Advice on mincer/stuffers

[MONKEY]

Hi there,

I want to buy my brother a mincer/stuffer kit for xmas to start him off on sausage making. The thing is he takes this kind of thing pretty seriously - he already makes his own ham, bacon etc. I want to get him something that he can keep using and will not have to upgrade later on.

I was thinking of either buying him the electric or the heavy duty sausage making kit. Just wanted to know if there were any particular limitations using the elctric one? Which is the better of the two options?

Thanks

[Paul Kribs]

MONKEY

That's a bit of an open question really. As you say, your brother takes it seriously so we can assume that it would be long term. It would also depend on your budget as well as what amount he would eventually be making.
I started off with a Fleischwolf hand mincer and can tell you that for a reasonable amount of sausages (10 kgs) it is very labour intensive and time consuming. Obviously this is the main limitation with a manually operated mincer. It seems that you get what you pay for with regard to electric mincers. I currently use the Fleischwolf FW 2684. It is at the cheaper end and pretty much copes with my demands but it does complain a bit sometimes. It comes with one sausage filler tube suitable for hog casings, so those are the limitations. That sells for under �70. If my one ever gives up I will have to seriously consider a Reber mincer and so we are looking at a price increase. These range up to a professional model and you are looking at about �400.. As I say, it depends on your budget.
I use seperate manual machines for stuffing the casings rather than use the single tube. Stuffers normally come with a selection of filler tubes so you can use them for chipolata size sheep casings right up to ox runners for salami and even ox bungs for large salami or haggis.
Have a look at the products on the main site and you will be able to assess the initial outlay costs.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[aris]

A mincer isn't really necessary to get started. Just buy a good quality stuffer, and you can buy your meat pre-minced from the butcher. If your brother wants to take it further, then he can buy a mincer later.

As far as a stuffer is concerned - if you want quality equipment which you will not have to upgrade later - I would only buy Reber stuffers.

[MONKEY]

Thanks very much for the advice. I've decided to get the FW2684 electric mincer/sausage filler. After which if my brother wants anything more he can buy a decent stuffer.

I look forward to some nice bangers this christmas.

Cheers