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Meat Processing Equipment: 202 Grinder Maintenance

Meat Processing Equipment

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Jonathon Team Blue Admin Walton's Employee Power User Kansas Dry Cured Sausage last edited by PatrickB

Meat Processing Equipment: 202 Grinder Maintenance

Attend this entry level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have!

Plates and Knives

Lubricate your plates and knives with white oil before your turn on your grinder. If you do not do this then you are going to cause friction and heat with your plate and knife and will end up with a mushy product. For a more complete list of tips for plates and knives check out this post on extending the life of your plates and knives Also, you should marry plates and knives, meaning if you have two different plates you should have two different knives and you only use them with each other.

Locking Ring

Do not use a wrench to tighten the locking nut on your grinder head! Some models of grinders come with a wrench that is specifically designed to loosen your grinders locking nut. They are NOT designed to tighten them down, you want to tighten it down with your hands or you are going to create too much pressure between the plate and knives which will lead to a host of problems!

Augers

Check your auger stud and replace if necessary. This the part of the Auger that the plate and knife sit on and they are replaceable in many models. A worn down stud is going to allow everything to start bouncing and will eventually ruin your auger which is a lot more expensive to replace than your stud.

Stuffing With a Grinder

If you are using your grinder to stuff product into a casing make sure you are using a star stuffing adapter! If you do not then your auger is going to ride on the bottom of the throat of your grinder and you will be lucky if you don’t ruin both your auger AND your head.

Run Time

Check your manufacturer’s operating time instructions and abide by them. Some grinders are not designed to be run for 20 minutes at a time, the motors are just not powerful enough and some of them have plastic gears. If you have to do 4 5 minute stretches that is a lot better than ending up with a blown motor! Grinders like the Walton’s Processing Grinders are capable of doing large batches, where some smaller kitchen grinders will not be able to go for running continuously for 20 minutes.

Cleaning Your Grinder Parts

Also, check the manufacturer operating manual for cleaning instructions, not all grinders are made the exact same way so some of them require different parts to be cleaned than others. Some have parts that are dishwasher safe and some don’t, my suggestion is to hand wash everything. We like using Neutra Sol General Cleaner but you can also use Dawn or other dish soaps on most parts, again check your manual.

If you miss something and some meat residue makes it’s way deep into the throat you are going to have a nasty surprise the next time you grind something! After you have cleaned everything I like to spray it with Sanitizing rinse as well. Cleaning it with soap gets the fat, meat and dirt off of it but sanitizing it will make sure anything living on it will be killed.

Getting a grinder head cleaning brush can make cleaning the throat of your grinder a lot easier on you. It can be hard to get anything down the throat the grooves and just running water down there is not going to work!

Clearing Jams

If your grinder has a reverse function and you have a jam you can run reverse for a second or two and see if that clears it. If it does not you need to turn off your grinder, unplug it and then break it down and clean the throat, plate, knife, and auger.

Stomper

Before you turn your grinder on check to make sure there is nothing like a knife hanging down from the pan into the throat. This seems unlikely but I wouldn’t be telling you to check if it hadn’t happened! This is also where you should check the length of your stomper and make sure it has a cross guard of some sort, without this the stomper could easily hit the auger as you are pushing the meat down, this could damage your auger and could shave pieces of plastic off of your stomper and then that is going to be in your food!

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Meat Processing Equipment • • Jonathon

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Thanks for showing me this Tex_77
What Size Meat Grinder Do I Need? - Meat Processing Equipment 301
Meat Processing Equipment • • Jonathon

