Beginner needs help with the Super grinder (Kubbe sort)

[lottie]

I am brain dead after a traumatic evening trying to make my first sausages with my new maching - and OH not a happy man!

I bought the Super Grinder which had the Kibbe attachment and the sausage stuffing tubes. The instructions are not clear so I think I might be the cause!

A) To stuff the sausages, do you take out the metal mincer, and blade bits, and just put in the plastic white bit and the tube? (The tube wobbles a bit but does that matter?)

B) We had a heck of a job getting the mixture through and down the tube, we kept getting sort of a vacuum and I told OH that the meat was probably not cold enough and might need to go in the freezer for a little while after mixing the spices and water and rusk. Is that why? It was so hard to push all the sausagemeat in - the plastic stuffer bent at the top. Is it because it was a hot evening?

C) Any easy way of washing it all. I dismantled it like it said but it was so hard to get the pork out. How do you get the meat out of the metal bit that remains in the front?

D) When you finish one batch and want to do another - how do you get all of the first batch out into the sausage.

E) Which is best to use - I used collagen tubes, but don't seem to get enough on the nozzle to do 1kg.

If any of you can give me some advice it would be very much appreciated as OH says that the machine is no better than the little attachment on my food mixer!

Huge thanks - dejected and disheartened - and with 3 kg yet to do!

[Paul Kribs]

lottie

I will assume your grinder is similar to the Fleischwolf type of grinder/stuffer.

Generally, you remove the blade and plate after you have minced the meat, insert the plastic spacer, which centralises the wormscrew. Insert the nozzle and secure.. it really shouldn't be able to wobble, as this would allow the mix to escape around the securing nut/nozzle base.
With the machine set up like this you should have no problem pushing the mix through.. Did you leave the plate and blade in for your first attempt?? this would have made it a bit more difficult. Keep the meat as cold as possible during all procedures, and it does benefit being semi-frozen for grinding.
For cleaning the cutter group, dismantle it all and immerse it in very hot soapy water. The heat will shrink the meat in the plate holes, allowing you to flush with running water.. most should wash away but if any remains just poke it through with a wooden skewer or something similar.
The way I manage to use all the mix from the nozzle is to unscrew the nozzle (casing still attached) and dependant on nozzle size use a steel or handle of a wooden spoon to poke it into the casing.

Trouble with these type of machines is that they generally only come with a short nozzle, unlike dedicated stuffers. Maybe you can measure the diameter of the base of the nozzle and enquire with Steph or Franco at sausagemaking.org, they may be able to supply a longer nozzle of the same diameter.

Maybe you might consider a dedicated stuffer if you intend to make sausages regularly. Good luck with your next attempt.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[roseway]

C) Any easy way of washing it all. I dismantled it like it said but it was so hard to get the pork out. How do you get the meat out of the metal bit that remains in the front?

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by that. All the working parts separate for cleaning. On my machine, after removing the plate and cutter I loosen the big knob on the side and remove the mincer housing together with the spiral inside it. I then use a blunt object to push the spiral out of the housing (it's a tight fit) and all the parts are separated. An old toothbrush is very useful for getting into the nooks and crannies when washing.

Eric

[Wohoki]

And as to casings, the general concensus seems to be tha natural hog are the easiest to use and handle.

[jenny_haddow]

Hi Lottie

I started the same way with a grinder/stuffer method. I got sausages out of it, but it was a circus act to do so. I now have an upright sausage stuffer, I cant begin to describe the difference it makes.

I started with collagen skins and found if I soaked them in water, the same as natural casings I could get quite a good length on the tube. Keeping them in a jar of oil is another way. I put them on the tube straight from the bowl of water, but I must admit it was a bit like stuffing a paper chinese lantern! I now use hogs and sheep casings, what a difference. Also the tube on the grinder was tapered which made it awkward to slide the casing on, dedicated stuffers have straight tubes, more logical. I have a small hand mincer and I bought stuffing tubes for it from Franco. They do fit my electric grinder and the width of the plastic tube holder is 58mm. I think they go with the porkert hand mincer and are no.5, also very inexpensive.

