Grey sludge from mincer

[Roberto]

Hi everyone. There is some sort of sludge coming from the middle of my mincer's plate. I thought it would probably stop happening after the first use or something, but seems that it didn't. Yesterday I minced about 8kg of pork shoulder and about 1,7kg of pork back fat. I had to stop the mincer and clean the sludge about 6 or 7 times. It is a pain to have to do this all the time. I am just worried that it will contaminate the meat. The mincer is a stainless steel mincer. If anybody knows why this happens and how to stop it please let me know. Maybe someone is in a similar situation and found a solution. Here is a picture of it.

[JerBear]

It's likely grease from the manufacturing. When I first got my grinder I had to grind through a few kg's of meat and toss it to make sure that there were not chemical (grease) or physical contaminants (metal shavings). It should have gone away after about 5-6 lbs of grinding.

[Roberto]

Thanks for your reply. The stuff that comes out comes from the rubbing of the worm end with the plate. Before using it it was properly cleaned. I cleaned the plate's middle hole well. I am going to use it soon again but I am thinking that the same will happen. I don't think that this has only happened to me. I hope there are some solutions regarding this.

[wheels]

Mmm.. I've had this with aluminium things, but not stainless.

Without trying to offend, have you got the blade in the right way around? The flat of the blades against the plate?

The only thing that I can think of otherwise would be some form of coating on the mincing plate?

What mincer is it?

Phil

[Roberto]

You are definitely not offending. Sometimes people do things wrong which is good to have people reminding them of the right way of doing things. In this case the plate has a bit in the middle that protrudes which is the bit that is to the outside. I don't think it would even work if the other way around. The mincer is one of the shops mincer. It's a TC12 from here http://www.sausagemaking.org/acatalog/E ... ncers.html

[wheels]

Roberto

It was the blade that's behind the plate that I was thinking about?

The TC12 is one heck of a mincer, a 1hp size #12 mincer should cope well with any neighbours that upset you with no problem!

..and on that stupid comment, I'll bow out, and let the guys who also own one of these take over.

Phil

[Roberto]

Sorry Phil. I misread what you wrote. The blade was the right way around. It is indeed a nice mincer. I never used one nowhere near as good. It's just a shame it isn't working 100% because of this issue. Hopefully someone knows what is going on. Thanks for replying.

[RodinBangkok]

This is most likely very fine metal shavings. Have you assembled it correctly? Make sure the auger assembly rotates freely on its own before mounted. Take the plate ring off and look carefully where the black material is located behind the plate. Then try and find any non smooth surfaces or burrs that may be causing excess friction. Do you get the same problem with a different plate? Beyond that it could be a quality issue with the materials used or tolerances from the manufacturer. IMHO a grinder at this price should not exhibit this type problem.

[Terry]

I have a kenwood mince attachment and I have had this before and still get it sometimes. As the plates are steel, I used to oil them after use and I think this residue made it worse. I dry them off in the oven now and this has reduced it but I still get it a little towards the end of mincing. Or could it be the reaction of the aluminium auger against the steel of the plate and knife ? I just look out for it and wipe it away. I was thinking there may be a residue of fat in the holes in the plate. I try really hard to clean the holes ! Anyone got any tips ? I uses a metal cocktail stick to poke out blocked up holes and wash thoroughly in soapy water.

Terry.

[Roberto]

The mincer has been assembled correctly. The same happens with a different size plate. It starts extruding the sludge when it is mincing meat, I guess that's when it gets worse as the force of pushing the meat pushes small amounts of meat and pushes the grey stuff out through the hole. The plate and auger have been washed properly and I have tried to look inside the plate's hole and there is no evident place from where it is coming from. It seems it is from the rubbing of the auger on the plate. Looking at it when it's working seems that the end of the auger it seems that it isn't straight. It kind of moves around a little inside the hole. Doesn't seem to be straight. I don't know if has to do with the auger itself, the plate or the main body of the mincer. I was sent a new mincer's head which included the mincer knife, plate, auger and the head. It has happened with the original one that came with it and with this one as well, so I am thinking that it has to do with the mincer itself instead of the removable parts being at fault since I have tried two different heads. I have got no more ideas. I have tried all that has been suggested. I know for a fact that when I did sausages and some salami some of it went into it. I bought the mincer to same me time and work, but so far, has given me a lot of grief. If anyone has any more suggestions please let me know. Thanks for the replies.

[RodinBangkok]

Hmm, you might try putting some food grade silicone grease on the assembly, then take a close look at where the auger comes in contact with the plate, I know some manufacturers use a fibre washer in that area. You might try that if there is enough play in the assembly. Perhaps a thin mylar material or teflon. If the shaft wobbles a bit thats probably good, as you don't want a tight fit in that area. If you have a soft metal in contact with stainless or a hard steel you will get this type of grinding action. The auger is most likely cast from a soft metal, but the auger shaft, at least the ends should be a hard steel where it comes in contact with the plate.

[kimgary]

Hi

If it was me I would clean all the parts and assemble with a light coating of veg oil.

Tighten the plate fixing ring at the same time, trying to move the shaft back and forth, tighten it until the play just stops.

Feed through some stale bread and see what happens, if the sludge appears I would suspect that after other parts having been replaced that the rear bearing for the auger in the motor is out of line or eccentric.

Good luck regards Gazza

[BriCan]

It looks like the most obvious question has not been asked. It is a problem that we all get from time to time, even I get this residue every so often and my toy is substantially larger than most.

What we have is heat transfer caused by the friction of the plate and knife. i.e. the parts are not cold enough and the meat maybe also warm.

As Wheels as already said, change the plates and blades to stainless steel or if one can afford it harden steel as it has a longer life span.

Do not try putting some food grade silicone grease on anything except the end of the shaft that goes into the motor, mineral oil is one of the best lubrications to use around food as there is no taste and it is food safe.

HTH

[Roberto]

Thanks for the replies. The meat was partially frozen. My meat is always kept cold before mincing and I minimize the amount of time that the mincer is working. I don't keep it going so it doesn't heat up. Once minced I mixed by hand and had to stop frequently as I couldn't bear the cold of the mix. In this case the meat being warm is not at fault. I took that picture after mincing about 1kg of partially frozen back fat. The plates and blade are stainless steel. Looking into the hole of the plates I can see that there is friction more on one or two sides than all around. I removed the head and checked the back where the auger connects to and seems that it might be a tiny bit bent, not my much but that could be what is making the tip of the auger rub on the side of the inside of the plates middle hole. I am going to contact the shop and see if they know anything about it. Thanks for the replies. I will update the thread once this has been sorted.

[Roberto]

Update:

So, I contacted the shop about these issues on the 31st May and got an email the same day saying that I was going to be contacted asap. Since I didn't have any reply after that, I phoned on the Friday that week and we were told that someone would contact us. So far haven't had a reply so phoned today again and the lady that answered said that someone will contact us.
It's starting to get frustrating to get hold of someone from the site's shop. This has happened before and it's been a pain. When someone contacts us the service we get isn't bad but since it is so hard to get hold of someone I am really disappointed. I know the messages are passed onto the right department but who knows why didn't I get a reply. I have been waiting and waiting patiently for someone to contact me to say what is going on.
During the weekend I minced about 24kg of meat to make sausages. The same thing happened again. I had to resort to using a wine bottle's cap to put in front of the plate as seen in the picture. I hope to get some customer service soon but I am not getting my hopes up. I really hate all of this chasing people to reply.