I have always taken my deer or elk to a processor just for the convenience factor but after looking at how much prices have increased, I am considering doing my own this year. I am looking for any recommendations on which meat grinder to buy and what size motor it should have. I will be doing 3 or 4 deer every year along with an occasional elk or antelope.

All suggestions are appreciated.

1HP is where I would start. You can goes less horse power but you pay for it in time

https://www.meatyourmaker.com/proce...dJNmb-rxb_NpcZsee9oXo2ofRlUaAvvPEALw_wcB

My last elk netted +- 40lbs of fajita and 220 ground

I have one of the Cabela's Commercial Grinders. Mine is 3/4HP - it's enough for me and grinds pretty fast. One big question you need to ask yourself is are you going to be grinding by yourself or with others. Meat grinds best when it is super cold - nearly frozen. A group of guys will grind things way faster. When I'm on my own, the 3/4HP is fine because it's faster than I am. With that said, BOBO is right in saying that it will grind slower than a 1HP and if I was buying a new one today, I would get a bigger one simply because I can afford it. I've had mine for probably 15-17 years, and it still works great. Like most things, it will last a long long time if you take care of it properly.

One accessory that is a life saver for me is a foot pedal. Worth its weight in gold if you are making/stuffing sausage. I really enjoy processing my own game. It's definitely an effort, but I think it's worth it. I do a lot of bacon burger where I'll grind 1/4 parts bacon and 3/4 parts deer, and I usually double grind it. I also love making summer sausage.

Last tidbit - I've started taking my deer to the processor near my lease and having them bone it out for me or at least quarter it for me - I think they charge $40-$50 to skin and quarter and $60 to go ahead and bone it out. If I have another day to stay, I'll have them bone it out and leave it in large chunks. That saves me a ton of time getting the meat off the bone. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Good Luck,
Keith

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/cabelas-pro-series-dc-meat-grinder

This is what I have and it can grind meat faster than I can put it in. If you are usually working with a group, getting a bigger one is probably better but when I am grinding, packing, and vacuum sealing by myself, the grinder is definitely the least time consuming of those activities

Whatever you get, keep it clean.
Don't put it off. Do it immediately.
Put your container of ground meat in the refrigerator, and hand wash
the plates and auger and ring, etc. Dry thoroughly with clean paper
towels and set the pieces on a clean dry towel to dry. An electric unit
needs to cool off completely before wrapping up for storage.
You might want to buy different plate and an extra knife if you only
got one with your grinder

Good Luck
( forgot to add- a lot of the yoofloob videos say to sanitize everything
with bleach water. I prefer vinegar water to sanitize everything
beforehand. Just me- I can still smell bleach odor after thoroughly
rinsing with hot water. Can't smell anything after using vinegar water
at all except for the raw meat smell. I started using vinegar water
to rinse trays before stacking strips inside when I started making
dried jerky with a dehydrator)

Good Luck again

This is what I have from academy. I process 2-4 animals a year and make sausage. I have been very happy with it. Can’t imagine needing anything bigger unless I was to really do a ton of processing. It grinds it as fast as I can load it.

But of course, if money isn’t an option, buy the bigger one.

Does anyone have/use the grinder attachment on a Kitchenaid mixer? Got the wife one for Christmas a couple years ago and can add the grinder for $50 on Amazon. Just wondering if it's as good as a standalone grinder.

LEM dualgrind and whatever your budget is in terms of size. We’ve done all of our own processing for 20 yrs, and the dualgrind completely changes the game. We can grind 100lbs in one pass and in a third of the time when you factor in time to clean between passes and re-chill meat before 2nd pass.

Biggest pieces of advice is to make sure your equipment is clean before and after, and the meat is COLD. We put our cubed meat and fat in stainless trays in the freezer for about 30m to an hour to par-freeze before passing through.

I have the kitchen aid attachment. It works fine for a few lbs but not a full deer

Old school here.
I took an old Montgomery Wards 1/4 hp bench grinder and added it to my hand crank grinder years ago.
Works like a charm and will grind it as fast as you can feed it.

I have a Walton's, they have great customer service and never have let me down.

https://waltons.com/waltons-12-meat-grinder/

#22 grinder and an extra set of plates and knives for each plate. Foot pedal for sure. You'll need a course grind plate and a finer one for burger.
Keep the meat almost frozen when grinding to avoid mushing it.

Never used bleach or vinegar on our grind head, rinse with cold water first to get the fat off then hot water to avoid cooking it to the grinder parts.
We keep our grinder in the garage where we age our meat, it stays cold and helps keep the meat cold while grinding.

Get one with all metal gears.

I have one of these as well, but as previously stated, it isn't intended to grind an entire animal. Great for grinding cheeses or a few pounds of meat, but I wouldn't put 75lbs through it. I would imagine it might even burn up the motor in your mixer. I've always found that having the right tool makes any task significantly easier whether building a fence, installing flooring, or processing an animal. Just get what is needed. One or two trips to the processor will pay for the heavy-duty grinder.

Keith

Cabela's 1/2 horse big bite grinder here. Does everything I need done and with the big bite feature do not have to cut up as small as this size grinder before that feature. if the meat will fit through the feed hole it will grind it. Takes less than half the time to grind than it did with my old half horse Hobart with the same size plates.

I do the grinds after season for 3 or 4 deer these days never times it but grinding takes a whole lot less time than vacuum packing for the freezer.

that is awesome I love it !!!!

and make sure to get you some of those plastic / tote trays with the lids they come in handy !

