Homemade Sausage Making

I have allways made small batches of either summer sausage or brats because I have only had a manual #12 grinder. I now have a electric one and I want to make around 50lbs of summer sausage, brats, and ring bologna. I only have a 20lbs mixer so I am going to make each in 10-12lbs batches. My question is should I be washing my grinder head and stuffer in between batches? I just don't want any bacterial growth from the meat left behind from the previous batch

I grind all my meat, then place it in the fridge. I then weigh out my spices for each batch, one at a time I mix the spices and meat and stuff, then into the fridge, next batch repeat as before. I don't bother washing oun my stuffer between batches as its only minutes and my meat is cold.

Hey Blackriver. Following standard practice, I put my grinder parts in the freezer for an hour or so before I grind. When I am doing larger batches, and double grinds, it has to sit out for quite a while, and of course it warms up just sitting there, not to mention during the grinding process. So even apart from washing it again, it needs to be re-cooled at some point. I have never figured out just when that point is. Maybe someone else can help us there.

If it doesn't feel cold to the touch it is too warm. You can cover it with a clean bath towel to delay warm up. You can also run a handful of ice cubes through it to chill it.

Thanks Ross, good advice that I will follow.

Jeff

Another way to keep it cold is to add whatever liquid is required in the recipe in the form of ice or as cold as ice as some liquids might not freeze. I add my water as cubes, freeze dairy when I can, that way I'm keeping the meat cold, keeping the grinder cooler, etc.

Thanks a lot everyone for the quick replies!

Won't ice cubes hurts a grinder or quickly dull the blades? Thought I had heard that.

Naw! the ice gets crushed in the auger before it hits the blades.

I learn something new every day

A book I was reading recently actually suggested flushing the grinder with liquid nitrogen between batches to keep it cold but added that you got to make sure that there's no meat still in the tube because it would freeze, blocking the nitrogen which in turn could build pressure and blow out the grinder.

I think I'll stick with the ice. Might try the nitro before grinds sometime in the future. Just don't see the point when ice works just fine.

Anything below 34°F is good.

I don't have any nitro in my spice cabinet! Is it anything like brake cleaner?

Do all the grinding and them separate the meat into portions.
If you must stall the procedure, put the grinder head in the freezer short term or the fridge long term.

JerBear wrote:A book I was reading recently actually suggested flushing the grinder with liquid nitrogen between batches to keep it cold but added that you got to make sure that there's no meat still in the tube because it would freeze, blocking the nitrogen which in turn could build pressure and blow out the grinder.

I think I'll stick with the ice. Might try the nitro before grinds sometime in the future. Just don't see the point when ice works just fine.

In Modernist Cuisine?

I would turn and run away from the liquid nitrogen idea faster than you can!!!

I had a grinder plate chip from having it in the freezer, apparently, too long.

Ding ding ding, we have a winner! Modernist Cuisine it was. Great information but I'm not so sure about playing with the liquid nitro. Really doesn't make sense when you're looking at the cost benefit analysis and not even including the very real potential damage to yourself and your equipment.

Back in school we used to immerse the grinder head and parts disassembled in a slurry of ice water before we did our grinding. It's better then just using the freezer as you have more direct contact between the metal and the cold stuff.