Dual Grind vs Single Grind

rbljack

WKR
Joined
Dec 5, 2014
Messages
1,015
Location
Snyder Texas
Well yall....i did a thing. Decided to pull the trigger over at the LEM website. I ended up ordering the #32 LEM grinder unit with the 1.5 horse motor. I also added their "dual grind adapter" for the #32, and the 2" meat tube.

This should (in theory) do a couple of things for me to save time:

1. Less cutting. I have run a #8 grinder as long as I can remember and it does ok. But, pretty much have to cut meat down to 1" to 1.5 inch cubes or long thing strips to feed the meat in. The #32 has at least twice the size as the #8, so that should save time on the cutting side.
2. With the #32 dual grind adapter, I can hopefully now get the rough and medium grind done in one pass. Its that second grind that takes a lot more time to complete with the #8 grinder. Hoping I can get a good mix in 1 grind!
3. With the 2" tube attached on the output (and a foot switch), I should also be able get the meat directly into the plastic meat bags (for burger and breakfast sausage) during the first grind.
4. Doing only 1 grind should also keep the meat cooler, and I wont have to stop in the middle to re-chill the meat in the freezer

Hopefully this all works out in real life because I dropped 900 bucks to find out! Im justifying the purchase becauase I trap hogs and have made about 400 pounds of sausage, brats, etc in the last two years with the hog meat. REALLY hoping this speeds up the process to get it done quicker/more efficiently.

For those who arent familar with it, our favorite breakfast sausage it the AC Leggs "
#10 blend! We just made a batch of 25 pounds last night with a small hog that decided to add to our thanksgiving feast!! That may be the last time I need to di it with the Ole #8. OH...and for those who can go back a few decades, before I had the number 8 grinder.....we used an OSTER with the meat grinder attachment. Never had to hand crank, but hats off to those that have!

Excited to get this beast in the mail now!! I will post my results once i get some time with it.
 
Last edited:

Lawnboi

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Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
7,768
Location
North Central Wi
Well yall....i did a thing. Decided to pull the trigger over at the LEM website. I ended up ordering the #32 LEM grinder unit with the 1.5 horse motor. I also added their "dual grind adapter" for the #32, and the 2" meat tube.

This should (in theory) do a couple of things for me to save time:

1. Less cutting. I have run a #8 grinder as long as I can remember and it does ok. But, pretty much have to cut meat down to 1" to 1.5 inch cubes or long thing strips to feed the meat in. The #32 has at least twice the size as the #8, so that should save time on the cutting side.
2. With the #32 dual grind adapter, I can hopefully now get the rough and medium grind done in one pass. Its that second grind that takes a lot more time to complete with the #8 grinder. Hoping I can get a good mix in 1 grind!
3. With the 2" tube attached on the output (and a foot switch), I should also be able get the meat directly into the plastic meat bags (for burger and breakfast sausage) during the first grind.
4. Doing only 1 grind should also keep the meat cooler, and I wont have to stop in the middle to re-chill the meat in the freezer

Hopefully this all works out in real life because I dropped 900 bucks to find out! Im justifying the purchase becauase I trap hogs and have made about 400 pounds of sausage, brats, etc in the last two years with the hog meat. REALLY hoping this speeds up the process to get it done quicker/more efficiently.

For those who arent familar with it, our favorite breakfast sausage it the AC Leggs "
#10 blend! We just made a batch of 25 pounds last night with a small hog that decided to add to our thanksgiving feast!! That may be the last time I need to di it with the Ole #8. OH...and for those who can go back a few decades, before I had the number 8 grinder.....we used an OSTER with the meat grinder attachment. Never had to hand crank, but hats off to those that have!

Excited to get this beast in the mail now!! I will post my results once i get some time with it.
Let us know how it works, filling bags right off the grinder would be awesome .
 

lintond

WKR
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
Messages
1,428
Location
Oregon
I have a single grind and usually need to mix the first grind a little as the fat comes thru the first grind in “bunches”. On the fine grind it’s well blended.

I’m sticking with my single grind.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

SloppyJ

WKR
Joined
Feb 24, 2023
Messages
769
I bet you'll like it. I love my #12 LEM big bite. I don't have the dual grind but have thought about grabbing the attachment for it. I can see the benefit of keeping it cold.
 