I have a Cabela's 1.5 hp grinder. I grind all of our Hamburger meat (briskets) and deer meat that I make jerky out of. I have taken my last 3 deer to a processor to have ground up though. Best money I ever spent. I bought the grinder when I retired from 31 years in the grocery business in 2006. I managed the meat market and had been grinding all of our HB meat since the early 80`s. As long as I`m able, I`m grind all of my own HB meat. Lots of good info list already so I won't repeat it.

for years..
about the only thing I don't do is make link sausage
every year I think about it but then the thought of how much work is involved..

I took a hindquarter from last year out the other day and cooked the biggest piece on the grill for dinner and the rest I ground up along with bacon and course salt, pepper and garlic to make burgers with.

They were eaten last night.. delicious

I have this, I also have the 25lb meat mixer that attaches to it. IMO this is the minimum-sized grinder if you're serious about processing. I have a foot pedal too.

1HP is likely even better but this will do several deer at a time with no problem.

i have an LEM 1.5hp that i've had for a couple years now. It does a great job. we butcher maybe 10 deer a year and then i self process some home raised farm animals too. We have had the cabela's varieties as well...they always worked really well. My only complaint with the cabelas ones is if you ever needed them serviced...there's not much service. on LEM as that's another widely recognized commercial brand....if you needed service i'm thinking you could get it at any place that sold/serviced LEM equipment. pricing is not significantly different between the two on similar size models.

Think the others have you pretty covered.

I’ll add get a can of food grade oil and spray it down after clean and dry.

Largest you can afford, saves time and a better grind IMO... and you will use it for things you haven't thought of yet. I like a #32

I may have overlooked it and someone may have mentioned, but I will pre-chill the parts (of the machine) that I can in the freezer prior to grinding...

I do if I’m going through a lot of meat. Mine is a Cabelas carnivore and it came with an ice pack that straps around the grinder neck and instructions say to put in freezer before use if I’m not mistaken.

What’s the science behind chilling the parts ?

Parts of the grinder body and auger get warm/even hot under prolonged use. It helps keep it cold longer.

Yah ive noticed that before . Hmmmm I don’t know if I buy into the fact it would help much .

I’ve been using a cabelas 3/4 hp commercial grade for close to 15 years.

I helped my in-laws grind one year in Louisiana. It was an all day ordeal with lots of drinking and lots of blade cleaning.


So my first time processing I made sure I had plenty beer iced down and plenty of time.

Opened a beer and think I had 2 entire deer ground before I got below the neck on my first beer. I could not believe how much difference a bigger grinder made.

The longest part was in the packaging.


Grinding a deer is literally the easiest part of processing.


A few years ago I bought a burger attachment and it works like a champ as well.

My son and I made 120 deer/bacon/jalapeño burgers in about 2 hours. That’s going from deboned meat to in the freezer.

I vacuum pack them the following day once frozen and put them on the grill frozen. Best burgers we’ve ever made.

Helps a ton, and would especially in warmer climates if you don't grind on cold days or in a cooler. Mushy meat is not attractive, lol.

Cabelas biggest 1HP or 1.5HP meat grinder combo, think its made by Eastman outdoors, or similar, all
are made by same company. Perfect package, it will grind the tuffest meat you can feed it. Remember all the years
ago doing it by hand, dont miss it. We dont use the sausage stuffer in this package, but its all there.
Check it out, got my vote! All grinder parts are available on line from other meat suppliers or companies for
accessories.

Been doing my own for over 10 years now I'd guess. After you do it the first time you'll never go back, you end up with a 10X better product. Processing plants are nasty!

One thing I have not seen mentioned is the noise the cheaper brands/models make. I once joined some friends to grind all our deer from the year and they had one of those lesser models. The thing was so loud we could not talk without yelling and after listening to it for hours, you'll start to lose your mind. I have the 3/4 HP Cabela's "commercial" grade and it is a dream, comparatively. They're heavy and expensive but well worth the additional investment. If you are planning to make your own stuffed sausages, I would invest in a sausage stuffer as well. The sausage will be a better product and will save wear and tear on a grinder trying to use them to force ground meat through a tube.

I do. But the grinder is just part of the equation. There are several sizes of Kitchen-Aide mixers. I have the biggest, most powerful one they make. Got a good deal on it at BB&B several years ago with coupon and KA rebate. It’s the Kitchen-Aide Professional model that has a 6 quart bowl. It does get warm but I don’t overdo it. I stop to re-chill the grinder body a few times during the process. I also tend to grind less of my deer than others do as I like to keep the hind quarters broke down into basic cuts of sirloin, top round, bottom round, eye of round, etc. which leaves me options for jerky or more ground later on. i also keep my shanks and ribs intact. Most of my grind pile is the trimming of major muscle and sinew.

Keeping the grinder body cold keeps the fat content cold so it will grind cleanly without turning into a mushy mess.

3/4 hp, extra grind plates and knives. A stuffing horn and bags will reduce time and labor. Bagged HBM stacks well in the freezer, holds up over time, I use 2# bags, close with hog rings.

I grind the meat one time and put into the freezer for about an hour before grinding a second time. I also put the grinder head in the freezer in between grinds.

I have been processing my own deer for about 35 years. Started out with a hand crank grinder which I still have. When my cranker flew the coop I bought a low end electric one. It is fine for 1 deer and 1 grind. Problem is doing a second grind. A buddy bought 1 from Cabelas several years ago and mine is gathering dust. He also has 15 and 25lb sausage stuffers.

I used to do it all. Now, I take them to schotts and have them deboned, ground into a chili-grind and packaged in 5# bags. Then regrind into whatever I need, pan sausage, links, hamburger, and add my own tallow or fat content and seasonings. Still prefer making my own but realized my prep time and the ache from old age was worth the price of letting the processor do the get ready part.

I sprung for and purchased a really nice LEM Model a couple black Fridays ago it's amazing I believe .75 HP

Yup. I’ve only used it on about 10 lbs of meat that was given to me. Took some time but will work on a pinch for small amounts.