Meat! brand Grinder

[doc holiday13]

Grinder Review

MEAT! 1.5hp #32

1.5 HP Meat Grinder (#32) | MEAT

1.5 HP Grinder (#32)

www.meatyourmaker.com

Of the 3 grinders offered by MEAT!, I would only consider buying 2. the "small" #8 and the big #32. Both units are the only grinders I would consider.. The compact #12 will be LOUD... It looks near identical to my old #8 compact unit.. Hearing protection is basically required for those compact units. The #32 i got is very quiet. I can have a conversation without yelling while the unit is running.

I've processed 4 deer and 1 pig with this unit. I have not and will not be using it to stuff sausage. I have a vertical stuffing machine because I do make a lot of fresh sausage, summer sausage, and burger so I will not be reviewing those pieces.

Fit and Finish

The biggest draw for this unit is that its ALL stainless. the throat piece, auger, blade, and plates. All of the pieces (aside from the motor) can be put in the dishwasher. I will caveat that by saying that you should do your best to clean out any remaining meat, fat, and grizzle before running through the dishwasher. The grinder unit as a whole weighs 70#... Let me say that again 70#. Most of that weight comes from the fan cooled electric motor. Its not exactly what we'd call a "portable" unit. The main throat body casting seems decent in quality. It's thick and HEAVY too. On my unit there must have been a void in the cast and it was welded up and re-machined, but it was a good looking repair and does not worry me. There aren't any acute or small corners inside the unit that would lend themselves to be difficult to clean. The auger fits well and the gear fit on the motor body are not sloppy or too tight. The blade is a single piece of metal and has 4 blades ground into it and seems to be wearing nicely with the cutting plate.

Performance.

I already stated it is a quiet unit even though its a monster, I don't need hearing protection. I can even have a conversation while its running and not have to yell or repeat myself. I know all the tutorials say to chop your meat into ~2" cubes but I don't see the need to do such a thing. On average I'm dropping pieces 5-8" long 2" wide and 2" thick into the mouth on this thing and it eats it up. On first grind operations i just about can't feed the beast fast enough. While it may be rated at 20ish pounds per minute, I think that rating comes from having meat chopped up into the tiny squares and having a 2nd set of hands to keep it filled and using the 10mm plate. My unit chewed through ~35.lbs of whitetail meat in 4 minutes 10 seconds while grinding with the 4.5mm plate. This is a huge step up from my old compact unit.. My guess is the the .5 hp Meat! grinder would perform the same feat in about 10 minutes which is still a step up from a compact unit. My main reasoning for the #32 is multiple grinds. Bigger throat means its not as hard to feed ground meat thats getting tacky. Even on 2nd and 3rd grinds, this unit performs at very reasonable speeds

Closing Thoughts

If you are only doing single grind operations and processing less than 400.lbs a season... Get this unit https://www.meatyourmaker.com/proce...lkid=a4e71481fb3b19c63f6e7508beffebf8&start=1

IF you need process more than 400.lb and/or do multiple grinds for things like hot dogs and summer sausage then this unit will do well for you. I don't forsee ever needing another grinder.. This will last a long long time

 

[Red Letters]

good stuff, I've been watching the Bearded Butchers on youtube, they have some videos putting this brand of equipment through the paces

 

[svivian]

Just ordered the whole setup(32# grinder/50lb mixer/ 15lb vertical stuffer) during their 25% off weekend. Thanks for the review looking forward to trying it out hopefully after this third season.

 

[TX_Diver]

What other grinders have you used and are comparing too?

One is on the list for me in the next year or two.

 

[doc holiday13]

What other grinders have you used and are comparing too?

One is on the list for me in the next year or two.

Well I'm just one dude who doesn't have any sponsorship lol.. So my last grinder was a Waring Pro, compact 550w #12 grinder. Lasted me a decade. It still works but I gave it away to a friend. I've used other peoples grinders too and every brand compact grinder is loud and slow.

I'm not really comparing it to another grinder per say, i'm just talking about its performance. Performance was great.. I'm sure the cabelas equivalent size "carnivore" brand would perform roughly the same but unless Cabela's sends me one. I'm not doign a review on it because they're pricey and I'm not getting paid to do the review

 

[Sekora]

I can't speak for the grinder, but I just bought their 10" meat slicer. It is a beast. Commercial grade. I sliced a mixture of thawed meat, semi frozen meat, and frozen meat and it made perfect cuts on all. I have used several different meat slicers over the years and this is by far the best one I have ever used. I would think all of their products are of similar quality.

 

[svivian]

I processed a 130lbs of elk meat through the MEAT 1.5hp grinder and I am super impressed. I even turned all the silver skin straps into dog food with it. Highly recommend.

 

[doc holiday13]

I can't speak for the grinder, but I just bought their 10" meat slicer. It is a beast. Commercial grade. I sliced a mixture of thawed meat, semi frozen meat, and frozen meat and it made perfect cuts on all. I have used several different meat slicers over the years and this is by far the best one I have ever used. I would think all of their products are of similar quality.

Thats good to know. A slicer is on my want list because I make a lot of bacon

 

[brandonmacd1]

I just started using meat your maker products this year and like them more than lem

 

[Whisky]

Anybody use their 10 tray dehydrator yet?

