Sausage Making

[toys4dlr]

The paddle attachment works best with the kitchen aid mixer. I have the 6qt and 5 lbs of sausage is about the max. I bought a small crank mixer for 15 to 20 lbs and it works well but clean up is a pain. Unless I am doing multiple batches or a larger batch, I hand mix or use the kitchen aid mixer. What they don’t tell you about the bigger mixers that attach to the grinder, is the do large batches well but do not mix small like 5 or less pounds very well.

Walton’s is great company, I have their 22 grinder and the double grind one shot head. Their collagen casing are great if you get into snack stix and their spices are very good too. Just a good company to work with and family owned. I’m on their meatgistic forum and they have several YouTube videos to help. Their customer service is great, even when things don’t go perfect.

I personally own the Lem 5 lb and 10lb stuffer. If doing sausage I use the 10, but the pressure that snack stick put on the stuffer, I find that my 5 lb is the best for the task. I like the 19mm collagen casings. Best of luck, but it is a fun hobby. I am do
Use for a couple batches, as I am down to less than 5 packages in the freezer.

 

[TheHojo]

The paddle attachment works best with the kitchen aid mixer. I have the 6qt and 5 lbs of sausage is about the max. I bought a small crank mixer for 15 to 20 lbs and it works well but clean up is a pain. Unless I am doing multiple batches or a larger batch, I hand mix or use the kitchen aid mixer. What they don’t tell you about the bigger mixers that attach to the grinder, is the do large batches well but do not mix small like 5 or less pounds very well.

Walton’s is great company, I have their 22 grinder and the double grind one shot head. Their collagen casing are great if you get into snack stix and their spices are very good too. Just a good company to work with and family owned. I’m on their meatgistic forum and they have several YouTube videos to help. Their customer service is great, even when things don’t go perfect.

I personally own the Lem 5 lb and 10lb stuffer. If doing sausage I use the 10, but the pressure that snack stick put on the stuffer, I find that my 5 lb is the best for the task. I like the 19mm collagen casings. Best of luck, but it is a fun hobby. I am do
Use for a couple batches, as I am down to less than 5 packages in the freezer.

I got the double grind head as well - glad to hear you like the equipment


Going to start with just 5-10 pound batches - plan on mixing by hand originally for ease of cleanup

 

[Big George's BBQ]

Looking forward to seeing your results

 

[SmokeOCD]

Never heard of (and wish I hadn't heard of) double grind heads. Mini-hijack as I only expect one or two responses (not worth a new thread). What plate size do most of you use? I've just been running it twice thru a 10mm and like the coarse texture in the sausage and even burgers. According to the recommendations I'm totally doing it wrong -
(1/8") 3mm: Hamburger, bologna, hot dogs, jerky
(3/16") 4.5mm: Coarse Hamburger, regular sausages (polish, german, breakfast)
(1/4") 6mm: Coarse sausages, (summer, salami, pepperoni, snack stick)
(3/8") 10mm: First grind, chili, chorizo, linguisa
(1/2") 12mm: First grind, coarse chili, stew

 

[TheHojo]

Never heard of (and wish I hadn't heard of) double grind heads. Mini-hijack as I only expect one or two responses (not worth a new thread). What plate size do most of you use? I've just been running it twice thru a 10mm and like the coarse texture in the sausage and even burgers. According to the recommendations I'm totally doing it wrong -
(1/8") 3mm: Hamburger, bologna, hot dogs, jerky
(3/16") 4.5mm: Coarse Hamburger, regular sausages (polish, german, breakfast)
(1/4") 6mm: Coarse sausages, (summer, salami, pepperoni, snack stick)
(3/8") 10mm: First grind, chili, chorizo, linguisa
(1/2") 12mm: First grind, coarse chili, stew

Going to experiment with the dual head grinder - thru the kidney plate first and then the 3/8th plate - but I am a fan of the coarse grind sausage that they serve down in Lockhart Texas (Smitty’s, Kreutz, and Blacks)

 

[toys4dlr]

The Walton’s dual grind one shot head has a two sided blade sandwiched between the kidney plate and the final die. The meat pass through the kidney plate first, then there is a blade on the back side of the kidney plate. Then the meat is pushed through the other side of the blade through whatever die you picked. Snack stixs I like my 4.5mm die, for pork and beef smoked sausages I have been using the 8mm die. I like the more coarse texture of central Texas too.

