Just a heads up. Most of Cabelas stuff is made by someone else and it gets to be a pain to get parts. I have a dehydrator that the main control board went out on. I called the company listed on the owners manual, they walked me through all of the trouble shooting and told me what part I needed. Then told me I had to call Cabelas because they could not sell me the part directly as it was a "Cabelas" brand. I would go look at LEM if it were me.

 

Blades and plates are standard sized so easy to replace. Look at pounds per hour to see difference per unit. The larger grinder wont have to work as hard so should last longer. 400# is a good load. You don't want to spend all day just grinding meat. We have used the Cabela's 1 horse for years with no issues.

 

Get the highest HP you can afford to get. Get a LEM or commercial brand like Hobart. Get extra plates and blades. Use a coarse plate first then the finer one for burger. If pork there is a slightly coarser plate for that. I use the 1 lb bags, but can get 1.5 in one. They have 2 lb bags also. If you get a smaller grinder, you may have to partially freeze the meat before grinding to keep it from gobbing up in the head. Some like the vacuum sealers for ground meat too, but I use it for roasts and steaks mostly. Grinding a lot like you may do, it may be best to vacuum seal it as it will last longer in the freezer

 

Get the highest HP you can afford to get. Get a LEM or commercial brand like Hobart. Get extra plates and blades. Use a coarse plate first then the finer one for burger.

Money isn't an really an issue to a certain point, we are 6 guys splitting the cost.

Extra blades? So I'm guessing they dull. Can I resharpen them or are they toss away once dull?

 

I bought a 3/4 hp grinder from cabelas 7 years ago. It's made by LEM. I use it every season. I will grind up 6 to 8 deer, 4-5 hogs and whatever else I get to hunt that I can turn into ground meat or sausage over a 4 month season. You don't have to spend a lot to get a set up to do your own grinding. Plan it in steps. Debone, chill, cube, grind, grind again if you want, (I rarely do), tube it or wrap it. Make a day of it or do it over a couple.

 

I use an stx turboforce 3000 for general household grinding http://www.amazon.com/STX-INTERNATIONAL-STX-3000-TF-Turboforce-Attachment/dp/B0012KJBR0
I usually do 2 or 3 deer a year, a bear if I get one, and we have been getting a whole hog also and making 20 or 30 pounds of sausage. It does very well and comes with spare blades. I have had for 2 years and still on the same blade. Lots of very specific reviews on amazon on this and other models, the LEM 3/4hp is a heavier duty model, may be what you need.

 

I'm probably looking for a larger unit.
Each 1/4 of meat will be chilled to about 3c or 37f
We could do it a 1/4 at a time but Reason I say 400 pounds is once we get everything set up its best to just keep it going.
It will only be used for moose... Which is basically like beef.

 

The plates and blades last a long time...usually, if you take care of them. The knife, which is 4 bladed, will eventually dull enough that the grind will not come out right. Never tried sharpening one, when I was a meatcutter we just switched them out. At home, I am on my second one after about 6 years of about 2 deer a year and grinding some beef also. Keep the outer tightening ring tight so nothing slips. Since money is not a problem, get the best you can get. If there is ever a grocery store auction around that had a meat dept, you might find a commercial grinder at a good price also.

 

Also do it all at once, as cleaning can take a while. With practice and the help you have, it won't take that long to do 400 lbs. Make sure when you 1st freeze that much meat that it is each package is spaced out so that it is not stacked tightly together so it freezers properly. After it is frozen throughout you can stack it to take up less space. Regular deep freezers don't freeze meat as fast as a commercial blast freezer.

 

Going to stay with a 110v cause we will be running it off a generator.

We take 2 chest freezers with us. We were thinking about using bread racks to space it out while freezing.

Considering a vaccum sealer but will most likely wrap meat in suran wrap then butchers wrap, for this year.

 

get the biggest most powerful one you can afford

 

Yeah, multiple bread type racks single layer deep will work. If you have to double up, just rotate the packages around part way.

 

So if your going to do this in the bush... What do I need

Grinder
Table
Brown butchers wrap & tape
Cutting boards
Knifes
Racks to freeze meat on
Rubber gloves
Meat tubs to collect meat coming out of grinder
Am I missing anything??

Also how do u make a pound? Like do u just do a rough guess ball on your hands or do u fill a container that's roughly a pound?

 

I buy the wild game packs. On final grind I insert a tube that the bag slips over and let meat fill to about 2" from top. Use a tape sealer to seal pkg. If you use butcher paper, get the good tape that will hold while frozen. I use dawn soap and HOT water to clean grinder and parts. Air dry, but you can wipe dry also.

 

Get a weight scale. Wife has a light weight mail scale that goes to 2 lbs. Lots of digital scales also, have one that runs on batteries.

 

the bags are the way to go. freezer paper is a pain & time consuming. order bags for the lb u want to package up. I buy 2 lb bags. I have a 1.5 hp LEM grinder & it does the job

 

What kind of bags?
Like vacuum bags?

 

Google wild game ground meat bags.Bass Pro and Cabelas sell em too. LEM also. Make sure you get a tape dispenser, makes it easy to seal pkg. Get the funnel, kind of like a sausage stuffer tube. Fits inside the outer ring on second grind. Slip pkg over it and run grinder until about full.

 

Ah ya... Those bags are kinda an American thing...I've seen ground beef in them at the grocery store in NY.

I was gonna ask how to seal them but I looked on Lem and found the tape and metal rings

Thanks for all the help

 

So do you run burger the grinder twice?

If so do your change from a course to fine plate.

And if so y not just run it through the using the fine first?

Thanks

 

course grind first, then fine. Always use paired blade/plate as they will cut against each other and create small grooves unique to each other. The fine plates wont cut large chunks or gristle quickly enough. Heavier load is placed on the unit and it jams more often.

 

Check out LEM grinders. If I was grinding 400lbs at one time I would want a #32 grinder for sure.

 

LEM #22 or #32. If I had 6 guys throwing in it would be the 32. Having the power is not the issue we have. It is the throat size you feed the meat into. You need the bigger throat so when you do the second grind you can just drop the rough ground meat down to the auger. With the smaller throat you end up having to use the "stomper" to push the meat down. And if you decide to make sausage when you use the stomper to push the meat in you will also push air in. Much easier if you do not have to deal with that.