meat processing

[Rick Perry]

for all of you that process your own meat , I have a question .

 I have a Cabelas 1 hp grinder . When I'm grinding deer burger I have problems with it not feeding properly . When I am running deer meat only thru it it grinds like crazy but when I add fat or bacon it slows to a crawl . I normally add beef suet and bacon to my burger and I keep all the meat and fat very cold prior to grinding .

 Anyone else experience problems grinding fat with your burger ? Anyone have any ideas to solve this ?

[lpcjon2]

I would post this in the food forum on the main page .
 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum;f=7

 And I did see a guy who added ice to the meat before grinding to keep cold and lubricate a bit.

[JMR]

Do you grind your fat or Bacon or whatever you choose separate and then mix? A little trick my wife uses for flavor is grinding a beef bouillon cube or two and then adding to the burger just before she cooks it.

[Rick Perry]

I try to add the fat a piece or two at a time while I'm grinding the meat . But at times it plugs up the auger and head.

[Michigan Mark]

Only grind venison by itself. The only other time other meats are used are for sausage. Then the pork is ground together. To answer your question never had such a problem. Good luck and check that the fats are not to slick and binding the machine by not feeding through the hopper feeding the blades.

[statedriller]

Make sure your blade is sharp.  And if you don't, try double grinding it.  First round course plate and second pass with a fine plate.

[twitchstick]

I use a small Warning pro grinder and proccess quite a bit of meat each year with out too many problems. From what I have seen the Cabelas grinders are far better than mine. Having the 1 hp you may have to dice up any fat and meat that you put in the grinder. That's what I have to do on mine. I learned this from using a small hand grinder for years. The bigger hp moldels can handle alot more fat and and un cut meat. You can also use a vegteble spray in your grinder as a lubricant. Sometimes I still have to use the reverse to back out fat cloggs and clean up the blade. I hope this helps.

[bretto]

Is your beef fat cold? I like mine to be as cold as possible. Partially frozen it flies through there.

[reddogge]

I mix my fat and fatty ground beef together and spread on cookie pans and place in the freezer for a little while to firm up the meat. It goes much smoother then.

[JAG]

I try to grind all the fat before starting the red meat.  Keep it as cold as possible.  I then mix the two together in the ratio of meat to fat that I want.  Mix good, then grind thru the second time, together.  If I have the time I'll temper the mixture in the freezer before the final grind.
I have the same grinder, and usually have no problems.  Just keep it all cold as possible and go steady.
I worked in the meat processing as an Inspector and meat cutter for better than 30yrs.
Johnny/JAG

[ksbowman]

Like Bretto says the colder or partially frozen is best. I grind my venison with 20% (approx.) pork fat or 40% pork shoulder. If using pork shoulder the fatter the better. I use an old Oster Grinder/sausage stuffer and it works great. The slowdown you're describing sounds like your blades may not be real sharp. Are you getting a buildup of tissue between the cutter and the plate? If so you can true up your plate by taking a pane of glass (or mirror) and first use 240 grit wet or dry sandpaper wrapped around it and true it up by moving it back and forth till the paper makes smooth contact all along its face. The same can be done with your cutter plate and after the cutter gets a good face drop to 400, then to 600grit paper. When you do this you won't believe how much better your grinder cuts and operates. Oh, congrats on the presidential run also!

[karrow]

we keep the auger and head in the cooler and bring it out just before we start to grind. its an old trick that my dad always said they did and it seems to help. i also like to drop in just one chunk at a time. so you can see the auger between chunks. good luck

[LKH]

If you're talking about getting it down the throat, that is normally a pain, but if it's not grinding then there is a chance you aren't getting the blades tight enough to the hole plate.  Try tightening up the plate.

[ksbowman]

LKH, that is a good point on tightening, but it is amazing how many plates and cutters are concave and no amount of tightening will bring them completely together if they are not true and sharp.

[cuboodle]

My grinder has a fat trimming blade that attached on the auger just behind the plate with holes

[Kentucky Jeff]

I always grind the fat with the venison.  It seems to incorporate better that way.  Like others said.  Check your blade and plate.  Make sure the blade isn't backwards.  Silly suggestion I know.  But sometimes we make silly mistakes.

[Morning Star]

I worked as a butcher for a few years and also process my own venison.  It sounds like your blades are dull or there is a tolarance issue (gap)between the plate and blades.  The blades should ride against the plate. Be sure that something is not keeping your end cap from tightening down all the way.

At the shop, we used to replace the plate and blades together....so that is the practice I still use.

I grind my venison 70% with 30% smoked bacon tips mixing as I grind.  Never had any problems.

[bswear]

Rick,

 I have the same Cabelas grinder and its not very good on fat.  The knife is probably not dull, because mine were not.  The best solution is on the re-grind make little lemon-sized balls and partially freeze them first.  Its a cool grinder but its terrible with fat (pork is the worst)and while I still have it, I purchased a Hobart.

[mwosborn]

I have a small grinder so I have to cut my fat up into small pieces for it to handle it ok - more work but works good.  My brother has a bigger cabelas grinder and it will take very large pieces no problem - however it is a $500.00 grinder!  Mine was a cheapy!  My cheapy is on its 4th or 5th year and we do 6-8 deer a year so it is not doing too bad.

[Ringneck]

I do the exact thing as Morning Star with grinding in bacon ends. I also stamp the sides of my grinder plate #1 and #2. When I replace the blade I flip the plate to the #2 side and use it with the new blade. Gets double use out of the plate.