Sausage Making Equipment

[scpatterson]

Looked through the Forum an cant decide on where to buy my sausage making equipment. I need a grinder, Vertical stuffer, and a slicer. Looking at Bass Pro and Cabelas...Any suggestions

 

[got14u]

I went with cabelas commercial 3/4hp grinder do to all the attachments I can get if wanted. Plus cabelas customer service is known for being good. There are cheaper ones out there but I do believe in the over all picture of things it is the way to go. If you don't have the money for a cabelas grinder then I would go for a hand crank from Northern Tools and get the attachments to make it a motorized one. Also this (northern tools) is where I would get a stuffer from if there was not a good one on ebay at the time. I don't have a real opinion on a slice. I got one of the cheaper cabelas ones and don't use it much and don't really like it to much either. I know they sell better ones then what I got. good luck on the decision.

link to my slicer (not their best)
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...518&hasJS=true

here is a link to the grinder from northern tools with the v-belt addapter. only need a motor after this
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...70_47552_47552

 

[meat hunter]

I would take a serious look at ebay for those items. I know that Gander Mountain has a few outlets that they sell their stuffers to. You can find some really good heavy duty commercial items, used of course, that are a real deal. I know some people are kinda shy of buying off ebay, but if you check the seller, has high sales and anything above 99% feedback, I'd go for it.

 

[cokeguy101]

I have a elctric grinder and stuffer attachments. I bought all of them from Northern tool for 1/2 the price of what cabelas and bass pro charges. It does a great job, never has a problem. The only complaint I think any one should have is it can be a little loud, but 3/4 horse motor what can you expect

 

[scpatterson]

What do you guys think about this package deal????

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...028&hasJS=true

 

[hounds51]

I just made 70 lbs of smoked sausage over the weekend I used http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...70_47552_47552
for grinding and also http://www.sausagemaker.com/63299stu...eelsetof3.aspx for for stuffing in casings. I buy most of my stuff from the Sausage Maker, but I am slowly finding better bargins. Cant say enough about Northern tool grinder and propane stoves are tops in my book. I can grind and stuff with one tool. Be very carefull when the grinder is running. Either you could get caught in the belt (I made a guard for this), or loose some fingers in the grinder. That would surely mess up your sausage making, and cost you more than any grinder, stuffer, smoker and the rest of your life, combined.
By the way I made 35 lbs of sweet Itlian and 35lbs of Polish sausage.

 

[hog warden]

What's the intended sausage, and how much of it are you going to make?

Basic sausage making equipment is grinder, with a variety of plates; stuffer....5 pound for small runs.....15 pound for larger ones; and a set of scales. I now have two sets of scales.....a larger that goes to 25 pounds for for mass meat and a smaller one sensitive enough to weigh out spices.

The Cabela's package looks like a good deal, but I don't know that particular equipment. For that price, it may be economy stuff.

One of Cabela's better grinders probably costs that much alone. Bass Pro had 5 lb LEM stuffers for $149. The 15 pounder was $350 or more.

I've never needed a slicer for sausage, but it may come in handy for other stuff, like jerky.

 

[scpatterson]

I make a lot of jerky and I wanted a slicer as well, so I guess thats why this seemed appealing. They do have several higher end grinders for around 400. I was looking at those first but open to anything at the moment.

I will not be making hundreds of pounds at a time or anything and want to be able to make many different kinds. Nothing real particular. Probably more regular smoked sausage than anything.

 

[hog warden]

That being the case, the Cabela's package should work just fine to get you started.

I'm the same way. I make a lot of different stuff, but seldom do my batches exceed 10 pounds. I use a variety of hand crank grinders and just picked up a 5 pound stuffer. But even with that perceived handicap, I could do 25 pounds as easy as 10. Takes me 2X as long to cube up the butts as it does to grind them.

Proper cleanup takes as much time as all the rest put together.

Since you plan to smoke this stuff, next hurdle is a proper smoker that will allow you to maintain a steady temps from 130* to no more than 170* for several hours.

 

[got14u]

I think you would be much happier with a 3/4hp commercial grinder from cabelas and a stuffer from northern tools. Then a slicer from cabelas maybe. I'm not up to date on the slicers. I also think you would be around the same amount of money for this. or pretty close. but with a way better grinder. that 450 watts is not much.imho

 

[scpatterson]

[/quote] I think you would be much happier with a 3/4hp commercial grinder from cabelas and a stuffer from northern tools. Then a slicer from cabelas maybe. I'm not up to date on the slicers. I also think you would be around the same amount of money for this. or pretty close. but with a way better grinder. that 450 watts is not much.imho [/quote]


Thats me, will probably never do over 10-20 pounds of anything except jerky. i sometimes do 100 pounds at a time before drying that is. Im confident in my Lang and that I can hold any temps I want particuarly this time of year as it is now colder.

