stuffing sausage

[Kyle]

I bought a new LEM .75HP grinder. It came with all of the attachments for stuffing sausage. I have heard the grinders don't stuff well in comparison to stuffers. Anyone ever stuff sausage with a grinder? What do you think?

[TruthWalleyes]

It works OK on bigger casings. Anything under an inch in diameter and the grinder tends to turn your meat into a paste. Been there, done that. Stuffer from here on out for me. Big summer sausage casings you should be fine though.

[B-man715]

Truth is right.

A grinder works, but having the right tool for the job works 10x better.

One tip that I will share:

(If you eat your venison burger straight with nothing mixed in).

When you grind your meat (whole muscle) attach the big stuffer tube over the fine plate and knife and push it right into hamburger bags. It takes two people, but is a huge time saver verses grinding first then stuffing or wrapping later as a second step.

[grundy]

Pretty much impossible to grind&stuff in one operation. You need to grind venison then grind pork and mix by hand with seasonings. Then you stuff it. It can be done with a grinder and stuffing attachment but leave the fine or coarse plate out otherwise like Truth said it will be way to fine. (like eating sawdust). Go with the grinder, mix and then a stuffer, much better results. Best thing I found for mixing is a five dollar paint mixer put on a drill. Works excellent and saves on the cold hands!!

[LindellProStaf]

I am new to making sausage too. So the meat mixture must be pretty wet and runny to mix with a paint mixture. Is that right? Sorry Kyle for butting in but wanted to know a little more about this subject.

[LindellProStaf]

Also I bought a grinder and thought it would work for grinding and stuffing. It was a pain to stuff with it so I just bought a Lem 5 lb stuffer. I helped a friend using his stuffer and it worked much better than a grinder.

[thirdeye]

I agree with a grinder for grinding, and a stuffer for stuffing. I have a vertical 5# stuffer, similar to the LEM models that I've used for about 25 years. I like the 5# size because I often make 2 or 3 varieties each time and 5# will yield me about 15 links or 8 or so rings. Dedicated equipment makes sausage a fast job.

For example, on Friday I started a batch of lamb sausage by boning out a leg (got just over 4 pounds of lamb) and grinding it with 1-1/4 pound of pork. I seasoned the meat and let it sit overnight to blend. The grinding took 6 minutes. I rinsed and soaked the casings and put them in the fridge overnight. Saturday I set up the stuffer and stuffed one barrel full which took less than 10 minutes. I had more time in cleaning the equipment than using it.

[grundy]

Yes you must add water to your meat mixture before stuffing or it wont go thru the stuffer very easy. I use ice water but not to much or it will be to sloppy when stuffing. Use just enough water to mix the seasonings and meat. The consistancy should be a little sloppy but not to the extent of runny.

[Kyle]

I'm definitely not new to sausage making, I've jsut never used a grinder to stuff it. I've been using a friends 11lb horizontal stuffer for years but I posed the question about using a grinder with the hope I could save myself a little extra work in washing dishes. I also thought maybe the 3/4HP and the big bite technology on the LEM grinder might make a difference. I'm going to try it and see what I think. Thanks

[huntnfish]

I've used a grinder to stuff and the biggest pain is getting the ground meat mix down the hole in the top and into the grinder. It works, but like others have said, there are better tools for the job.