Getting the mix into the skins - I developed a method that worked for me. At first I used the tray attachment and stuffed the meat down the shute, it soon started to back up and lifted the tray off the machine! So, I took the tray off and dropped small pieces a bit at a time into the machine, never more than half filling the shute. That way I could keep an eye on it, stuff it down with one hand, and control the skins with the other, turning the machine on and off to control the flow. It's a two sides of the brain job! I posted some picture of some I made using this method in the Beginners section under 'novice sausage maker'. You can get sausages out of your grinder, but it takes practice.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Jen

[lottie]

Thanks one and all. I thought the meat grinder I bought was a proper sausage stuffer (It was over �100) but obviously they are two different things.

Thanks for the tips expecially with the cleaning and dropping the meat down the tube.

The first batch I made (1kg) I did indeed leave the mincer blade on (doh) but the the next ones I removed it.

The meat didn't flow out easily - it was really hard work to push it through.

The bit of metal I mentioned was on the actual machine in the white base, there is the metal circular hole that the push the big metal grinding stuffing bit into. There was sausagemeat stuck in there. I just used a cotton wool but to get it out.

I will indeed ask Franco is he has the long tubes. I have bought a lot of his mixes, rusks, spices, etc and the people on the end of the phone have always been very helpful.

I think that your point about the shortness of the sausage stuffing tube is a very valid point as it you have a long tube you can put on lots of casing and keep the coninuity going. Just when we were getting the knack of it the casings ran out and so it took ages doing just 2kg.

I really do appreciate you all taking the trouble - and will follow your advice. to the letter.

Huge thanks

[dougal]

This is an exploded diagram of the Kenwood attachment.
I expect your thing is somewhat similar.
The Kibbeh attachment is the two stubby bits at the bottom. Its for extruding sausages as a hollow tube - its a middle eastern thing!
The sausage stuffing nozzles are the long ones. The front support for the screw while sausage stuffing is the ring pictured above/behind the two sausage stuffing nozzles.
If you are using either of these *sets* then you don't fit the propellor cutter or a metal mincer plate.

You can 'flush out' the last of a batch (before changing to a different mix) by 'mincing some sliced white bread or onion... (unless its radically different, many folk would just allow the new mix to clear out the old one. This is done when changing the colour in plastic moulding too - you get a couple of strangely mixed ones, but no interruptions!)

Cleaning. I expect that you can remove the metal mincer body from the motor. Then a bottle brush makes things fairly easy...

Hope this is some help!
Oh, and welcome to the forum...

[jenny_haddow]

I go from one batch to the next without stopping, you can usually see the 'join' and keep that sausage apart from the rest if you want.
Tooth brushes get into the awkward bits after a good hot soak. I made the serious mistake of putting mine in the dishwasher, it turned black! I've got it back to normal now, but it wasn't an expensive machine, I expect an up market version is all stainless steel.

[lottie]

Thanks Dougal and Jenny.

I don't have the 'spacer' bit, so I used the front bit for the Kibbeh first as it has a gap at the bottom that fits is the metal L shape main bit. (Not technical am I)

As we gave up last night at midnight or so (we didn't get our order delivered until gone 9pm as they are very busy and it said to freeze asap or within 24 hours) I mixed the spices with the sausagemeat, and bagged it up and kept it in the fridge overnight.

Me and he followed all your tips, and we managed to stuff almost 2kg in half an hour!

I think that I will use the hog casing for definite and it is a nuisance keep having to stop just when you are 'on a roll' to put some more on the tube.

I wondered if with the longer nozzle that is tapered at the end whether it would make it harder for the machine to stuff the casings. I used the widest tube today and it worked better.

Once again my heartfelt thanks. And the really cold meat, in smaller quantities, with oil on the collagen casing worked.

Even sceptical OH had to admit that the colder meat and less 'faffing' about stuffing it down the tube and collecting it - his task' made life much easier.