DIY Meat Grinding

[mdennis]

Anyone process their deer themselves. I thought about giving it a go this year. Any recomendations on affordable equipment and tips would be great. Burger sausage and so on....

[southernvaughan]

Me and my dad do our own... Get you an LEM catalog to start with and go to rebel butcher shop for your sausage seasoning.

[Greenhead22]

1 HP grinder from cabelas.

[southernvaughan]

I can't remember exact model of ours. Was around 400 but it will pay for itself in 1 hunting season!

[cootkiller]

Only thing we have processed by a butcher is our jalapeño and cheese smoke sausage. Everything else we do ourselves. I saw 3 meat grinders and meat saws on Craigslist in the past two weeks can't remember where though.

[Jeff]

I have a full processing shop at my house. I keep looking for a walk in freezer just haven't found what I'm looking for yet.

Your biggest issue is that most of the equipment is fairly pricey to get started. When I started I bought one piece each year. My recommendation would be to get a good grinder first, no less than 1 hp.

[southernvaughan]

Only thing we have processed by a butcher is our jalapeño and cheese smoke sausage. Everything else we do ourselves. I saw 3 meat grinders and meat saws on Craigslist in the past two weeks can't remember where though.

You probably already know this but gonna put it ot here for everyone else. You can buy the high temp cheese to do cheese stuffed sausage too...

[Smoke68]

If you're just starting out and don't want to go in $500+ right off the bat, do what I did and get this grinder:

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... _200451267

It was only $79 when I bought it, but it's gone up to $99 since last year. It does an excellent job; comes with three plates and sausage stuffing tubes. It went through the meat shown below in about 10 minutes. 90% of your time will be spent deboning and removing sinew. The rest is easy.

[southernvaughan]

You can also get the same plastic sleeves the processors use to put your ground meat in.

[mdennis]

Thanks guys for all the help!

[tombstone]

Just ground a doe yesterday. This will be the third season I have done it myself. We do not buy any ground meat anymore. I go overboard on the trimming and I grind it three times to make sure there are no chunks of fat or anything in it.

It is easy to do, but it is time consuming. I have started to enjoy it and certainly get an added feeling of satisfaction.

Our hunting club bought the 1 hp commercial grade from Cabela's and that thing is a monster. We also bought the tenderizer attachment for it. Minute steaks will melt in your mouth.

You will hear lots of tips and ratio's. I trim the deer meat so well I use 4:1. If you are not going to trim the meat as much you may go 5:1. I don't like to use fat that has been frozen either. It is like cooking on the grill, everybody has a different way that works for them.

[southernvaughan]

I use the fat off the deer. Most of our mature does are 150-180 lbs though. Also get you some plastic tubs out of LEM to put the meat in and grind into. Be sure to keep it really cold through the whole process.

[msbigdawg1234]

dont worry bout fat just grind the meat....use egg and bread crumb for bunder whwn u make hamburgers...brown meat with olive oil for everything else.....lot healthier too

[donia]

dont worry bout fat just grind the meat....use egg and bread crumb for bunder whwn u make hamburgers...brown meat with olive oil for everything else.....lot healthier too

+1

if i do grind in fat, it is from the bacon i grind in for bacon burgers...but usually it is 100% venison

[wildhorse2]

try 80 deer 10% ribeye trimming and 10% pork butt. Makes a great burger.