ordered grinder and vacuum sealer, starting from scratch

[Squirrels]

I have a LEM 15lb big bite stuffer. With two guys you can stuff 25lbs of summer sausage or burger in 5 minutes. Takes about 10 by yourself. Snack sticks are fast as well.

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Cool, thats a bit more tha I want to spend unless they run a good sale on them. Which is a possible.

 

[muddydogs]

Cool, thats a bit more tha I want to spend unless they run a good sale on them. Which is a possible.

Think about what your planning on making and get a stuffer close to your batch size or just go big. It gets kind of tedious stuffing a 60 pound batch with a 5 pound stuffer. I have an old Enterprise stuffer that I reworked, its a 12 pound stuffer and works great so I just can't justify a new one but if I was to purchase another stuffer it would be a 25 or 30 pound rig. You can put a pound of two in a large stuffer but its hard to put 30 pounds in a 15 pounder.

Keep an eye on local classifieds as stuffers show up from time to time. Currently the old Enterprise stuffers are fetching crazy cash on ebay but they can still be found for under $100, picked mine up at a yard sale years ago for $20. All the parts for Enterprise stuffers are still available from Ebay or Chop Rite.

 

[muddydogs]

I kind of forgot about this stuffer, last fall I was thinking I really wanted a bigger stuffer and started to do some research and came across Amazon.com: Hakka 25 Lb/12 L Sausage Stuffer 2 Speed Stainless Steel Vertical Sausage Maker: Kitchen & Dining stuffer. From what I could gather its a solid unit. There are some good reviews for Hakka equipment on some smoking / cooking forums.

 

[Squirrels]

I kind of forgot about this stuffer, last fall I was thinking I really wanted a bigger stuffer and started to do some research and came across Amazon.com: Hakka 25 Lb/12 L Sausage Stuffer 2 Speed Stainless Steel Vertical Sausage Maker: Kitchen & Dining stuffer. From what I could gather its a solid unit. There are some good reviews for Hakka equipment on some smoking / cooking forums.

Awesome, thanks. That is a killer deal if it is a durable unit

 

[Yellowhammer]

I bought a hakka horizontal stuffer last year, didn't get vertical because a lot of the reviews said they had issues with meat loss due to the 90 fitting on the vertical. I stuffed around 50 pounds of sausage and have no complaints, worked as it should and seems to be well built. Stuffer is the only way to go, so much easier than trying to do it with a grinder. I would like to have a mixer but haven't purchased one yet. One thing I do like is the hand cranked cuber, if you like fried steaks I would recommend.

 

[muddydogs]

All vertical stuffers have some meat left over in the channel going to the stuffing tube and stuffing tube, its not meat loss as you can collect the meat and put it into the end of bigger cases like summer sausage or poly meat bags. If stuffing smaller sausages then the left over is made into patty's for dinner or breakfast. More often then not I have extra left over as I run out of casing when there are a few cranks left in the stuffer and its not worth loading another casing for a few inches of sausage anyway.

If there is meat squeezing out around the nut that holds the stuffer tube on or meat squeezing around the stuffing plate then the meat mix is way to dry and stiff for the size of stuffing tube being used. Either increase the size of the stuffing tube if possible or add a little more water to the meat mix, sometimes both is required.

 

[Tod osier]

... left over is made into patty's for dinner or breakfast.

Hunk of sausage formed into a patty and cooked while cleaning up is a great celebration snack. If you ask my son, he will tell you that not enough meat is left in the tube .

 

[jmez]

A hunk formed and fried before you stuff is a good idea as well to see if you want/need to add anything.

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[bbell]

For burger we always grind into a big bowl. When it’s full my wife or kids start filling and wrapping 1lb bags while I start grinding and filling another bowl.

I have been watching the Scott Rea Project on YouTube. It’s a Brit butcher and he has several videos on game meat. I am going to try and butcher his style this year if I am successful. It is similar to how you would cut up a lamb.

 

[archer wapiti]

Scott Rea project on Youtube is also really informative. The terminology is different because he is English, but his videos on butchering animals are top-notch. Amazing what you can do in a tiny kitchen.

 

[Murdy]

When I cut mine up, I always leave some of it in bigger pieces (roasts). You can always grind it later, or cut it thin for jerky, or take it somewhere to have sausage made. If you don't go through a lot of sausage, consider finding a reputable place where you can take in 10 or 20 pounds and get some wieners, ring bologna, summer, or whatever, and just put some aside to take in when you butcher.

 

[muddydogs]

When I cut mine up, I always leave some of it in bigger pieces (roasts). You can always grind it later, or cut it thin for jerky, or take it somewhere to have sausage made. If you don't go through a lot of sausage, consider finding a reputable place where you can take in 10 or 20 pounds and get some wieners, ring bologna, summer, or whatever, and just put some aside to take in when you butcher.