 

[Snowwolfe]

I just started using meat your maker products this year and like them more than lem

Can you offer some specific differences between the two brands that makes you like the one brand better?
What models LEM did you have and what did you replace them with?

 

[Agross]

Well I just got a 1 hp grinder about a month ago from them and just used it for the first time. The motor and grinder worked flawlessly. It’s very quiet and ran through the venison chunks with ease.
However after washing the two different plates I hand dried them and then put them on a dry towel to finish drying. They were then full of rust inside the holes. I noticed it some the first time I washed em before the grind but thought maybe it was some residue from the factory. Nope definitely rust. I contacted them and they asked for some photos and said if indeed they were rusty They would get some new plates on the way.
I sent them numerous photos earlier today and hopefully will get response tomorrow saying the new plates are on the way.
After this I figured I better check the rest of the unit. Everything else looked good except for the tube part on the bottom of the top main tray that hooks into the throat. U can tell it’s thinner and a little rougher spot. It has a couple very tiny rust spots started. If they get any bigger I will tell them and hopefully get it replaced As I consider this to be unacceptable on something that is stainless steel And brand new.
One last thing , I wish the stuffing tubes and the plastic collar were one piece. When I was stuffing the burger into the burger bags it would slowly drip blood where the two pieces slide together. I was using the biggest tube and this was not wet or bloody meat. it wasn’t a bad drip but more than it should have in my opinion.
I didn’t write this to bash them. Just wanted to give an honest first hand experience. The grinder itself seems great, and is surprisingly quiet. I will say the foot pedal is a must. So much nicer and keeps both hands freed up . Well worth it. The taper that I got from them for the burger packs works great. Hopefully the new plates show up promptly and there are no more issues. Seems like a solid unit .

 

[journeyman713]

I purchased this MEAT! Grinder earlier this year and agree, It's worth every penny!

 

[bsanders8181]

This is a good review. Thanks. I didn’t do much shopping around before I bought the 3/4 hp Carnivore grinder from Cabelas this summer. Would have been a great item to compare.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[doc holiday13]

However after washing the two different plates I hand dried them and then put them on a dry towel to finish drying. They were then full of rust inside the holes. I noticed it some the first time I washed em before the grind but thought maybe it was some residue from the factory. Nope definitely rust. I contacted them and they asked for some photos and said if indeed they were rusty They would get some new plates on the way.
I sent them numerous photos earlier today and hopefully will get response tomorrow saying the new plates are on the way.

Please don't take this as negative feedback, but I have 2 things to say.. Stainless doesn't mean rust-proof.. It just stains less because of the high nickle content in the metal. Your new stainless plates will get rust if they are not cared for properly.

Its easy for there to be mixups from the manufacturing vendor who cut the plates.. Generally they will use a soft steel for setup before they start their run of stainless material and then get distracted and end up running a bunch of regular steel during their machining run.

Because steel is machined with and shipped with lube oil on it it can be difficult to notice that one material is reg. carbon steel vs stainless. I'm not excusing the fact that you got carbon steel plates.

The good part is that the company is sending you new parts that should be stainless. I'm used to greasing all my parts down post cleaning because of my old low quality grinder. Not a bad practice but not necessary with a nicer product.

 

[Agross]

yeh, I‘m well aware of how stainless works. I have been using grinders and stuffers etc for years. I keep all my stuff greased, oiled,dry, covered etc and am meticulous about cleaning. I wasn’t trying to bash meat or rain on your thread . Honestly I had been looking at these for a while and threads like yours helped in my decision. I was just giving my first hand experience, which are things I look for when researching a product. Thanks for your input. I’ll update when I receive the new plates. It has been about a week since she said she was sending them out ,so I would expect them within the next week.

 

[william schmaltz]

Thanks for the review. I've been watching this brand closely. We typically rent a Thunderbird 400 for a long weekend each fall to knock out a full moose plus whatever else we took that fall. It usually comes out to 400+ lbs of burger to double grind, sausage, brats, and summer. It has always made more sense to rent for $200 a year than buy one for $1,500. It seems like the 1.5 hp Meat is comparable and the price makes buying one and storing it make a little more sense than it does with the Thunderbird. My big thing is always how warranty the works (if I need to pay $400 shipping the damn thing out of AK to get it fixed). I'll likely have to do my own research on that. Also, I was looking on their website and couldn't find anything, but do you know if they sell all the component of the grinder separately? I would also like to make sure I could have at least two blades, plates, etc on hand.

As far as the rust comment, I grew up in a 100 year old butcher shop. I've never seen grinder components that didn't rust. Spray everything down with oil after it air dries and you're good to go. Don't forget to oil your stuffer gaskets too!

 

[william schmaltz]

Finally taking the jump and ordering one today. 25% off site wide and an additional 10% with MEAT10 promo code. Figured I would share in case others were also waiting for a deal.

 

[kjw]

Great reviews everyone. I definitely need to upgrade my grinder. My little Cabela’s grinder that could just won’t die. I painfully processed 6 animals with it last year and pretty sure even the neighbors suffered some hearing loss.
I helped a buddy that had a new #12 LEM and left with serious grinder envy……yeah it’s a thing, look it up

 

[TX_Diver]

Going to grab the 1HP model and a foot pedal.

Just spent days grinding up a lamb with the kitchenaid...