Meat Grinders

[TrapperBR549]

I am happy with 3/4 horse LEM. I have a jerky slicing attachment, juicer, and mixer for it. All work well.
We go through several deer per year and since much of our hunting is at our house I keep the grinder head in the freezer. If we kill one I will pull it out, grind what we want ground and put the head back in the freezer. It saves a bunch of clean up time.
I have the foot switch and a big stuffing tube to grind directly into the meat bags and finish it off with the taping tool. With the wife feeding it and me running it we can grind a ridiculous amount of meat in very short time.
I disagree with others about manual stuffers. If I have my way I will never stuff sausage with a grinder again. I have a 5lb stuffer for small batches and a 20lb for big days. The 20lber is a pain to wash but this is typically only used when we are doing big family day sausage making of 100lbs or more.
I am not saying LEM is better than any of the other brands. I believe all of the good ones will do the job and I don't see how anybody could wear one out unless they abuse it.

 

[swampthang]

Anybody got any experience with meat grinders? My brother in law had a small one that we burned up last deer season. I’ve been looking online at Cabelas, Scheels, etc. and the reviews seem to be all over the place. We would be grinding 3-5 deer a year and probably a hog in the near future. What does everybody use and how do you like them?

Good morning,
I have been a butcher for a lonnnng time. I retired from Ga dept of corrections in 2008 but have been helping my best friend open and run a custom slaughterhouse and butcher shop ever since.
I kill between 20-30 cows per week ( yeah covid has us busy as hell)
And although I use commercial Hobart equipment I highly recommend the cables equipment. I have a 1 3/4 hp grinder I gave my neighbor with cuber attachment, burger patty maker and different grinding plates.
He processes over 25 deer and hogs a season and for home use it does as good job as my Hobart.
Now if your into sausage, brats, snack stix etc..
Hands down get a Haaka vertical stuffer. ( 220.00 price range)
It's very well made all ss and make BEAUTIFUL artisan sausages. I even use an 11 lb haaka at Reedy creek meat co.
For small batch deer and hogs where I dont need a $18,000 hydraulic stuffer.
Both cables and haaka are well made, easy to operate and clean.
I like the cables over the LEM .
No doubt Hobart is the very best commercial equipment you can buy/use but if you ever have a problem they're expensive to repair.
Hope this insight helps.
Good hunting.

 

[JSH]

Can’t add a darn thing that has t already been said above on grinders and stuffers. If your making much sausage, a meat mixer is another great time saver.

 

[Rich S]

I use a Cabelas 3/4hp #12 to process a few deer a year. Takes about 30 - 40 min to grind and package 25# of burger. I use a stuffing tube and grind directly into the plastic bags. My wife likes the juicer attachment to make tomato juice. I don’t use it to run a mixer so can’t comment on that.

 

[Ccrider]

I say buy once cry once. I bought this grinder about 15 years ago after burning up three non commercial grinders. This thing is a tank. It will grind as fast as you can feed it and not heat up. I don’t know if it is still made.

 

[mr45man]

Like many have stated, cut the meat up and then partially freeze it. The back of the auger can get extremely hot otherwise, no matter whose grinder you purchase. Also important to have your bacon ends and pork butt roast cold to lessen fat buildup on the auger. If you make mixed burger, brats, etc., purchase several meat lugs. Don't skimp here. My son-in-law crafted a plywood table with two holes and a large plastic funnel in them. We put 5 gallon buckets under the funnels and scraps go there as we are cutting. He made slots for a Teflon type cutting board to fit into so it doesn't slide around, and also a slot for a meat lugs. Don't skimp on your cutting board. Purchase the heavy duty large one. Good knives are a must. We like the ready made hamburger packages and fill them with the grinder using the foot pedal switch. We bought the taping jig from LEM and it works slick. Unless you can afford the electric sausage stuffer, I would forego the manual one. It's a slow tedious task using it and just another piece of equipment to clean up. We have an LEM mixer and I have mixed feelings on the mixer. We use it sometimes and hand mix other times. Your equipment setup area and equipment in addition to your grinder are as important as the grinder itself. Unless you enjoy spending days processing and cleaning up the equipment, it's imperative to buy what you need and create an efficient work space. If you only do one deer a year, then disregard my post. We quit processing our own deer for several years, but a few bad experiences at the locker plant put us to buying equipment and doing our own again. We couldn't be happier.

Locker plants are terrible.

 

[mr45man]

Look for a commercial grinder, used restaurant equipment .1 horse Hobart .
Used one to grind and stuff. Easy to clean, just run a few pieces of bread threw it for the dogs and wash in sink.Did several hundred pounds of sausage every year, deer/ pork mix .beef pork mix. Cut to size ,
season ,mix meat, grind.. Helps to have large pans that hold 25 or 50 lbs of meat.
God I miss those days on the farm.

 

[hogdogger]

Aloha Bill
Like others here I also use LEM equipment. Years ago I bought a 1 hp grinder from cabelas but it would get really hot. It was also pretty loud while grinding. I do a lot of animals every year I hunt wild boar 1-2x a week sometimes more. And deer several times a year sometimes doing control work where we can get 30-50+ deer a day. We process easily over 1000# of deer n hogs a year. And our LEMS are still going strong.

This is a small batch of wild boar char siu sausage the gang made few days ago.

 

[12bhunting]

I have two lem 3/4 grinders and grind probably 12 a year. Hamburger, chorizo, sausage, summer sausage..... Every year I wish I had bought a bigger one.

 

[DaveTooley]

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[3Sigma]

I have a LEM #32 hand crank. I only process a few deer a year, and the hand crank is pretty bulletproof. Just bolt it down to a workbench and get to work. Biggest challenge for me was sharpening the blade and lapping to the plate. Cold and nearly frozen.

 

[alintx]

Have a one horse Cabela's that does over twenty a year. Totally happy with it, and great warranty

 

[WSnyder]

LEM promo code FALL20 20% discount over $70 through 10/09/22

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Cabelas for 10 years, several elk,many deer. I put the feed/blades and pan in the freezer and the meat is chilled overnight in the frig. No heat or greasy meat that way. Not sure who makes the Cabelas grinder. I add beef naval (20-25%) to any venison ground meat for burgers.

 

[Kalitrazescapee]

I started with a Cabela's 1/3 HP grinder...I stepped up and bought a lem 1.5hp ...I don't want to partial freeze..thaw ...I just want to cut it into long coffee cup dia strips and drop them in...no dbl grinding...bad part is I should have upgraded stuffer before price increase.... I want to get setup again...( Moved) and make salami. Only herbivore meat.