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Equipment Header What Size Meat Grinder Do I Need?
Walton's sells a variety of meat grinders, from our smallest # 8 kitchen grinder for someone who is going to do occasional small batches all the way up to the # 32 for those who are going to use it for multiple deer or hogs a year. The size of the meat grinder you need really depends on how much meat you have to process at a time and how many times a year you are going to use it, so keep reading for a detailed description of each of our grinders to find the one that is perfect for you!
Waltons # 8 Kitchen Grinder Waltons Processing Grinder Waltons Processing 32 Walton’s # 8 Kitchen Grinder:
This # 8 meat grinder has a 575-watt motor and diecast head and auger and comes with 2 stainless steel plates, a knife, stuffing tubes, a stomper that will store those stuffing tubes, and an extra plate. So, what is the advantage of this grinder? It is inexpensive, but it is going to be a step up for anyone who is using a kitchen aid attachment to do their grinding, for example. Who should buy this grinder? The person who is only going to be grinding in small batch sizes and won’t be putting it through regular hard usage. The 575-watt motor on this is powerful enough to grind regular sausage like bratwurst, but doing a 2nd grind through a 1/8" plate with this, like you would have to for making snack sticks or summer sausage, is going to be asking a lot of it. You will need to have the meat partially refrozen between the 1st and 2nd grind for it to work, and it isn’t going to be done very fast. On a 2nd grind, through a 1/8", you can expect to spend a decent amount of time. It will still do it, but it is not going to make a quick and easy job of it.
Walton’s Processing Grinders Specs
We have the # 8, the # 12, the # 22, and the big # 32. These grinders share a lot of features and specs, so we will go over the commonalities first. The head, housing, and trays are made from stainless steel, the housing has been polished to a mirror finish which makes it easy to tell if it has been thoroughly cleaned and makes it look at home out on a counter instead of hidden away in a cabinet or garage. They all have metal gears and metal roller bearings for long life, in addition to a heavy-duty handle for ease of moving, a permanently lubricated motor with a built-in circuit breaker, and non-slip feet so it won’t move around on you. They also all come with a 4.5mm and a 10mm grinding plate, as well as a grinding knife. They are all ETL listed, which means they are capable of being used in a food production environment like a commercial kitchen or restaurant. Lastly, they all have a year warranty that will be backed up by Walton’s, and they all fit with Walton’s 50lb meat mixer, the Walton’s Quick Patty maker, and the All-around jerky maker.
Reverse Function
In all the testing that we did, only the meat that was truly frozen was able to clog our # 22 grinder. And when we say frozen, we mean really frozen solid could clog the grinder up, and then only when the grinder was stopped while the auger was fully stuffed with the frozen meat. Now, we have heard people saying that they would still prefer a reverse function, and we are going to have those added to future models, but the early ones at least have forward only, but this shouldn’t really be a problem.
# 8 Walton’s Processing Grinder
The # 8 is a large step up from the Kitchen # 8 grinders; the only thing that they share in common is the size of the plates and the knives that are used. This grinder is perfect for the person who is just getting into processing or hunting and is planning on doing a few batches a year. If you want to make sausage from smaller game like pheasant or duck, then this will be perfect for you. The # 8 will grind around 5 lb a minute on the first grind; the tray up top is if you are a beginner deer hunter and you will be doing 1 deer a year, this will also work for you, but if you’re going to go much beyond that, or want something that will get you through your meat quicker then you’ll need to step up to something like a # 12.
# 12 Walton’s Processing Grinder
The # 12 has a .75 HP motor and a larger head than the # 8, meaning it can grind up to 7 lb a minute, and this is perfect for someone who is going to do a few deer a year and some pork butts for snack sticks and summer sausage. Now, this is capable of much larger jobs, but in general, if you are going to grind more than 300 lb a year, you will want to step up to a # 22. I say want to because technically, you could grind 1,000 lb a year with this thing; you will just have to be very patient as the head size on this unit isn’t designed for that output. You will also have to plan well, as you will not want your meat sitting out for long periods of time.
# 22 Walton’s Processing Grinder
The next step up is the # 22, and this is for the person who makes lots of products a year. If you grind less than 300 lb a year, you really don’t necessarily need this unit unless you like getting through your batches quickly and easily. Now, this is the unit that we use in our meatgistics videos, and we are very familiar with it; it can easily get through 10 lb a minute, so you are grinding for 2 minutes and 30 seconds for a 25lb batch. That goes by incredibly fast. I have ground completely frozen product with this grinder, with both the commercial and retail plates and knives (* Edit, initially, Speco plates and knives worked with this model, but Speco made a change to the size of the hole for the knife, and it no longer works*) I don’t recommend doing this, but it can be done. Really, the person who should be buying this grinder is the serious enthusiast who wants to be able to make a really high-quality product with minimal fuss.
# 32 Walton’s Processing Grinder
And finally, the # 32; who should buy this? Well, for anyone who is going to be grinding large batches, this grinder is easily capable of grinding up to 825 lb an hour, which is about 14 lb a minute. I personally think that this could do over that, but to be safe, we are sticking with that number. So this would be a perfect option for someone who gets together with friends and does a few deer or even a few hogs a year. It has a larger-sized head than the # 22 and a more powerful motor. This grinder doesn’t work with both Speco plates and knives, but the size advantage is still going to grind meat a lot quicker than any of the other sizes, even the # 22 with better plates and knives. Now, the cost is about $200 more than the # 22 at the time we are recording this. So, does the ability to get through your meat a little bit quicker, almost 50% quicker than the # 22, make it worth that $200? I’d say if money doesn’t matter, then yes, but if you are trying to do this on a budget, that $200 could be invested in a better stuffer or the 50 lb meat mixer that hooks up to our processing grinders and runs that for you.
Shop waltonsinc.com for Grinders Shop waltonsinc.com for Grinder Plates and Knives Shop waltonsinc.com for Snack Stick Seasoning
Maintenance For Your Sausage Stuffer - Meat Processing Equipment 205
Meat Processing Equipment • • Jonathon