 

[Itsdone]

Waltons, I like the story behind them, I gott check them out.

Give us your first impressions when you get your items Ted.

They sell great products. They turned me onto lots of ingredients that i never knew existed. Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Phosphate, and bacon booster are game changers in curing meats.

 

[toys4dlr]

Just a little FYI as anyone dives into the sausage making game. Do your research on the proper use, timing and quantity When using cure #1.

 

[Clasko2]

Never heard of (and wish I hadn't heard of) double grind heads. Mini-hijack as I only expect one or two responses (not worth a new thread). What plate size do most of you use? I've just been running it twice thru a 10mm and like the coarse texture in the sausage and even burgers. According to the recommendations I'm totally doing it wrong -
(1/8") 3mm: Hamburger, bologna, hot dogs, jerky
(3/16") 4.5mm: Coarse Hamburger, regular sausages (polish, german, breakfast)
(1/4") 6mm: Coarse sausages, (summer, salami, pepperoni, snack stick)
(3/8") 10mm: First grind, chili, chorizo, linguisa
(1/2") 12mm: First grind, coarse chili, stew

For fresh sausages (brats, italian, etc) I found I like a double coarse grind with my 10mm plate. For my cured (polish, andouille, etc) I find I like what I'd consider a more "emulsified" texture and will do either a coarse run through the 10mm followed by a run through a 4.5mm plate or I just will do a double 4.5mm plate grind. Personal preference I guess and I started doing it that way and I'm a creature of habit. Haha.

 

[cayenne]

What is double grind?

I got the double grind head as well - glad to hear you like the equipment


Going to start with just 5-10 pound batches - plan on mixing by hand originally for ease of cleanup

What is "double grind"? I've seen this and it is a new term to me.

On my grinder I have plates with different sized holes and in the past if I needed I might run through once with more coarse plates...then again with finer plate on....

What is the "double grind" head doing that is different that 2x runs through different plates?

Is it allowing 2 plates on top of each other ?

Thanks in advance,

cayenne

 

[snadamo]

What is "double grind"? I've seen this and it is a new term to me.

On my grinder I have plates with different sized holes and in the past if I needed I might run through once with more coarse plates...then again with finer plate on....

What is the "double grind" head doing that is different that 2x runs through different plates?

Is it allowing 2 plates on top of each other ?

Thanks in advance,

cayenne

It's got a plate, blade, plate setup (see below). Essentially cuts your grind time down if you so choose.

 

[TheHojo]

Helpful since you are only running the meat thru once - won’t have to re-chill the meat in order to run thru the grinder a second time

At least that’s what I hope

 

[NickTheGreat]

I tried my hand at this a month or so ago. Already had the Kitchenaid Grinder, so I just bought some stuffing horns and casings and pulled a butt out of the freezer.



Turned out okay. Tasted good, looked like it was my first time stuffing, which it was.

The Kitchenaid sucks for stuffing, so I am pretty sure I'm getting a stuffer for Christmas! Will eventually upgrade the grinder, but the Kitchenaid did okay in that regard.

 

[cayenne]

Inspired...

I'm getting inspired to start sausage making myself.

I was watching the Chud guy's videos on YT...and liked his seasoning/salt ratios he gave out as a starting place....

My problem in the past, has always been getting ENOUGH fat for myself sausages.

Are ya'll able in some way to buy just pork (or other) fat to try to get the meat/fat ratio better?

Thanks in advance,

cayenne

 

[TheHojo]

My local meat market will provide some pork fat - or you can grind in some pork belly

If you have a local butcher ask him if you can get some fat from him - they might be able to hook you up

 

[Pife]

If you are grinding pork butts, how much extra straight fat are you adding to make sausage?

 

[sudsandswine]

I find Boston butts have the perfect amount of fat for my liking, so I don't add any when using those for sausage. I've bought pork back fat from butcher shops before when making venison sausage and that sort of thing.

 

[K.W.]

I find Boston butts have the perfect amount of fat for my liking, so I don't add any when using those for sausage...

Same here. For one or two butt “batches” I don’t add anything. More than that, you can use a pork loin (or venison) to lean it out a little and pork fat (or brisket trimmings) if it looks a little too lean. Can’t go wrong with pork butts, especially when they’re on sale.

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H‑E‑B has them for .99/# this week