Ever since the pink slime scare many years ago we grind all of our own beef from 30# slabs of chuck, round, or whatever. First I used my old kitchenaid grinder, then used a 150$ cabellas grinder for years before the transmission finally blew up. We like grinding our own and will do 2-30# roasts at one time. I am planning to replace the cabellas grinder with a nice one and have chosen this one. https://www.amazon.com/LEM-Products...00E8MADPS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 It's a #12 grinder with ball bearings and all metal gears. This thing weighs 47# and costs about 425$. Can you folks please share your thoughts on this selection? I also hope to grind at least one elk this fall. Thanks,
That looks like a serious grinder. That would give you plenty of production. All the reviews seem to positive. Personally, We do smaller amounts using a food processor. Works great for our purposes.
I've been a butcher for over 35 yrs. I worked at a big store chain for 6 months until I couldn't stand the corporate bullchit anymore. ( shop small!). Anyway, they only sold pre ground, gas packed burger, so I bought a grinder for my home. I bought the same one you are getting, "the big bite". So far so good. Feels like a mini version of the big one I use now. It comes with all the attachments you need for sausage making also. Clean it well after each use, and keep a little food grade oil on the plates and blades! Enjoy!
Big Bite technology; All metal gears with roller bearings; Hole in head where pan is inserted is 2"; Five year factory warranty Stainless steel motor housing; Heavy duty handle for easy moving; Built in circuit breaker; Stainless steel head, auger and meat pan Includes: 1 meat stomper, 1 stainless steel knife, 1 stainless steel stuffing plate, 2 stainless steel plates (Coarse, Fine), 3 stuffing tubes 5 year warrenty! Circuit breaker built in and all metal gears. Whats to criticise thats a meat eating machine! I would buy it warranty and gears alone are the big seller most things these days are plastic gears and dont last.
Great choice. I have the smaller #5 and it works great for grinding about 50 lbs of venison each year.
LEM Big Bites are great grinders. However, if your doing 60 lbs of meat in one shot and you plan on butchering an elk I would recommend you bump up to a 1 hp #22 grinder. They had a 10% off sale at LEMs website but it ended yesterday.
Okay I ordered the grinder yesterday through amazon and it was 426$ minus a 40 dollar coupon from LEM that loaded up automatically through amazon at checkout so 386$. With the large size, warranty, ball bearings, and metal gears I think it is worth double the price of the little ones from cabellas. I put a whole deer through a kitchenaid mixer with grinder one time so I think I can get by with this one for 30-60# of chuck at a time. The plates that come with it are 3/8" and 3/16" which the smaller one is the hamburger plate. Not sure what the big one is for.
That looks to be a decent grinder. Don't laugh at me, but around 12 years ago I started butchering my own deer. I bought a grinder head off of eBay and mounted a 40:1 Dayton gear reduction/Baldor 1hp motor to it. The grinder has thrust bearings which, if it didn't, it'd have never lasted. I've used that thing for over a decade and I've processed many, many deer, and it works flawlessly I only have around 100 bucks in the whole setup and it's a #32 head, and it'll chew up a car if you could stuff it in the throat of it.....lol
It should actually have three plates. A burger plate, the smallest holes. A course ground plate, for sausage and for the first grind of big pieces of meat. Its easier on the motor to grind burger with the course blade, then twice with the fine blade. There should also be a plate that just has to large holes in it. this is for when you pack the sausage into casing.
Okay. I also read that some people coarse grind meat for chili. We just use chunks in our chili. I've never stuffed sausage before, my previous grinders had the parts as well but I never tried it. Seems complicated to tie the knots and I don't have the foot pedal on/off switch so I imagine a meat squirt gun blowing product all over.
Got a manual crank #32 bunch of years ago came with a 12" sheeve on it with a handle to crank it added a 1.5hp Motor- takes about 15 minutes to grind a whole white tail up most of which is just because I can't feed it as fast as it chews it up.
Probably the same one I have.....lol I took the pulley off of it and installed lovejoy couplers on it, and mated it to a gear reduction. The gear reduction has a dual output on it, my next attachment is going to be a meat mixer.....
$45 for the grinder- motor and 2" pulley had laying around belt as well, cobbled it together and went to town. Used a kitchen aid for a few, before that just a standard hand crank clamp on the bread board type- course that made the kitchen aid seem like lightning.
The one thing you gotta watch is sticking your fingers near the intake.....the first season I used mine, an old Gatorade bottle sufficed as a "stomper". I've since made a stomper out of applewood......
