# DIY Meat Grinder



## wyogoob

My old home-made grinder will be 26 years old this year (I think, my memory could be better.) It has ground, on average, 300 lbs of beef, pork, and wild game per year&#8230;.close to 8,000 lbs of meat! (I should add that sausage meat most of the time is ground twice.)









It's a #32 hand-crank converted to a motor driven. I made the contraption at work, mostly on my own time. For 15 years a dozen of the guys and gals at work that loved to hunt shared the grinder for grinding deer, elk, moose, and countless numbers of antelope.

I cut the handle off, cleaned up the remaining drive hub and welded the hub to a flex-joint coupler:









Got a gear motor and built a stand to make the motor shaft the same height as the grinder shaft. Two to four wingnuts hold the grinder down and it's easy to remove for clean-up:


















Put it all in a plywood box with a sliding lid. I operate it with a foot switch:









It could be safer. The lid protects the user from the rotating shaft, but it has a large and short feed opening unlike the factory #32s that have a small feed opening and a long feed neck making it very difficult, or impossible, to get your hand in the auger. We use a paddle or plastic drinking glass to move the meat around:









The grinder will take frosty fist-size meat pieces, as long as you want, with ease:









I even have an old press/stuffer that slides into the lid groove on the top of the box. The weight of the grinder keeps the stuffer steady when turning the crank:









Man the stories this ole grinder could tell!


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## Solist

Just want to say happy 30th to this thing. Truly an amazing contraption!


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## Dunkem

Im impressed:!:That stuffer looks as old as we are,but cool

Goob ,can I have all your old toys when you are done playing with them?


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## wyogoob

You can't put meat fast enough into that grinder. I wouldn't want to get my hand caught in it. Back in the 80s you could get 5 or more antelope tags and 5 deer tags in southwest Wyoming. A lot of the guys at work took advantage of all the available tags. There were years when that grinder did 30-35 antelope, 25 or so deer and a half-dozen elk. Burger and sausage. We all drank back then.....boy, the stories my basement could tell.

The stuffer is like late 40s - early 50s. The end of the shaft was gone when I got the thing, 1978-1980??. I welded a new threaded end on the shaft and re-tapped the plate to match the new shaft threads. For 25 years or more Mrs Goob cranked and I guided the sausage into the casings. Her call, she just never could get the hang of stuffing the casings. The old stuffer is also a fruit press and a lard press. I don't render lard anymore since I moved out of hog country, but I still make apple sauce and a little juice. 

The new stuffer is ok, has a rheostat. You can stuff tight into 19mm sheep casings and sharpen kitchen knives at the same time.  The darn plunger plate doesn't bottom out; leaves over 2 pounds of sausage in the bottom. I built a funky distance piece out of modeling clay that helps some, but it's a pain in the rear to use and clean. 

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## Catherder

Here is what I've been using to make burger and sausage from game. I think I like yours better. ;-)





My wife does say my forearms look like Popeye's after processing a deer however.


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## wyogoob

Catherder said:


> Here is what I've been using to make burger and sausage from game. I think I like yours better. ;-)
> 
> My wife does say my forearms look like Popeye's after processing a deer however.


That's a lot of work. :x

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## wyogoob

Grinding plates and knives require maintenance. These are getting sharpened and the holes cleaned for the winter sausage making season:


There are 9 different #32 plates; kidney, chunk, 3/4", 1/2", 3/8", 5/16", 1/4. 3/16", and 1/8". There's a stainless knife and a carbon steel knife. All have their place, each one has a story to tell.

The 5/16" plate is stainless and an odd size, rarely seen. It's probably a metric size. I bought it at the Alaska Butcher Equipment and Supply in Anchorage Alaska. What a great store. Seems like everyone in Alaska cuts meat. I like stainless plates and knives but they are spendy. To minimize wear a stainless knife should be used with a stainless grinding plate.

The 1/8" plate is the devil reincarnate. Tough to push meat through those little holes. Mrs Goob insists that "her" burger is ground through an 1/8" plate. It doesn't like sinew and clogs up quickly. Also it's the plate for "emulsified" sausages like bologna, hot dogs and Braunschweiger.


