving some success...    I also have noticed the lousy fit, tolerance wise, of the augers on grinders...   Seems they are made to push chunks of meat and do really poorly on once ground...   I have succumbed to only grinding once...   season the chunks and grind...  HOWEVER, your old grinder sounds as if it is worth a motorized modification...  if you dare.....

 

[tripleq]

Im not making hamburger atm but I am grinding about 40 lbs of meat a month for my dogs. I ran into a simular problem with my last grinder, when I was regrinding the auger would not force the meat past the cutter and through the plate unless I plunged it into the auger and maintained pressure. What I thought was happening was the meat when it meet some resistance simply flowed backwards around the outside of the auger because of the tolerance between the auger and the body of the grinder. I got around this by chunking cooled meat and not regrinding at all until I got a Wesson 22 1hp. 

When I looked at the two side by side, in the new grinder the auger fit much tighter in to the body of the grinder and has no problems.

 

[alaskanhunter]

I am thinking the auger clearance is a big part of my problem. I think I may have a bead welded along the auger edge and turn it down to a tight tolerance on a lathe. I must have got spoiled with a working grinder where a plunger was rarely ever used.

 

[daveomak]

 
I am thinking the auger clearance is a big part of my problem. I think I may have a bead welded along the auger edge and turn it down to a tight tolerance on a lathe. I must have got spoiled with a working grinder where a plunger was rarely ever used.

That would be cool...   The cast aluminum in the grinder and auger, could be a problem to weld...  That stuff has a ton of garbage in the metal...    Check into a 2 part exoxy like JB weld that can be molded to form part of the screw...    Below is a food grade, 2 part epoxy that is non drip...  they have a contact number...  

http://www.masterbond.com/tds/ep21nd    ...   non  drip paste

 

[daveomak]

Hey....  I just found this stuff....  It says, "NSF drinking water safe"....   that might work to build up the auger....   I'm repairing an aluminum housing irrigation filter...     just stumbled across it....   The gravel eroded the metal and it was about gone...   $80 for a new cap...


.... A mold for the ID of the screen...

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[alaskanhunter]

I have played with epoxy and JB weld on many projects. I just don't think that it would hold well enough on a high force edge like that without popping off. Maybe if you really built up the edge overlapping onto the faces. I appreciate the idea though and without having access to a machine shop would probably try it. I am trying to pick up a "replacement" auger from the Blue Sky company but have yet to receive a return call, this way I can try and if I screw up its no big deal. I think the auger is a cast stainless and should take a bead alright. A sixteenth to an eighth is all I need. 

 

[tripleq]

I would think a sleeve would be easier.

 

[DanMcG]

Why not call Cabela's customer service and tell them your story. I hear they are good people to work with.

 

[tripleq]

Why not call Cabela's customer service and tell them your story. I hear they are good people to work with.

an even better idea