Sausage Stuffer Questions

[jeffesonm]

I currently own the 15lb stainless vertical stuffer from Gander Mountain... love it, works great.  The only draw back is that it's a little overkill when you want to stuff like 2 or 3 lbs of sausage.  I find ~1/2 lb or more gets left in the bottom which isn't bad when you're doing 10-15 lbs but is really pretty wasteful when you're only stuffing 2 lbs.

Do other people find the same thing with their 15lb vertical?  Should I be using more water?  I was thinking of getting a 5lb grizzly for small batches but wanted to make sure I wouldn't have the same issue... based on the other threads it seems like the 5lb grizzly doesn't leave much left in the cylinder.  Also does anyone know if the tubes are compatible?

 

[mballi3011]

Well I have the 5lb stuffer from Gander and it's the best thing that I have gotten for making sausage. I only make maybe 15-20 lbs of sausage at a time and it works just fine for me. I would check the prices and get the cheaper costing model. They are all built the same and I really don't think that you will wear out the plastic gears either.

 

[DanMcG]

If you can swing another stuffer I'd get a 5 pounder for the small batches. I have a 5 pound SausageMaker unit that works great for my small 5, 10 or 20 pound batches although you have to reload you can keep the next 5# load in the cooler till its time to stuff and you don't have to worry about fat smear..

As far as meat left in the bottom, I think it would weigh out around a 2-3 ounces, definitely smaller then a fast food burger.

 

[shoneyboy]

Here is the one I'm getting for Christmas, it's a 11lb stuffer, Cabela's had on sale for 129.99. After all the Christmas discounts, my final cost was 120.00 shipped to store. I hope to use it Christmas day....if we have the  time.....I cut the post from a previous post so sorry for the duplicate information......
[*]
 
Here are a few pictures of my new 11lb Weston    stuffer I was able to get from Cabela's....It seems to be very well build. It was very dirty out of the box, but once I washed it down with a little soap and hot water it look great. For the cost I was very impressed on how well it was built. Before I picked it up   a, I browsed around the store.  I looked at the Cabela's brand one ( I'm not downing their product, I was just comparing the two). The tank plunger and the tubes are plastic (I was not impressed with how their were built). The tank plunger and the tubes on this one are stainless steel. It seems to be very well built so far, but I haven't run any meat trough it yet... Hopefully I will get to try it out this week or weekend.....Like a kid with a new toy......I will let y'all know after I use it how I like it......                           
Edited by Shoneyboy - 12/12/10 at 8:35pm  

 

[mkatts]

I have this same stuffer. I used it for the first time this weekend for Brats. It worked great. I did notice one of the tubes though, there was some loose metal that I has to file off. It was like a piece of thread.

I need to get some clamps for it though. Can crank it and control the casing at the same time, even though it has a very heavy/sturdy base. I did a 2 lbs batch of brats and ended up with only a small patty worth of meat left over that was in the tube and the passage way to the tube.

 

[fishwrestler]

I have then same one Mkatts just got it before Christmas also. What a great deal.

Here is my post with the results of my first stuff with this unit.  Sure beats using a kitchen aid. I have to agree there was only about 3 oz. of meat left and it makes a nice little  snack after all the hard work.

Enjoy,

Robert

 

[jeffesonm]

I went ahead and got the grizzly 5 lb stuffer for smaller jobs... just tried it out on a batch of andouille and it worked well.  There was just a little bit of meat left at the bottom so nice not to waste much.  Here are some comparison pics between the grizzly 5 lb and gander mountain 15 lb stuffers:

I would rate the gander mountain 15 lb stuffer as slightly higher quality... metal vs nylon gears of course but the fit and finish seems a little better as well.  Overall the grizzly definitely gets the job done and seems better suited for the small batches.

 

[princess]

I have the 5lb Grizzly and frequently use it to do 25 lb batches of sausage. I do not mind swapping out every 5lb, as it lets me ensure my meat is kept cold. Also, it has encouraged me to experiment with flavors. For example, my last run of summer sausage was a 25 lb batch: 10 lb regular, 5 lb peppercorn, 5 lb garlic, 5 lb hot.