Right now I've got a L.E.M. 5 lb stuffer. It works great but, it's too small. Refilling it constantly and takes lots of cranking to get the piston all the way up to refill. I see the one at Cabelas which is made by Weston and two speeds which would make reloading faster. They are going on sale on Thursday for $299, $60 off the regular price. I read some reviews and there were some negatives. I'm asking for some opinions.
RAF, I have the 11# Cabela's and it's served me well. I've had it for at least 8 years. It has a fast return speed to pull the piston back up and disassembles easily for clean up. I think it has nylon gears, which to this point still don't show any signs of wear. The only thing that I wonder about in comparison to other vertical stuffers is the large amount of meat still in the stuffer when the piston bottoms out. I don't know if the other brands do this.
11 lb stuffer is great for doing 10 - 11 lb batches of sausages,,, and i agree 5 lb suffers are small for most recipes,,, my rule of thumb is .. buy the sausage stuffer for the size of batch you are doing on a regular basis,,, if it is 10 lb batch,, get the one closest to 10 lb.. if you do a 25 lb batch,,, get the 25 lb stuffer
I have the LEM 15# stuffer and do 25# batches of sausage. Have to refill once but am usually ready for a cold beverage by that time anyway!
Quote from: Salmonsmoker on December 03, 2013, 07:26:45 AM
RAF, I have the 11# Cabela's and it's served me well. I've had it for at least 8 years. It has a fast return speed to pull the piston back up and disassembles easily for clean up. I think it has nylon gears, which to this point still don't show any signs of wear. The only thing that I wonder about in comparison to other vertical stuffers is the large amount of meat still in the stuffer when the piston bottoms out. I don't know if the other brands do this.
My little 5 lb LEM leaves about 1/4 lb when it bottoms out. Just enough to fry up and try.
I have the 11lb Cabelas and have had no problems with it.
I have Cabela's 22# stuffer and have had it for years. I added the electric motor with foot pedal to help with the 70+# of Sausage I do a couple times a year. Especially when I do it myself.
I have a Weston 11 lb stuffer with metal gears and tubes and it's a work horse.
I bought the 11 lb stuffer yesterday. I can see why it leaves a lot of meat behind. The way the piston is a attached requires a lot of space at the bottom. Like the LEM system better but this should serve my needs.
Quote from: RAF128 on December 06, 2013, 04:06:19 AM
I bought the 11 lb stuffer yesterday. I can see why it leaves a lot of meat behind. The way the piston is a attached requires a lot of space at the bottom. Like the LEM system better but this should serve my needs.
I'll have to look at it next time I go to Cabelas to see the difference, I have the Weston 11 lb and I have more meat in the stuffing tube than the bottom of the stuffer.
Quote from: Saber 4 on December 06, 2013, 10:26:20 AM
I'll have to look at it next time I go to Cabelas to see the difference, I have the Weston 11 lb and I have more meat in the stuffing tube than the bottom of the stuffer.
Same here with the 22lb'r
Quote from: Saber 4 on December 06, 2013, 10:26:20 AM
Quote from: RAF128 on December 06, 2013, 04:06:19 AM
I bought the 11 lb stuffer yesterday. I can see why it leaves a lot of meat behind. The way the piston is a attached requires a lot of space at the bottom. Like the LEM system better but this should serve my needs.
I'll have to look at it next time I go to Cabelas to see the difference, I have the Weston 11 lb and I have more meat in the stuffing tube than the bottom of the stuffer.
Interesting. With my Cabela's 11# stuffer there's got to be at least 1/2 # left over in the stuffer and stuffing tube.
Quote from: Salmonsmoker on December 07, 2013, 07:41:42 AM
Quote from: Saber 4 on December 06, 2013, 10:26:20 AM
Quote from: RAF128 on December 06, 2013, 04:06:19 AM
I bought the 11 lb stuffer yesterday. I can see why it leaves a lot of meat behind. The way the piston is a attached requires a lot of space at the bottom. Like the LEM system better but this should serve my needs.
I'll have to look at it next time I go to Cabelas to see the difference, I have the Weston 11 lb and I have more meat in the stuffing tube than the bottom of the stuffer.
Interesting. With my Cabela's 11# stuffer there's got to be at least 1/2 # left over in the stuffer and stuffing tube.
I cheat on the leftover in the stuffer tube and disconnect it from the stuffer with the last casing still on it and use a piece of paper towel wadded up and the back end of a chop stick to push it through into the casing, then I have about a 1/4 cup of sausage left in the stuffer base to fry up and taste.