Meat grinder recommendations

[Zombasaur]

I'm thinking about making my own sausage. I've been looking at meat grinders, but I haven't really found one that is good yet. While searching on Amazon, all of them have a bunch of 5-star reviews and a bunch of 1-star reviews, so I don't know what to think about them.

I'm not opposed to an old-school metal hand crank, but I also have a Kitchen-aid blender, so I could go for the powered attachment as well. Does anyone have a great meat grinder that they can recommend?

[WhosYerBob]

I use this one: http://grainmill.com/

I have both the hand crank and the electric motor for it. Grain, meat, oatmeal, etc. Does great on all of them.

[Scotto]

The Kitchen Aid attachment works well. It gets a lot of use in my house. Recommended.

[Ookla The Mok]

The Kitchen Aid attachment works well. It gets a lot of use in my house. Recommended.

Same here. While you are at it, pick up the sausage stuffer attachment.

[jlanger]

How much are you planning on making?
For small batches a hand crank is fine, but IMO if you do anything more then 5 lbs at a time get an electric. I have a basic cheap one I got from Fleet Farm I think it's a 500 watt similar to this one (http://www.lemproducts.com/product/575_watt_electric_grinder/grinders)

If you're going to do lots of sausage, and I mean like you just got a side of beef or 10 deer to make up I'd really recommend a much heavier duty one. My current one will over heat if I try to do more the 20 lbs in one sitting. I also went and got the blades and plate adjusted/sharpened at the local knife shop which helped greatly, not bad for $50.
Some of the heavier duty grinders can do many other things like mixing sausage, tenderizing steaks etc.
I'd also higly recommend a sausage mixer if you do lots of it, mixing sausage is always fun and very cold on the hands, especially in 10-20lb batches lol.

LEM and cabelas are good resources for lots of various grinders, though I'm sure you might find them cheaper at some kitchen supply stores.

[Zombasaur]

How much are you planning on making?


Ahhhh, there is the question! A buddy of mine and I have been throwing around the idea of making some of our own salami and whatnot for personal use. However, back in the head is always the great realm of "what if this turns out GOOD." At that point, I suppose I'll be at a restaurant supply board, looking for industrial grinders.

[Torcams]

Same here. While you are at it, pick up the sausage stuffer attachment.

What he said!

I've made Medisterpolse (Danish sausage) and a great Italian sausage with mine with some friends. Works pretty well. Also the meat grinder is great for home-ground burgers (half chuck/half sirloin on coarse grind wheel).