Vertical or Horizontal -pros & cons?

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Vertical or Horizontal -pros & cons?

Postby JamesMB » Thu Oct 03, 2013 2:24 pm

OK so I've been lurking long enough. I've searched on this topic and the only answers I can find are I've got x and it seems fine.... with the exception of one who preferred vertical because would be worried about air pockets in horizontal.

So what are the pros and cons? and if I get a fancy mincer should I just stuff with that and not bother with a stuffer? ie is the money better spent on mincer + stuffer or combined into a better mincer.
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Re: Vertical or Horizontal -pros & cons?

Postby Thewitt » Thu Oct 03, 2013 3:36 pm

My development stuffer is a 3L horizontal. Very easy to use for one person. No issues with air pockets.

My volume stuffers are vertical...

Mince with a hand operated mincer if you want, but stuff with a dedicated stuffer.

Stuffing with a mincer will be frustrating or even impossible for small casings.
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Re: Vertical or Horizontal -pros & cons?

Postby BriCan » Fri Oct 04, 2013 3:32 am

Thewitt wrote:My development stuffer is a 3L horizontal. Very easy to use for one person. No issues with air pockets.

My volume stuffers are vertical...

Mince with a hand operated mincer if you want, but stuff with a dedicated stuffer.

Stuffing with a mincer will be frustrating or even impossible for small casings.


x 2
But what do I know
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Re: Vertical or Horizontal -pros & cons?

Postby wheels » Fri Oct 04, 2013 2:03 pm

...and one more. +3

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Re: Vertical or Horizontal -pros & cons?

Postby JamesMB » Fri Oct 04, 2013 10:36 pm

That seems conclusive then!
Thanks for the clear and descriptive responses.

Now to ponder a purchase!
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Re: Vertical or Horizontal -pros & cons?

Postby Thewitt » Sat Oct 05, 2013 1:22 am

Ha ha ha :)

We really didn't answer your question about pros and cons of vertical vs horizontal stuffers.

I think it's valuable to look at your operation and whether you are going to be working alone or with someone, but other than that the stuffer direction for a piston stuffer is pretty much a personal preference I think.

I work in one or two kg batches when I'm developing sausages or making a small batch for friends so I was looking for a small inline stuffer I could easily crank with my right hand and manage the sausage with my left. It needed to be compact, east to control the flow, easy to clean, all stainless where it contacts meat, and I ended up with dual gearing which is nice for quickly removing or inserting the piston from the stuffer, but not critical for this machine.

Mine came with 4 stuffing tubes and I liked the fact that stuffing and filling were all in line - no 90* angles - so it's quite a simple rig.

There are lots of good options for stuffers, and it's probably worth posting your choice here and getting some real world feedback before purchasing regardless of your choice.

I would not grind by hand, but I know guys who do and I just did a workshop in my kitchen where I had students grinding both by hand and with a power mincer. Everyone loved it, and hand mincers can be purchases very cheaply.

Stuffing with a mincer can certainly be done, and many here do it every day, but if you do, you will find stuffing very small casings to be a frustrating experience. The auger works the meat into an inconsistent paste as it attempts to push it into the small casing, so you often don't get the consistency you were looking for. Piston stuffers don't suffer from this issue at all and are much more forgiving with regards to temperature of the meat or size of the grind. Even freezing the machine parts and getting the meat very cold before stuffing can cause an issue. I've seen the meat actually freeze in the stuffing tube causing just the blockage you wanted to avoid!

I often stuff a very coarse grind into 22mm casings and would never be able to pull that off with a mincer/stuffer combination.

Vertical or horizontal piston stuffers will make your sausage making experience much more fun and will encourage you rather than discourage you, and then it's mostly a matter of personal preference, work area, and how much meat are you going to be processing at one time.
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