Big Old #32 grinder, sausage texture too fine.

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Big Old #32 grinder, sausage texture too fine.

Postby kickapoogirl » Sun Jan 31, 2016 6:27 am

Proud owner of a very old Stimpson #32 electric grinder. 3 Phase, with a 220 step down. Grinder plates I have are fine and medium. Did 100 pounds of venison/pork sausage in natural hog casings, 6 versions yesterday. Whew. Used the recipes off sausage making. Ratio's were spot on, with perhaps the exception of the last two double batches, which may have been a little too fatty.

Ground on the medium disk with meat half frozen for much of it, mixed water and spices, mixed mixed mixed back into the freezer while grinding mixing the rest, and then put through with no grinding plate with the stuffer, and texture came out again very very fine. Tastes great, but, too fine. Used standard fat to meat rates, weighed everything. Cold cold meat, cold room. Sigh. At least it tastes good according to my friends who tasted the out put tonight. But the texture is too fine. Can't really go farther with getting sexy with sausage and maybe smoking if the texture isn't right to begin with.

So, get a 3/4 inch plate, the one with 8 holes? Grind the fat frozen with the fine, and freeze loose before the mix? Or is this monster grinder so powerful that a kidney plate will do? It's a three notch.

Question is, should I go with a 3/4 plate or a kidney plate next year? Seems no matter how cold, the medium plate still turns all to mush with this monster auger. It's a 3 notch, so the plate isn't cheap either way.

Wish I could make this thing grind grain. :) All the venison scrap goes for chicken food. :) Appreciate the input.
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Re: Big Old #32 grinder, sausage texture too fine.

Postby ComradeQ » Sun Jan 31, 2016 4:13 pm

Just a thought, is the blade for the grinder also "very old"? It sounds like you may have a dull blade, maybe you need to procure a replacement blade? I usually prefer to grind most fresh sausage on my largest grinder plate, texture is always better, so yes you should try a larger plate.

Another thought ... when I first started making sausage I stuffed with the grinder. While it still made amazing sausage, the heat of the auger and the pain of loading it up, quickly led me to get a dedicated stuffer. I find using a grinder to stuff negatively affects the texture of the sausage so that would be another area to look into.

Lastly, do you freeze the grinder parts (auger, plate, blade, tube) before grinding? With a powerful machine your auger is likely getting hot, might be worth trying that too.
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Re: Big Old #32 grinder, sausage texture too fine.

Postby wheels » Sun Jan 31, 2016 5:32 pm

Welcome to the forum.

I think that ComradeQ's hit the nail on the head here.

There are a couple of other things worth noting:

The size of the holes in the plate are what determines the size of grind; the size of the machine has no bearing on this. A ¼ inch hole will produce the same size pieces of meat whether from a size #12 machine or a size #32 machine. However, a machine the size of yours should make it easier to do. In fact, you shouldn't need to half-freeze your meat to get good results: very cold should do fine.

Are you ensuring that the flat of the blade is held tight against the plate? If the plate's worn, is the retaining ring holding it tight against the blade? It should do. Have you got the blade in correctly? It should sit with the blade against the plate like this:

Image
Image

I hope this helps.

Phil
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Re: Big Old #32 grinder, sausage texture too fine.

Postby NCPaul » Sun Jan 31, 2016 6:26 pm

Welcome to the forum. :D Using a dedicated stuffer to fill the casings should also improve the texture. It can really help when doing large amounts to have one person grinding while another does the stuffing.
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Re: Big Old #32 grinder, sausage texture too fine.

Postby kickapoogirl » Sat Feb 06, 2016 3:28 pm

Thanks for the responses! Never thought of freezing the auger, very good idea. Did figure out that mine with take one notch plates, which is good news. Would love a dedicated stuffer, but that's probably not in the books unless I see one at an estate sale. Will do smaller batches next time, instead of trying to do it all at once. :)

Thanks again! :)

Denise
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