Dakotah Water pak sausage stuffer

DarrellS · October 17, 2006, 04:19:01 AM

Hab,

If you're going to do some modifications to the stuffer I would suggest a pressure relief valve somewhere, either on the compressor or the stuffer. I got a piece of meat stuck in the stuffing tube on mine and blew the end out of it. No damage but it sure was a surprise.

The jerky attachement is ok but the jerky doesn't come out of the ports at the same speed so you have one pushing off the side of the paper or one breaking.

Good Luck

Darrell

winemakers · October 17, 2006, 08:13:15 AM

Be careful with air fellas. A lot of energy stored in that compressed stuff believe it or not. Water=not compressible (not much bang when a part, o-ring, piston etc. fails), air=mucho compressible (lots of bang), therefore potential for things to go boom. A reliable relief valve would be a must in my book. Standard testing methodologies often call for fluid pressurization to eliminate this risk.

just my opinion.

mld

Habanero Smoker · October 17, 2006, 09:37:10 AM

Darrell and Winemaker;

Thanks for the information. I'll make sure that I will add a relief valve. It looks like I will have time to research this, since I probably will not be able to get a new air compressor until sometime early next year. Until then the water pressure will have to do.

Darrell;
Other then the problems you mentioned; how good is it stuffing sausage. Did you add a relief valve to yours? If so did you attach it to the stuffer or compressor? Any problems attaching it?

coyote · October 17, 2006, 11:00:32 PM

Hey Hab, We got bound up a bit (the stuffer not us ) when we went to lean on the water durring mixing. I volunteer my son to do the cranking on both the mixer
and the stuffer.................he's such a good boy ;D

DarrellS · October 18, 2006, 04:34:17 AM

Hab,

I don't use air, just water.

I didn't add a relief valve as my problem with blowing it apart was a mistake on my part. If I was using air though I certaily would add one.

It did a good job. Once you get the water flow adjusted you pretty much have both hands free. I never shut the discharge port completely off, always allow some water going through. When you want to stop it open the discharge port completely, seems to shut down faster than closing the inlet port.

Now I'm only making about 3 lb batches once a month or so. Doctor said to lay off the fats. So I use the stuffing tubes that came with my Northern Tools grinder. Sort of got used to one hand stuffing.

Darrell

Habanero Smoker · October 18, 2006, 06:23:14 AM

Darrell,

Thanks for the information on the operating instructions. That will save me a lot of trial and error. I also have to watch my fat and salt intake, which is one of the purposes of wanting to make my own.

I'll be making batches for family members, and I will only keep a small amount for my own use. But my main goal is to make the perfect hotdog; such as the ones that are called half-smokes.

Jimbo · October 08, 2007, 10:43:49 PM

Was using the search feature tonight and this thread caught my attention. Its been a year and I was wondering how the air pressure supplied Dakotah stuffers are working for everyone? I see the stuffer is on sale for $99 from Dakotah themselves and I am quite interested in getting one. I have an extra pancake air compress just laying around that would be great to use. I am wanting to get into sausage making this looks like a great way to get started for not a whole lot of money, plus the hands free operation would be great.

Thanks,

James

Habanero Smoker · October 09, 2007, 03:28:53 AM

Sorry! This is another project that I haven't completed yet. There is a foot pedal conversion kit that is being sold by a third party. This allow you to hook up a foot pedal so you can control the flow of water. I haven't purchased that yet, and probably won't. I believe it cost's around $130. I usually find that device when I do a search for Dakotah Water Stuffer on Amazon.com.

That is a good price. You should be aware that for now they only offer two different stuffing tube sizes; 3/8" and 3/4", plus the jerky kit which you can make 1" skinless sausage. I don't have the jerky kit, but so far the two stuffing tubes meets all my needs.

coyote · October 17, 2007, 09:43:49 PM

Sausage season is on the way Habs. I'm building my stockpile of high speed (venison) beef as we post !

Coyote

CLAREGO · October 23, 2007, 04:37:24 AM

i use a kitchen aid and the grinding part no problem. is the hand stuffers better. it is a chore to stuff with a kitchen aid !

Habanero Smoker · October 23, 2007, 02:41:20 PM

I use to stuff with the KitchenAid. It can be done, and you can get good results. I just didn't like the height that the stuffer was located at. It was much too high for me, and my arms would tire quickly. Also you can only get a small amount of meat feed at any given time. I would make 5-6 pounds at a time, and even with that small amount, my arms would hurt. The sausage stuffer attachment is reasonably price, so you may want to check that out first before buying an other type of stuffer. Besides occasionally I will still use mine; if you are only doing 1-3 pounds of sausage it the perfect thing to use, without having to clean up too much equipment.