Entry level sausage stuffer

B

brmfan

New member
Had a great harvest this season and now have about 50 lbs of venison sausage meat from the processor but none of it is stuffed in casings. I'd like to make some brat sized links for grilling so what would be a good manual stuffer for under $100?? I heard the cast iron ones leak too much.
 
if you have a kitchenaid mixer and a meat grinder attachment you can get this

http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=SzsmT9uaMIPs0gHXqqyDCQ&ved=0CNABEPMCMAk

I've been processing game as long as I can remember and we always used an old ancient mixer/meatgrinder and it worked great but by the time I started hunting it had died of old age coupled with misuse and abuse so we went out and bought a kitchenaid mixer and meat grinder attachment. it never lived up to our expectations but it will still reduce half a deer to hamburger over the course of a day. I would say that this would qualify as "entry level".
 
I have the kitchaide stuffer . It does not work very well on breakfast sausage links. It may do better on a brat sized sausage. It was hard to build up the pressure needed for the small nozzle.


Mwal
 
I use one of the cast iron stuffers, and I put a plastic disc (cut from a margarine or coffee lid) on top of the plunger to keep it from leaking. Of course I have to dig it out each time I reload the thing.

I've been thinking about making a rubber or wooden disk that i could attach to the plunger with a couple of machine screws. But I don't use it that often.

I've seen the vertical stuffers on sale recently somewhere... Cabelas? NorthernTool? HarborFreight? I don't remember.

What kind (and size) of grinder do you have? Could you get one of the "kidney bean" plates for it and stuff using the grinder?
 
Most big mixers will have a sausage accessory. I use a Kitchen Aide to.

You can by a simple funnel with a large opening. Takes lots of time though.

If you use gut casing, make sure you rinse and soak it befor using.
 
Your budget limits the choice....those "powder horn" type stuffers are a tad better than using a spoon and funnel. Spend a little more and get one of these....around $125-$150


http://www.sausagemaker.com/50510sausagestuffer5lb.aspx

50510.jpg
 
If you use the KitchenAid kit or any system that uses a worm type stuffer, the most important thing to remember is to keep the meat just above freezing when casing the sausage. It makes things much easier.
 
Trying to put ground meat through a kitchen aid or an electric grinder as a stuffer is a horrible experiance, as are the powderhorns, using the crank models is the only way to go. The main thing is that it has a rubber gasket that keeps the meat from comming out the top, I jsut finished 300lbs of sausage with one.
 
Ending my 2nd year of learning by experience.

Minus 1 on the plastic gear model pictured above. Consider the extra bucks for it's 15lb big brother with steel gear. If you buy plastic add enough water to the mix so it flows, don't ever bottom it out, and buy the replacement gear in advance so you have it when you need it in the middle of a batch.

If you find a deal on a used Chop Rite or vintage Enterprise in your price range make sure it is a meat stuffer, and not its fruit press cousin... or you'll really find out what leaks are.

If you're just sticking your toe in the water and think you can get by with little banana shaped stuffer consider a jerky blaster gun instead ... they are a cheap way to suff small links or snack diameter tubes. When you get bit by the bug and are tired of reloading it too often you'll still have a jerky gun that compliments the real stuffer you're going to buy.

Then there is there is the entry level smoker.... then I started buying meat on sale at the local market.... then I rationalized that paying for a hog hunt was really like buying kilebasa for less than $2 a pound.....

warning.... entry level stuffers can get expensive...
 
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Thanks for the info! Seems a bit more involved then I care to take on. I'll stick to plain old sausage patties for now... with a couple eggs over easy on top! :D
 
LOL, so many times I wanted to reply and ask what the starting salary was. LOL LOL.


But I have a kitchen aid and they rock. No sausage attatchment but I opted for the pasta attachment. Fresh pasta and you will never look a boxed pasta again.
 
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