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Luis Tola post the pics here so a lot of eyes can see it and maybe help.

Also, even if you ordered it from China, you must have bought it from someone and have a brand name, webpage, Amazon link you bought it from in your orders, etc? The more info you give, the more help folks can maybe offer.
Maintenance for Automatic Syringe Injectors - Meat Processing Equipment 201
Meat Processing Equipment • • Jonathon

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Equipment Header Maintenance for Automatic Syringe Injectors Types of Injectors
Automatic/Pump Syringe - These types of injectors have a draw tube that will go into a bowl or other container that has the solution already mixed in it. The action of the injector will draw the solution up into a chamber or canister on the injector and then out through the needle and into the meat. These types of injectors can have either artery needles or, more commonly, spray needles that have 4 or more holes where the solution will come out.

Marinade Injector - On these types of injectors, the needle acts as both the draw and injector. When you want to fill the injector’s chamber, you need to pull back on the trigger and draw it into the chamber. To inject, press down on the trigger. The drawback of these styles is that all the holes on the injector needle need to be covered, or you will draw air into the chamber.
Soap and Water Plunger xxxxx Maintenance for Automatic Injectors
First, we are going to go over simply breaking it down and how to put it back together, as you should be breaking it all the way down before your first use to clean off the oils. The first thing you will want to do is to remove the needle to get it out of the way. Run hot water through this to clean it.

Now unscrew the locking ring that connects the manifold to the canister. Once this is done, set the manifold aside and remove the canister from the base. If you cannot just pull it out, press the trigger and stick your finger behind the canister to slide it out. Now remove the O-ring from the front of the canister and set both of these aside.

Next, take the draw nozzle, which is the piece that connects to the manifold that draws the solution up into the canister, and twist it until it comes off, be careful not to lose the spring in there. This spring is the same side on both sides; this is important to note for reassembly. Now remove the plunger from the draw nozzle; note that the plunger faces down. The plunger and spring allow the solution to come up the tube but block it when you want to inject your solution. Also, remove the o-ring that sits below the threads of the draw nozzle.

Thoroughly clean the spring, plunger, and assembly in warm soapy water. If you don’t properly clean this, the plunger will get clogged, and you won’t be able to suck up the solution into your injector.

