Meat not cold enough?

[smokinbubba]

Ok, ran 15 lbs pork butt thru the new cabelas grinder. Used 3/8 plate for first grind and went super fast. Meat was still fairly frozen. Then ground 15lb venison right after thru 1/8” plate. The venison was ground and pre packaged at my butcher who processes my deer. This venison was completely thawed straight from the fridge. Went super fast. Then ran the pork thru the 1/8 plate for its second grind. That’s when everything went sideways. The fat smeared and the meat clogged the plate slowing everything wayyy down. So I took the remaining 5lbs. Placed it and the grinder in the freezer for an hour and a half. Still same issue. Swapped out the plate back to the 3/8 and I couldn’t feed it fast enough. Ran it thru 2 more times and called it good.
Any suggestions?? Tia Bubba

[processhead]

Be aware that grinding through a 1/8 inch plate will be no where near as fast a rate as what you experienced through the 3/8 inch plate. That’s just how they work.
The fact that the meat was warming up probably aggravated the smearing you are seeing.
Ideally, you want all the meat semi-frozen or “frosty” as I like to refer to it.

[blackbetty61]

Make sure your knives are sharp and don’t try to feed the second grind to fast or it’ll get hung up in you grinder throat I usually look down the throat as I’m grinding the second pass and drop a little bit at a time

[smokinbubba]

I usually use frozen chunks of back fat to get my content up when using venison but ran out and had some butts on hand. Should of just got more back fat. My #32 belt pulley grinder runs butts like butter even when room temp. It may have a 3/16 plate tho.
BB61 the grinder is brand new and everything is super sharp. Had to really use the stomper to force the meat in. With the 3/8 plate I just dropped it in and it ran it 2 more times lickety split.
Should I look into a 3/16 plate or just freeze my butts better.

[Jonathon]

smokinbubba my recommendation would be to freeze them more. I run 1/8th all the time and rarely have issues anymore. I cut them into chunks that will fit down the throat, then freeze them until they have some rigidness (but not frozen through) and run them through the 3/8. Like you said, it will be grinding faster than you can load. Then switch to 1/8th and here is the key, dont put a lot down the throat. Put just enough so that it doesnt back up, you want to be able to watch it clear the auger. Once you see all of the auger again add another handful. This will speed up your 2nd grind alot. It should still be super cold after the first grind and not pushing it down with tons of pressure will help for sure.

[smokinbubba]

Jonathon awesome. I will try that next time. Thx