My Grinder Sucks - Grinder reviews

[kwyeewyk]

It's supposed to make it so you get the texture of two passes through the grinder on the first grind. Yes, the plate with the large holes is closer to the auger, then the normal plate goes on the other side of the blade against the retaining ring. Here's a video from LEM showing the assembly

Interesting, never seen that before, seems like the first plate is probably too coarse. Looks like their goal of 4x faster, no wait between grinds, no second clean up, and less frustration didn't pan out. Does it make good burger other than the extra work?

 

[Paul in Idaho]

Is the meat very slightly frozen? Or completely thawed?

Even with thawed I wouldn't think it would clog up so fast but you might have to always use slightly frozen meat

I have tried grinding meat at a range of temperatures from cool room temperature to partly frozen. Since the chilled meat just starting to stiffen still had trouble, I left one tray in the freezer until the meat was firm but still could be compressed with my fingers. A few thumb sized chunks of that stopped the grinder as if I had filled it with gravel.

Have you tried it without the inner plate and use it with just the outer like a regular grinder?

I haven't tried that. It looked to me like the first plate is helping keep the blade in the right place on the auger shaft. Not sure if it might wobble without that plate.

Interesting, never seen that before, seems like the first plate is probably too coarse. Looks like their goal of 4x faster, no wait between grinds, no second clean up, and less frustration didn't pan out. Does it make good burger other than the extra work?

The burger texture is good. I haven't needed to run any of it through twice. It grinds meat with no connective tissue quickly and easily. Most of what I want to grind has silverskin or similar tissue though.

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

I have tried grinding meat at a range of temperatures from cool room temperature to partly frozen. Since the chilled meat just starting to stiffen still had trouble, I left one tray in the freezer until the meat was firm but still could be compressed with my fingers. A few thumb sized chunks of that stopped the grinder as if I had filled it with gravel.



I haven't tried that. It looked to me like the first plate is helping keep the blade in the right place on the auger shaft. Not sure if it might wobble without that plate.




The burger texture is good. I haven't needed to run any of it through twice. It grinds meat with no connective tissue quickly and easily. Most of what I want to grind has silverskin or similar tissue though.

Ya that doesn't seem right. Maybe call LEM and see what they say? Cause my little mini LEM never plugs even with thawed fronts going through it

 

[Boarmaster]

Don't waste your time on the small one...Go for at least the 15lber.

This. I started with a 5lb stuffer. It stuffed just fine. But pain to refill. I bought a 15 soon after.

 

[Paul in Idaho]

Ya that doesn't seem right. Maybe call LEM and see what they say? Cause my little mini LEM never plugs even with thawed fronts going through it

I need to make time to do that well ahead of hunting season. I processed my elk in the evenings after work, and their customer service line was closed. Once I got it done I mostly forgot about the situation until I saw this thread.

 

[NY_BLUES]

I have a Weston #12, 1 h/p grinder. Love it. Can grind a whitetail in no time, and easy to clean. Paired with the weston 15lb sausage stuffer, I can get a deer from the meat pole to the freezer in less than an hour.

 

[Cammy]

I have used an LEM #12 grinder for the last 20 years and would buy nothing less than a #12. Went halves with my BIL 15 years ago on the first unit and then bought the newer "Big Bite" as it had an option to use a tomato processing attachment. I use a 5 pound LEM stuffer and don't have any issues with capacity to make sausage.