new #12 just arrived

[calvin]

i ordered it on wednesday got it this morning !!!

now i have a question ? how much difference does going from a 3/16 plate to a 1/8 plate make ?
the only thing we had in the house big enough to grind was a small beef roast so that was the 1st thing we put through it and the grinder seemed to struggle a bit going throught the small plates . ( the meat was nearly frozen ) so i i know that wasn’t an issue , i have never ground beef before so it could be that i am not used to the way beef grinds
i only did the one grind , the only thing i can compare it to is my old smaller grinder and grinding Boston Butts with it , but it never had a problem with the 3/16 plate until the last 30 lbs i ground with it

[Tex_77]

calvin in general you’ll want to grind once with a larger plate, before going to the 1/8 plate

[calvin]

Tex_77 if thats the case would it help if i bought the 3/16 plate ?
i never had to do a 2nd grind before

[Tex_77]

calvin i would def. want sizes of plates if I were you. Buy another kinfe two and keep the plates and knifes paired together.

[calvin]

Tex_77 yea , thats kinda what i was thinking , i have never ground beef before but i have ground well over 2000 lbs of pork so i am also thinking grinding beef might be a bit tougher, doing 2 grinds kinda defeats why i bought a bigger grinder

[Jonathon]

calvin 1st beef harder than pork for sure. Your grinder should have come with a 10mm (3/8) and 4.5mm (3/16) plate. If you are going to freeze beef before grinding absolutely go through the 3/8 plate first and then the 3/8. Putting a lot of stress on the proteins taking them from whole muscle to 3/16, not as bad as 1/8 but still. Also, when you do the 2000 lb of pork, if you are making it for snack sticks and want to grind through a 1/8 I HIGHLY recommend you use the ONe Shot, you will cut HOURS off of your processing time.

[calvin]

this is what came with with it, i found a ruler that had a metric side , i hope you can see it

i have only ground boston Butts to make smoked sausage before now so i don’t have any refference for grinding beef as i did today

[johnsbrewhouse]

calvin Look on the side of the plates, the sizes are stamped on them. The large holed one is 10mm (3/8") and the small is 4.5 mm (3/16")

[calvin]

your right , i found the sizes stamped on the plates 10mm and 4.5 mm . my old grinder plates weren’t stamped so i didn’t think to look on the sides… sorry for any confusion

[processhead]

calvin said in new #12 just arrived:

your right , i found the sizes stamped on the plates 10mm and 4.5 mm . my old grinder plates weren’t stamped so i didn’t think to look on the sides… sorry for any confusion

Those are the two plates I use most.

You could get a 1/8 inch (3mm) plate but I doubt you would see much, if any, difference in your finished product.

[calvin]

what i need is a plate that i can grind boston butts with in one pass through the grinder , i’m looking at the one shot grinding head in the not to distant future but for now i’m thinking a 5/16 plate might work

[Dave in AZ]

I use a 6mm, 7mm, or 8mm plate a lot more than the 10mm. 10mm or 3/8" is too coarse for me, and like you I don’t want to have to do 2 grinds. So for wisconsin style brats with their coarse grind, I can do 6 or 7mm easy in one grind, and it makes a nice sausage. I’ve got a 1hp #22, but I think your grinder would do 6 or 7mm easier than 4.5mm, and you get a nice kielbasa texture.

[processhead]

calvin said in new #12 just arrived:

what i need is a plate that i can grind boston butts with in one pass through the grinder , i’m looking at the one shot grinding head in the not to distant future but for now i’m thinking a 5/16 plate might work

With most grinders, you can do a single grind with a small plate, its just a question of how slowly you might have to feed the meat in order for it to not load down the grinder.

For a lot a grinders, in the long run it is just easier to grind twice, once coarse and once fine, especially with semi-frozen meat or when grinding pure fat.

The OneShot grinder sounds like it might be the answer when speed is the goal,

[johnsbrewhouse]

calvin No confusion, I found it on mine when it came Friday. My old plates from the #8 were never marked either. I never used the 3/8" on my old machine, but all my meat was cubed small when frozen.

[calvin]

i always cut the meat into 5-6 inch long strips whenever i can and let the auger grab it , putting the lean end in 1st followed be the end that has the fat cap then another lean end, always worked well before

[johnsbrewhouse]

calvin Mine are all 1" to 1.5" cubes. That may change with this new machine since the throat is much larger and the auger is broader. Going to have to get used to a bigger machine.

[calvin]

i am going to be ordering a new fine plate as soon as i can decide which one will work best for what i’m doing , the larger surface area and increased number of holes on the #12 plate is complicating the decision

[calvin]

johnsbrewhouse what do you normaly grind ?

[johnsbrewhouse]

calvin pork butt and shoulder mainly, I grind my ribeye and brisket trim as well. I save that up until I have a large batch to run through the grinder, enough to make a batch of sausage of add to burgers. Right now I have about 20-25 lbs. of beef trim frozen in vacuum bags and about 50 lbs. of pork cubed and frozen in vacuum bags. Got to make sausage here shortly , but also need to get a brisket done and have a pork loin I need to process too.

[calvin]

its going to be a while before we are going to start makingsausage again ( gotta stock up on meat again ) what plate do you use for your boston butts ?