Trad Gang

looking for some help. getting ready for next year and i am going to buy a meat grinder for myself. what brand, size, and/or horsepower do you  use with good results? what is the most important aspect to look for? we like to have most of our deer ground/burger. would like to be able to grind a deer in an afternoon. or maybe 2 deer if i ever get that lucky. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanx tim.

My brother and me use a Cabela's 1 & 1/2 HP grinder.  It was pricey but it'll squirt burger like a fire hose.

Tim,

I bought a grinder for my wife's Kitchen Aid.  Ground up 2 deer in 3 hours.  I bone my deer before bringing it home. Not fast but the price sure beats a separate grinder that is used once or twice a year.  Dick

Grizzly also makes a fine Meat grinder. West Lake Hardware stores also carry a cheaper model for around $200.

Myself I use My Wifes Kitchen Aid Mixer with a Grinder attachment You can get for around $10.00 been grinding our Deer this way for many years now. I do all the butchering and the Wife does the Meat grinding, works for us....ONE SHOT...  :D    :D    :D    :)    :)

I purchased a Sam Baere TS-110 and have ground quite a bit of meat with it. No troubles. Ground whitetail and Bob Walkers Bear Meat and it is a powerful and fast grinder. The TS-110 will grind it as fast as you can put it in the hopper. Good Luck with your search.

Lem products...If you ask for a remanufactured one you can save enough to buy the next size up. I have a #8 and it is all I need. Good luck
G

That little Kitchen Aid meat grinder works pretty good with frozen and thawed meat too.  If you are looking for cost effiency, it might be the way to go if you have use for an actual mixer and will use like I/my wife does.  Otherwise you'd have to fork up for the mixer first and buy the attachment seperate.  Not worth it if you just want the grinder.  I have a frugal friend that uses a hand crank grinder from Bass Pro Shops that he rigged an electric motor to.  The grinder is pretty stout made by LEM.  Not to sure about the brand as I am no meat grinder expert, but it looks like it's built to last.

we bought the smallest COMMERCIAL GRADE grinder from Cabellas,not sure of the horsepower but it will grind it as fast as you can feed it.also has the sausage making attatchment with it.

My wife also has the kitchen aid with grinder attachment.

Just so happened a high end commercial grade grinder boogered on us doing a moose.  We did over 3/4 of what we had to grind with her kitchen aide and it worked very well.  For someone looking to do mainly deer this is how I would go!

I have the 1 HP model from Cabelas. I looked at the 1.5 HP but decided against it. The 1 HP has the same size feed chute as the 1.5, but cost a lot less. I have not been able to bog it down or stall it. My buddy even went and bought one after seeing mine in action a couple times.

Things I would look for if I were still in the market would be....Stainless steel, a feed chute large enough to accept larger chunks of meat (I hate having to cut the meat into little chunks just so it will fit in the grinder), ability to accept attachments if you ever decide to branch out, and a large enough motor to handle the job at hand. We make about 300# of sausage every year between me and a couple friends, and the 1 HP is plenty.

The attachments are great IMO. We added a meat mixer attachment to our arsenal last year and it makes all the difference in the world. You can also get jerky slicers, meat cubers, patty makers etc, that hook right up to it.

 The .75 HP model would probably work well for what you described, but it has a smaller head which mean smaller chunks going in.

Cabelas is also known to have good customer service too.

BP

I've use this one from Cabelas  http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0029507516666a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&QueryText=meat+grinder&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx =mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=meat+grinder&noImage=0 (http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0029507516666a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&QueryText=meat+grinder&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=meat+grinder&noImage=0)
It's done at least 15 deer, a few mtn. goats, a couple caribou, some moose, and several black bears and it still works like a champ!  And only $100.

