processhead said in Grinder Putting Out Mush? Don't Overlook The Obvious.:
Reviewing some posts of other people having problems grinding meat reminded me of a recent experience I had, and why you need to rule out the obvious when troubleshooting equipment problems.
Some friends and I had made sausage one weekend and after washdown, one of the new guys had reassembled the grinder head as we normally do so it would be ready to use the next week.
The following week, I was working alone and had just starting to grind some pork butt. I noticed the grinder was putting out mush meat and not feeding properly so I shut down the grinder.
I took the nut off the grinder and pulled the plate out and saw that my buddy had put the knife in backwards with the cutting edge facing inwards when he reassembled the grinder after the previous use.
Yeah, everyone is entitled to make a rookie mistake like that once.
The take away is, grinders are really simple machines and there are not many things that can go wrong.
When you do have grinding problems:
Understand how the plate and knife are supposed to fit in your grinder. Make sure your knife and plate are sharp. This is probably not a huge concern if you own a newer grinder and are a hobbyist/ occasional user. For best results, only grind very cold or partially frozen meat. Warm meat does not feed well in most grinders.
processhead said in Grinder Putting Out Mush? Don't Overlook The Obvious.:
Reviewing some posts of other people having problems grinding meat reminded me of a recent experience I had, and why you need to rule out the obvious when troubleshooting equipment problems.
Some friends and I had made sausage one weekend and after washdown, one of the new guys had reassembled the grinder head as we normally do so it would be ready to use the next week.
The following week, I was working alone and had just starting to grind some pork butt. I noticed the grinder was putting out mush meat and not feeding properly so I shut down the grinder.
I took the nut off the grinder and pulled the plate out and saw that my buddy had put the knife in backwards with the cutting edge facing inwards when he reassembled the grinder after the previous use.
Yeah, everyone is entitled to make a rookie mistake like that once.
The take away is, grinders are really simple machines and there are not many things that can go wrong.
When you do have grinding problems:
Understand how the plate and knife are supposed to fit in your grinder. Make sure your knife and plate are sharp. This is probably not a huge concern if you own a newer grinder and are a hobbyist/ occasional user. For best results, only grind very cold or partially frozen meat. Warm meat does not feed well in most grinders.