Gone4Days

WKR
Joined
Oct 29, 2021
Messages
661
I have the LEM previous version of the dual grind attachment. It is better than grinding twice for sure. When I used to do two passes, the grinder head and meat would heat up too much unless I cleaned everything and did a re chill on the grinder head and meat (mainly the ground meat). With dual grind, you’re pushing chilled meat through once.
You do need to dice your fat fairly small and mix it in evenly since you can no longer mix it around again between passes if you have some uneven fat distribution. I use 12% pure pork leaf and/or back fat from local farmers.
The fat is what causes part of the issue on passing it through twice since it can start to soften and gum things up. I used to not add fat for a long time but we switched and our burgers and meat loaf are incredible. If you don’t add fat, dual grind vs two passes might be slightly less of an issue.
Lastly, I think LEM is discontinuing their original dual grind attachment and now they have a kit to retrofit your existing grinder head to dual grind. I bought one but haven’t used it yet. I might be selling my original #8/#12 dual grind.
View attachment 631067
I have the new kit and really like it. Went through 25 lbs of venison/pork fat in one pass easily.
 

NRA4LIFE

WKR
Joined
Nov 20, 2016
Messages
1,124
Location
washington
I single grind everything, never have grinded anything twice. Never saw the need. Half of my game meat gets no fat. The other half gets ground once and then into the meat mixer to mix up the fatty beef hamburger.
 

Clarktar

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Joined
Aug 30, 2013
Messages
4,174
Location
AK
I single grind everything, never have grinded anything twice. Never saw the need. Half of my game meat gets no fat. The other half gets ground once and then into the meat mixer to mix up the fatty beef hamburger.
Ditto!!

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
 
Joined
Jan 26, 2017
Messages
2,712
Location
PA
i have the LEM #12.

first off - filling from the stainless tube right into the ground meat bag is amazing, especially with the little bag taper trimmer gizmo.
Tried the #8/#12 double grind head last year - returned it right out of the box cause that sucker is actually just a #8 head and I didn't want to give up the capacity.
I tried course grinding last year - the results were terrible and my wife/kids revolted. Had to thaw all of those bags out and regrind them.
I keep the large stainless tube on at all times - it's slightly smaller diameter than the #12 throat, so the second grind goes better.
Putting the 22/32 dual grind on the #32 motor is probably just wasting horsepower since the throat is going to be #22 size.

This year i've had a lot of trouble with deer fat filling in the rifling on the head, killing progress. better trimming has helped, and occasional ice has helped too, but i'm thinking the real solution is a dual grind.


The new dual grind adapters look really nice - that's going on my christmas list for sure.
 

Kurts86

WKR
Joined
Aug 15, 2020
Messages
351
I got the #22 Meat! Dual grind and it’s a huge upgrade over doing 2 passes for burger. It’s way better temperature process stability than doing 2 passes and sort of chilling in the middle or making grind a 2 day process with 2x the cleanup and 4x the containers.

I do think a dual grind will require 2 passes for fine textured sausage like hotdogs plus the overnight emulsification for stuffed sausage really helps binding regardless.

I don’t see ever going back to single grinding and only a hardcore sausage maker might benefit from single grinding.
 

z987k

WKR
Joined
Sep 9, 2020
Messages
1,466
Location
AK
I got the #22 Meat! Dual grind and it’s a huge upgrade over doing 2 passes for burger. It’s way better temperature process stability than doing 2 passes and sort of chilling in the middle or making grind a 2 day process with 2x the cleanup and 4x the containers.

I do think a dual grind will require 2 passes for fine textured sausage like hotdogs plus the overnight emulsification for stuffed sausage really helps binding regardless.

I don’t see ever going back to single grinding and only a hardcore sausage maker might benefit from single grinding.
For sausages you really need a mixer to develop the myosin. Duel grind into a mixer(or spend an hour+ with your hands) and then put it through a sausage stuffer.
 

Snowwolfe

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 28, 2016
Messages
129
Location
East Tennessee
The reason I have not jumped on the dual grind band wagon is because I just don't see how the meat can come out with the fat evenly dispersed.
Grind once, set lug(s) in freezer for an hour, put grinder parts in freezer. Drink some coffee or a beer. Repeat once with fine grind.
Wife and I are never in a hurry.
 
Joined
Nov 16, 2017
Messages
8,227
Location
Central Oregon
The reason I have not jumped on the dual grind band wagon is because I just don't see how the meat can come out with the fat evenly dispersed.
Grind once, set lug(s) in freezer for an hour, put grinder parts in freezer. Drink some coffee or a beer. Repeat once with fine grind.
Wife and I are never in a hurry.
Id buy a mixer if that would work? I have no idea
 

rbljack

WKR
Joined
Dec 5, 2014
Messages
1,015
Location
Snyder Texas
i have the LEM #12.

first off - filling from the stainless tube right into the ground meat bag is amazing, especially with the little bag taper trimmer gizmo.
Tried the #8/#12 double grind head last year - returned it right out of the box cause that sucker is actually just a #8 head and I didn't want to give up the capacity.
I tried course grinding last year - the results were terrible and my wife/kids revolted. Had to thaw all of those bags out and regrind them.
I keep the large stainless tube on at all times - it's slightly smaller diameter than the #12 throat, so the second grind goes better.
Putting the 22/32 dual grind on the #32 motor is probably just wasting horsepower since the throat is going to be #22 size.