Or make the stuff yourself. Bologna, wieners and summer sausage isn't that hard to do yourself.

 

[KayLee]

I also process my own starting after splitting up the different muscle groups. I do a lot of burger and sausage. Just started using casings with a Cabela's bratwurst and Italian kit last year. I want to do pepperoni and summer sausage eventually. Anyone have experience with the Cabela's kits or a better beginner option?

 

[Trial153]

I also process my own starting after splitting up the different muscle groups. I do a lot of burger and sausage. Just started using casings with a Cabela's bratwurst and Italian kit last year. I want to do pepperoni and summer sausage eventually. Anyone have experience with the Cabela's kits or a better beginner option?

They are ok, pretty typical of what you get most places for example meat processing and spice websites.
I have a folder full of sites that keep an eye on for sales and discounts. Generally you can do better then cabelas.

 

[KayLee]

They are ok, pretty typical of what you get most places for example meat processing and spice websites.
I have a folder full of sites that keep an eye on for sales and discounts. Generally you can do better then cabelas.

Thanks. I'll have to do some more research before I do any different types next year

 

[kjansen]

A meat dehydrator is a good investment. Use it not only for your jerky, but also your ground venison. It works great, reduces fridge or freezer space required and rehydrates back to its original, cooked state!

 

[Azone]

For grinding meat and packaging it your definitely going to want to get a vertical stuffer and I really recommend the 1lb bags for stuffing ground meat in, and the tape dispenser with cutter from LEM. If you take your time loading the stuffer and leave no air pockets in it, then you dont have to worry about squeezing air pockets out of the bags. The tape dispenser and cutter are worth the convenience so I would recommend buying one and not trying to tie or tape the bags by hand. Like others have mentioned seperating by muscle groups really helps aid in getting all the sinew and junk trimmed off the meat. It's not as crucial if your grinding up meat but if you do ever go the roast route a nicely trimmed up whole muscle is hard to beat. We tend to eat with our eyes so if its properly butchered it just aids in making a good meal.
I know some guys who throw everything in the burger pile but I advise against this. Bloodshot meat, sinew and deer fat go in the trash no matter what, those three things right there will make your burger taste like hell. Deer fat can be horrible tasting and smell awful when cooked so bye, bye it goes, bloodshot meat and sinew are also proven burger destroyers. Be careful to get all bullet fragments out that you can find if your shooting bullets that tend to blow apart in the animal. Nothing will suck more than getting bullet fragments ran through your new grinders knife and plate or spitting out some copper jacket on your third bite of burger, same rules apply to bone fragments, get them out. Bloodshot meat hanging for any amount of time is not good, your not gonna eat it so cut it out when your done skinning. All blood does is rot and smell up the cooler.
A vaccum sealer will be just fine, some guys prefer plastic wrap and butcher paper but the main objective is get rid of all the air, air is your enemy in the freezer.
If you age deer for any extended length of time I recommend covering in a very light breathable game bag or sheet after a very light crust has formed. If you let them hang for a while in a cooler with a lot of air flow they tend to form a hell of crust that needs to be trimmed off that is useful for nothing. The less trimming to be performed the faster the job is done and less trimming and waste equals more meat in the freezer.
As far as a lean meat to beef fat ratio goes, I recommend 80/20 to 90/10 for burger. Im sure you will find happiness somewhere along those lines. I always use beef fat for burger but I imagine in a pinch you could get by with pork fat but I have no experience using pork fat in venison burger.
For sausage I advise a ratio of 75/25 to 70/30 venison to pork fat ratio. Some people might say less fat for a healthy sausage but I dont recommend anything less than 25 percent fat. Fat is what makes sausage juicy and greatly aids in flavor, and it keeps the dreaded crumbling from happening, granted that you mix the meat right. I can promise you nothing will irritate you more than a crumbly dry sausage.

 

[davsco]

Keep the meat you are going to grind as cold as possible. Even semi frozen, it will go through the grinder much easier.

ok, so let's say i have my deer all butchered up. do i just stick everything i plan to grind into burger in the freezer for a while til it starts getting solid? then grind it and really freeze it after that? i'm sure it depends... but generally how long in the freezer before grinding?

 

[Azone]

The freezer trick works well if you got the space for it if not, it's not the end of the world as far as the lean meat goes. The fat grinds best partially frozen or else it turns into a greasy mess. If you can get both partially frozen that would be the best way. Mix your chunks of fat in with your chunks of meat before you grind, this will aid you in having a evenly distributed amount of fat through out the burger. Grind 4 or 5 pieces of deer then drop a piece of fat in the grinder then repeat. Hard beef back fat is what you want to use for the best results.

 

[davsco]

The freezer trick works well if you got the space for it if not, it's not the end of the world as far as the lean meat goes.

thanks. i'm not planning on adding any fat to my burger meat. they've always asked at the processor if i wanted fat added and i've always said no.