Everything You Need to Know About Meat Grinders.

Using a Motorized Chop-Rite Grinder to Make Homemade Sausage

Using a Motorized Chop-Rite #22 Grinder

Everything You Need to Know About Home Meat Grinders — And More, from SausageMania.com!

If you're willing to buy ground pork for yopur home-made sausage, then skip this page: you don't need a meat grinder. But, as Otto von Bismark famously said, "One should never be present when laws or sausage are being made," meaning, in the case of sausage, you don't know what's been ground into it if you're not there to see it happen.

Having a grinder gives you complete control over your sausagemaking. Ground pork from the supermarket or the local butcher usually contains trimmings from the whole gamut of pork cuts. There's nothing wrong with it, but you'd be better off buying fattier cuts of pork, like pork shoulder (a.k.a. Boston butt, Boston blade or simply pork butt) and grinding it yourself.

Most home meat grinders, such as the KitchenAid grinder attachment, are lightweight tools, often with plastic parts. They are simply not up to grinding more than a few pounds at a time. This means you're left to buy specialty grinders, the Chinese models of which start at about $150. You can go for commercial models, but these are (a) very expensive, and (b) very heavy.

Unless you are physically fit, don't get a hand grinder. Or get a good hand grinder and motorize it! The above photo shows a motorized Chop-Rite #22 grinder. (The "numbers" for grinders refer to the diameter of the blade/plate assembly — #12 is the smallest, then #22, #32 and even #42, for large commercial units). SausageMania has a special page giving the specifications for motorizing a Chop-Rite grinder. Just click HERE. This unit can churn out 400 lbs of grind, after hour after, with a 3/8" plate (the smaller the holes in the grinding plate, the slower the grinding).

In general, avoid #12 grinders: they are puny: #22 should be considered the minimum. In the last several years, a number of sub-commercial meat grinders have come on the market, and are likely quite adequate for home sausage making.

Grinder Links

• Cabela's — Cabela's is a highly reputable retailer, now offering a line of "commercial-grade" meat grinders, #12-#42, from $350 to $775.

• One STOP Jerky Shop — Quality electric and manual meat grinders, including the popular Tasin TS-108 meat grinder

• Butcher & Packer — Detroit-based, family owned business. Offers Tor Rey, Beem and clamp/bolt down hand grinders

• Davison's Butcher Supply — comprehensive butcher-supply inventory, in business since 1927

• Chop-Rite — indestructible hand grinders, in continuous production for over 100 years. Some Chop-Rite grinders can be motorized. For an example, click HERE.

• Hess Meat Machines — motorized Fleetword, Tor-Rey and Krefft grinders as well as #22 & #32 hand machines.***

• Doug Care Equipment — mostly commercial-grade stuff

• Eldon's Jerky and Sausage Supply — full line of Tor-Rey grinders

• Allied Kenco Sales — includes useful troubleshooting guide for common grinding problems. Offers motor-ready hand grinders.

• Heinsohn's Country Store — has the best line of hand grinders, some with motorizing kits

• Weston Supply — sells manual and light-duty electric grinders

• The Sausage Maker — a good line of manual and electric grinders, including commercial models

• Mid-Western Research & Supply — a wide selection of home processing supplies and equipment for wild game, beef and pork, including grinders, stuffers, spices and pre-mixed sausage seasonings

*** A SausageMania three-star recommendation!