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## wyogoob

Well my old homemade grinder is 31 years old. A conservative guess would be it's ground 9700lbs of meat. I used the old girl today grinding n stuffing 35lb of sausage.



Keep yer meat frosty my friends.


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## Loke

So is the gunpowder a secret ingredient on your sausages?


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## wyogoob

Loke said:


> So is the gunpowder a secret ingredient on your sausages?


ah, ha, ha.......uh...I got a few reloading projects I need to finish, one of which would be to clean up my reloading bench in the basement. Honestly I prefer to reload in the kitchen where I can watch birds, cook, watch Fox News, visit with neighbors and lose focus on what the heck I'm doing.

Speaking of what the heck am I doing, why are there TWO different cans of reloading powder there? not good


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## Critter

I was working on getting all the parts together to build a power one like Goobs but got waylaid before I actually did it. The parts are still sitting out in the garage somewhere and every time that I grind up a deer or elk I say that I am going to do it but the parts are still outside.

As for the two bottles of reloading powder you need to reference this post by *wyogoob.  *


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## wyogoob

Critter said:


> ..........................
> 
> As for the two bottles of reloading powder you need to reference this post by *wyogoob.  *


Yes, good point.

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## wyogoob

Critter said:


> I was working on getting all the parts together to build a power one like Goobs but got waylaid before I actually did it. The parts are still sitting out in the garage somewhere and every time that I grind up a deer or elk I say that I am going to do it but the parts are still outside.
> 
> *..................................**http://utahwildlife.net/forum/74-reloading-recipes/96506-bolt-wouldn-t-open.html *


The homemade #32s are the only way to go. The store-bought #32s are fine but the meat chute is tiny compared to the hand crank #32. An important downside to the homemade grinder is safety. You can put your whole hand in the the darn thing.

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## Kwalk3

wyogoob said:


> The homemade #32s are the only way to go. The store-bought #32s are fine but the meat chute is tiny compared to the hand crank #32. An important downside to the homemade grinder is safety. You can put your whole hand in the the darn thing.
> 
> .


Handburger?


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## wyogoob

*32 yrs old*



Kwalk3 said:


> Handburger?


Yeah buddy!

The old homemade grinder is still cranking out the ground meat. Only use it for jobs bigger than 30lbs or these days. The little $100 Northern Tool #12 grinder does the rest.

I'm thinking this contraption is around 32 years old now. It's kept in the basement so I usually lug the thing up and down the stairs to use it. It's killin' me, weighs over 90 lbs. I'd like to replace it with a lighter factory #32 at 75lbs but the necks on those are small. Safety first.

every size (fractional) of plate:


Grinding/stuffing liver sausage:


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## muddydogs

My biggest gripe about my LEM stuffer is feeding ground burger down that little throat for the regrind.


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## wyogoob

muddydogs said:


> My biggest gripe about my LEM stuffer is feeding ground burger down that little throat for the regrind.


Yeah, if I have the time I put the meat in the freezer to stiffen it up before a regrind.

I don't have an emulsifier so stuff like liver sausage and braunschweiger gets ran thru an 1/8" plate maybe 3 times. And I'll put it in the freezer between each grind and then lay it on a bed of ice as I grind it. I like to use the #32 grinder on pasty stuff like braunschweiger.

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## wyogoob

*Big Bertha*



wyogoob said:


> Yeah buddy!
> 
> The old homemade grinder is still cranking out the ground meat. Only use it for jobs bigger than 30lbs or these days. The little $100 Northern Tool #12 grinder does the rest.
> 
> I'm thinking this contraption is around 32 years old now. It's kept in the basement so I usually lug the thing up and down the stairs to use it. It's killin' me, weighs over 90 lbs. I'd like to replace it with a lighter factory #32 at 75lbs but the necks on those are small. Safety first.
> 
> every size (fractional) of plate:
> 
> 
> Grinding/stuffing liver sausage:


Big Bertha......bump


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## JerryH

Goob great idea and workmanship on your grinder. But i love your vintage press. That is a beauty. 

Here is a couple of mine.


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## JerryH

Crap I forgot about the sideways effect.


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