I use a # 10 hand grinder from Wal Mart. It works well for me. I don't kill a lot of deer but bring home 1 or 2 a season. I woulden't buy the high priced machine if you don't kill a lot of deer. Just my opinion

You can take a hand grinder and motorized it.  YOu just need a motor around 1700 rpm.  You will need to make your self a stand to anchor down motor and grinder.  Add a regular on and off switch. I did that to mine on a #12 Chop rite.  It grinds the meat with plenty of power very powerful and fast too.  Beats hand grinding 25#s by hand. Here are some pics of a grinder without a motor and also a pic of the pulley wheel you can buy.  This is the webb site I got the pics from.  I would show you mine but its put up and I would have to take it out and set it up just to photograph it.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v107/doublelung/Meatgrinderwithpulley.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v107/doublelung/pulleyca.gif)

Cost of wheel was 49.00 from this site.  If you already have at least a #12 or bigger the pulley wheel should fit.  It was made to fit a Chop Rite but guy at this store said you could modify the section where the pulley would go on the grinder.

Here is site
http://www.texastastes.com/p37.htm

:scared:   Woulndnt want my hand that close to the pulley while running.  

I wouldn't want my fingers near the pulley either, I'd build a gaurd for it.

i really appreicate all the help. i never thought of the kitchen aid with grinder attachment. my wife already has the mixer. guess i was thinking i needed something to handle more volume. i don't even know what the output is on a kitchen aid, so i guess i never thought of it as a possible grinder. thanx again, tim.

I used a kitchen aid for alot of years but finally burnt it up a couple of years back.  It ground alot of deer up but the last couple of years it was very tempermental and it was rough on it.  Replaced it with a dedicated grinder like Ursus has there.  It grinds better, faster, and easier to clean up.  I went to buy one about 15 years ago and my wife grumped at me.  Wish I hadn't waited so long to get one. dino

did a lot of looking and reading before i bought mine off of **** , it was brand new in the box . will grind  a bunch of meat in a short while .

if you are going electric make sure it  is at least 1000 watts then it will have enough power to grind what you want . i used the sausage stuffer that came with it the first year and this fall bought a sausage stuffer $150 for 5lb sausage stuffer  good investment --- herb

I hate cutting up the shanks.  Got the 1.5 cabelas after years of using a commercial Hobart.  I think the 1 hp would have been enough, but I grind all the ligaments, etc. and you need some power.

I got the grinder attachment for my wife's Kitchen Aid and it works great.  After butchering a deer (which for me means cutting it all into steaks and then "scrap."  I fill the freezer bags w/ water so the meat won't freezer burn.  When I thaw it, I grind it then, so it's never frozen after being grinded (which can allow freezer burn).

I bought one for $35 on sale at walley mart. I got a buddy who has had one for about 4 years with no problem.

OK, I only read the question and not all the answers, but here, perhaps, is a different take: Since burger doesn't keep as long in the freezer as unprocessed meat, and since I cut all my meat myself, what I've come to prefer is to cut and wrap roasts or other larger chunks, then thaw them as needed and grind with a reliable hand grinder passed down from my grandmother, at least. A bonus is that should you decide you want a roast, steaks, shishkabobs, etc., you haven't eliminated that choice. So long as it all gets 'et, the form it takes on the plate is nothing but a matter of preference.

Dave,
I take all the trim and put in a 12 pack bottle beer box or something that will hold about 25 pounds.  I line it w/plastic and pound it tight.  Seal w/duct tape and grind as needed.  One year I had 7 of these boxes.  Really saves freezer room.

dave that is a very good suggestion. in the past i would go and have all my deer processed at once. with owning my own grinder i can grind as needed. i never thought of that option. thanx alot, tim.

Look at Northern Tools. I bought one from them this fall and have only done 1 deer but it performed very well. It is 1000 watts for the same price as the one in Cabelas that is 450 or 500 watts.

QuoteOriginally posted by dnovo:
Look at Northern Tools. I bought one from them this fall and have only done 1 deer but it performed very well. It is 1000 watts for the same price as the one in Cabelas that is 450 or 500 watts.

I have that one... I've done 4 deer with it... its not blazing fast, but its fast enough that I need to cut it off so I can catch up  with it from time to time... works okay for making sausage as well... It appears to be a taiwanese product "Tasin TS-108 Electric Meat Grinder" that sells for 70% more under its own name...

Its bargain and just plain works... its easy to clean too... My only complaint is the steel grinding plate, and will be buying stainless plates to replace the carbon steel, but you need to do that with most anyways... I paid $89 on sale and think its worth 2x that much!!!