Meat Processing Question

TreednNC · 10-28-2008, 06:45 AM

C&P just incase some of you dont make it to the bow hunting forum.

OK you do it your selfers. Got a question you guys. How many of you still use a hand crank meat grinder for your burger? More specifically the Keystone one? I run across a good deal on a Keystone 20 for$6...but not sure if it'd be worth breaking a $10 over. Id like to have an electric one, but right now can't justify it with Christmas coming up soon. Maybe next year.

npaden · 10-28-2008, 07:51 AM

I think this is one of those things on what you are looking to accomplish. If you want to build up your arm strength and get a work out, a hand crank grinder is probably a good idea. If you want to grind a lot of meat, it probably isn't!

My parents were poor when I was growing up and we had a hand crank grinder (no idea what brand) and after a few seasons of cranking they ended up just taking it to the butcher to have it ground. I don't think I would pay money for a hand crank grinder personally.

I'm very happy with my 1/2 hp grinder I got at Gander Mountain for $80. It was on sale though, and might not be that cheap anymore.

TreednNC · 10-28-2008, 08:06 AM

npaden, I was actually looking at a job at your local gander mountain as an archery manager. Convenced the fiance to move to NC instead lol.

Speaking of that. I foundsomebody with a Gander Mountain that is 0.3hp that retails for $179.00, for $40. Never used. Come on pay day lol.

Big Guy01 · 10-28-2008, 09:55 AM

I inherited a meat grinder so I've always had a big machine (1 hp). If I had to do it over I would get a big hand grinder , a size 32, then I would rig it up with a pully and a belt to a 1/2 hp motor. I have seen a few of these and they work terrific, You can buy all the items new and still be way under what a commercial grinder would cost. those small electric grinders just won't do if you are grindind lots of meat. They work fine but very limited as to feed rate through them, if you don't mind spending a couple of hours to get the meat through the grinder they work fine. The bigger 3/4 or better hp. will do the job in a few minutes.

npaden · 10-28-2008, 10:47 AM

Speaking as a person who actually has a small commercial electric grinder, the small electric grinder I have will grind a little over 4lbs per minute acording to it's rating and that seems to be close although it might be a little less than that. I'm not sure how much "lots of meat" is to most folks, but it makes pretty short work of the 25lbs of elk that made it in the grind pile and little over 30lbs of wild pig that I ground up. It sure didn't take a couple hours. More like15 minutes each time -start to finish.

Unless you are grinding 100's of pounds of meat at a time I don't think you need a monster grinder. I think some folks just think they need a monster grinder, like some folks think they need a 375 ruger to shoot an elk.

cjohnson3006 · 10-28-2008, 05:39 PM

I have a #32 hand crank grinder my folks bought me 10 yrs or so ago and they just bought me a small $89 grinder for Christmas last year and the hand grinder is considerably faster. Lots more work, but at least 3-4 times faster. I'd love to have a large commercial grinder, but I only process 10-12 deer a year for myself and a few friends. Hard to justify the price.

npaden · 10-28-2008, 07:15 PM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: cjohnson3006

I have a #32 hand crank grinder my folks bought me 10 yrs or so ago and they just bought me a small $89 grinder for Christmas last year and the hand grinder is considerably faster. Lots more work, but at least 3-4 times faster. I'd love to have a large commercial grinder, but I only process 10-12 deer a year for myself and a few friends. Hard to justify the price.

Do you know what size neck your $89 grinder have? Mine is a #12. I've seen the #5's for about the same price as I paid for mine and those only say they will do 2lbs per minute but they look like you would have to have the meat cut up into pretty small pieces.