This year i've had a lot of trouble with deer fat filling in the rifling on the head, killing progress. better trimming has helped, and occasional ice has helped too, but i'm thinking the real solution is a dual grind.


The new dual grind adapters look really nice - that's going on my christmas list for sure.
LEM did away with that dual grind set up that necked the #32 down to a 22. I ordered the new adapter that is grinder size/plate specific now. That's what ultimately led me to pulling the trigger on the new set up this year. It should be here in a few days.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Nov 29, 2023
Messages
1
Single grind over here as well, but I'm fortunate that my family can't tell any difference in the texture. Has worked well for me jerky and plain ground that goes into the skillet. My in laws on the other hand, they like a fine grind for any venison.
 

Read1t48

WKR
Joined
May 18, 2017
Messages
524
Location
Oregon
The reason I have not jumped on the dual grind band wagon is because I just don't see how the meat can come out with the fat evenly dispersed.
Grind once, set lug(s) in freezer for an hour, put grinder parts in freezer. Drink some coffee or a beer. Repeat once with fine grind.
Wife and I are never in a hurry.
I freeze meat trimmings (future burger) during initial processing in bag of the same size. 7lbs for me. Then I pre measure suet for each bag. I feed trimmings and burger into dual grind. Dual grind goes into a bowl and dumped into a small hand mixer. I can do 15-21lbs (3 bags) in mixer. 30 sec of mix and it’s all even. Ready for bagging. Quick process and no 2nd grind. Very even distribution of meat and suet.

165lbs in under 3hrs. from start to finish, including cleanup and chamber vac’d bags, is quick enough for me.
 
Joined
Oct 14, 2020
Messages
32
Location
SD
I bought the LEM #12 BigBite single grind last year and ran 2 deer through it fairly quickly. I typically will trim meat off quarters and cut into manageable sizes and put in gallon bags until I can partially thaw out and grind all at once. Last year I donated 1 deer to burger (added 15% beef tallow) and 1 deer to breakfast sausage (added 30% pork fat).

I was amazed how fast the 1st grind went with mostly frozen meat and fat through the course grind. I then mixed the fat and course grind together in a tub and put through the finer grind plate, that's where I had the most issues with overheating.

For those of you that use the LEM packaging system with the bags and tape dispenser, would you recommend upgrading to the 2" stainless steel stuffing tube over the plastic one they send with grinder? I'm also wondering if I just use the coarse grind plate again instead of the stuffing plate to go into the freezer bags. I had my wife helping so it made it easier, but I'm assuming I could make the last half of the project go quicker.

Overall, I was really impressed with the grinder and system.
 
Joined
Jul 28, 2021
Messages
12
Well yall....i did a thing. Decided to pull the trigger over at the LEM website. I ended up ordering the #32 LEM grinder unit with the 1.5 horse motor. I also added their "dual grind adapter" for the #32, and the 2" meat tube.

This should (in theory) do a couple of things for me to save time:

1. Less cutting. I have run a #8 grinder as long as I can remember and it does ok. But, pretty much have to cut meat down to 1" to 1.5 inch cubes or long thing strips to feed the meat in. The #32 has at least twice the size as the #8, so that should save time on the cutting side.
2. With the #32 dual grind adapter, I can hopefully now get the rough and medium grind done in one pass. Its that second grind that takes a lot more time to complete with the #8 grinder. Hoping I can get a good mix in 1 grind!
3. With the 2" tube attached on the output (and a foot switch), I should also be able get the meat directly into the plastic meat bags (for burger and breakfast sausage) during the first grind.
4. Doing only 1 grind should also keep the meat cooler, and I wont have to stop in the middle to re-chill the meat in the freezer

Hopefully this all works out in real life because I dropped 900 bucks to find out! Im justifying the purchase becauase I trap hogs and have made about 400 pounds of sausage, brats, etc in the last two years with the hog meat. REALLY hoping this speeds up the process to get it done quicker/more efficiently.

For those who arent familar with it, our favorite breakfast sausage it the AC Leggs "
#10 blend! We just made a batch of 25 pounds last night with a small hog that decided to add to our thanksgiving feast!! That may be the last time I need to di it with the Ole #8. OH...and for those who can go back a few decades, before I had the number 8 grinder.....we used an OSTER with the meat grinder attachment. Never had to hand crank, but hats off to those that have!

Excited to get this beast in the mail now!! I will post my results once i get some time with it.
I'm waiting on your update because if this works like you have plannned I may copy your order and be done with it. I'm due for a new grinder and can't decide enough to pull the trigger.
 
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