Next, remove the needle holder base by twisting it. Note that this spring is wider on one end; this is the end that you want to position closest to the base, so the narrow end is facing towards your needle. There is another plunger in there that goes into the hole on the manifold side. This allows the solution to travel towards the needle but blocks it when you are refilling the canister, so no air or solution can make it back from the needle. Also, remove the o-ring around the manifold and remove the needle base protector.

I like to soak all these parts in warm soapy water for 10 minutes and then spray them with water and remove any noticeable build-up to form the solution. Pay special attention to the plungers during this process, as if these are not cleaned well, the injector will not work. Make sure everything is clean and dry before reassembling it.

Now that everything is cleaned, you can put it back together. First, insert the canister back into the base; the easiest way to do this is to press the trigger and then push it in. Next, put the o-ring back into position and set this aside.

Now put your locking ring over the manifold and screw that onto the base of the unit. Replace the O-ring that you removed earlier over the threads of the nozzle. Now place your plunger back into the draw nozzle with it pointed downwards and put the spring that is the same size on both ends over the plunger, and screw this back into the manifold.

Now place the o-ring back around the manifold opening and replace the plunger so that it is pointing back towards the canister. Next, take the spring that is thicker at one end and place it over the plunger, and screw the needle base back into the manifold. Now reattach the needle base protector and screw on your needle.
Maintenance for Marinade Injectors
These are far simpler to clean. Simply remove the plunger from the chamber and clean the inside of the chamber and the O-ring around the plunger. Then run hot water through the needle and the chamber and let everything soak in hot water. Once everything is dried, simply reassemble it.
Should You Buy A Marinade Injector?
If you do a lot of whole muscle smoking or curing, then one of these styles is essential. The ability to get the seasoning, cure, and other additives deep into the meat quickly is a large advantage over having to rely on osmosis.
Best Marinade Injectors For Beginners
It will depend on the style you want and how often it will be used. If you will rarely use it and just want a simple injector, then Walton’s 4 oz Marinade Injector would be the one I would go with. If you are going to be using it often and want something more convenient to use and don’t mind the increased complexity, then Walton’s Automatic Syringe Injector would be my recommendation.
Other Information
There are also Brine Pumps that are more useful in commercial applications and Multi-needle Injectors that would be used in larger plants.
Shop waltonsinc.com for Injectors Shop waltonsinc.com for American BBQ Systems Smokers
How Do Meat Grinders Work? - Meat Processing Equipment 101
Meat Processing Equipment • • Jonathon

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C

truckmountgirl Yes, an asphalt re-grinder ought to do the trick. That is some serious grinding. I wonder if pulverizing with a heavy mallet, about like splitting wood might do the trick for small batches. I like your idea about making your own dog & cat food. I had an aunt that did that, long before it was cool. She sadly to say died about two years ago at nearly 100. She was the last to go on my Mom’s side of the family.

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Meatgistics is brought to you by Walton's (waltons.com). Meatgistics is a community site, knowledgebase, forum, blog, learning center, and a sharing site. You can find help and ask questions about anything related to meat processing, smoking and grilling meats, plus a whole lot more. Join Austin & Jon from Walton's and sign up for our Meatgistics community today. We have created Meagistics University, where we broke down meat processing into different categories and then broke it down into a class like structure. The introductory classes are 10s, the intermediate are 20s, and advanced are 30s.

About Walton's

Walton's Inc. sells meat processing equipment and supplies, including all of the Seasoning, Equipment, Supplies, Packaging, and Casings needed to make almost any type of sausage. Walton's sells to the commercial customer with a focus on the small to medium-sized processing plants or butcher shops, and directly to the hunter or processor who makes their own product at home. Whether you are a commercial or retail customer of Walton's you will be receiving the exact same seasoning and supplies, we do not have a different "line" for commercial and retail customers so that everyone can make the best sausage or jerky possible!

Meat Processing Equipment: 202 Grinder Maintenance

Meat Processing Equipment: 202 Grinder Maintenance

Plates and Knives

Locking Ring

Augers

Stuffing With a Grinder

Run Time

Cleaning Your Grinder Parts

Clearing Jams

Stomper

Shop waltonsinc.com for Grinder