I do like the 3/4 HP grinder and also think I would be happier with it...

Im gonna wait on some more input form the sausage guys here...
I alos want to put my hands on a few of them. Ive got a small walmart one that SUCKS BIG TIME. Im 280 pounds and I could not press the emat down hard enough to get it to grind it 1 hour and only did about 10 pounds of rabbit meat...It was horrible

 

[beer-b-q]

Grizzly has a 5lb SS stuffer for $69.95. Most of their items seem to be well built...

http://grizzly.com/products/5-lb-Ver...uffer-SS/H6252

 

[pineywoods]

I think I would look at the 3/4 or 1 hp grinder from Cabelas which are often on sale then if you watch you can get the 15 lb stuffer from Northern Tool or Gander Mountain on sale for under 200 bucks. Then watch Craigslist for a used commercial slicer I have seen many older but good ones for under 300 bucks. With that equipment you should be passing them down to your children cause I don't think you'll wear them out with the amount of use your talking about. I have the LEM 1.5 hp grinder and its really too big and I grind a lot of deer and hogs every year. I have the 15 lb stuffer from Northern Tool and I have an old Berkel Commercial Slicer and they all do a great job. The last time we did sausage we did 150 lbs with no problem and I not long ago sliced 60 lbs of bacon with no problems

 

[travcoman45]

LEMs got great stuff, got one a there 5 lb stuffers an really like it, it's got the metal gears. Grinder, fer small stuff I bought a #32 grinder an am motorizin it, fer the big batch's I got the commercial grinder, but if ya ain't grindin over 100lbs a meat it takes to long ta clean. Slicer, well all I can say is commercial. Got 2 a the real old globe slicers, can't be beat. Bought a few of the cheaper models an I kill em quick.

 

[scpatterson]

I got the Cabelas 3/4 HP Grinder, 17 # meat mixer, 44 #scales, Rytek Book, 5 lb stuffer from Northern tool. Grizzly ahd the same 1 10$ cheaper but I have an account with Northern Tool and got free shipping so they were just a tad cheaper.....

Now where is the best place to buy casings and cure mix, seasonings etc...


Everything should be in next week so next weekend will be a sausage making weekend Im sure....Xmas is coming early this year

I didnt get my slicer. I will ahve to wait on it..I got the mixer and scales instead and will get the casings and such

 

[oneshot]

Here's some thoughts for you to consider.....

I have the Cabelas 1 hp grinder with the foot pedal control (extra) so my hands are free to do whatever I need too.

The grinder comes with stuffing tubes for sausage and snack stix so with the foot pedal you could do sausage yourself (both hands are free to work with).

I also have the burger press which works excellant!!!!

I also have the Meat Cuber/Tenderizer that is fantastic!!!!

I also have the Jerky slicer but haven't used it yet, but if it works only half as good as the cuber/tenderizer it will be awesome!!!!

Here's links to some of my posts using the grinder and attachments, check them out....

Using the burger press.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=82659

This thread has the burger press in the first post and the tenderizer/cuber in the second post.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=81035

You can also watch videos at Cabelas web site to see these work.

If you have any questions just ask, I'll be happy to answer....

 

[scpatterson]

Thanks for the info. i really liked the burger press. I did notget the foot control but may get it later on. I really think Im gonna like this grinder. I did read that this was very time consuming to clean. I make my own beer and doing so I am OK with cleaning everything twice so cleaning time is not that big of an issue but I read that you have to ahve tools to take it apart and its not for small jobs...really doesnt matter I dont guess...

I also saw a post and checked out Meat Packers for supplies and they have a lot of Casing and such...

 

[oneshot]

Make sure you get the food grade silicone and spray everything down once the parts have dried. They will rust if you don't and they are not 100 percent dry. The foot pedal control is a must have for ease of control and safety too. If something goes wrong you lift your foot and the grinder shuts off immediately, no trying to find the switch to try and turn it off!!!!

How about some pics of your new toy??? We always like pics....

 

[scpatterson]

I ordered it all so it will be next week but i like posting pics of my toys so i will definantly be putting up some and of some sausage

 

[oneshot]

I'll bet you can't wait to get it!!!!!!

Good luck!!!!!