Build your own bucket Sausage Mixer

[pikeman_95]

Mixing your sausage is one of the most difficult parts of the process. I have designed a bucket mixer that will do small 5-6# to about 40#. It will mix a 40 Pound batch of sausage in about 30 seconds.The mixer is easy to dump and easy to clean.

It starts with a five gallon bucket with a 3/8 hole drilled dead center in the bottom. Then you cut a stainless plate that fits into the recess in the bottom of the bucket. After that you weld a 3/8 pipe in the center of the plate make sure that it is truly perpendicular to the plate. weld the top of the pipe shut and grind smooth. screw the plate to a 1/2 sheet of food grade UHMD plastic. [like a large plastic cutting board.



Here is the plate and the welded pipe screwed to the plastic. There are four plastic latches screwed to the plastic that lock onto the bucket so that it does not spin when you are mixing.




The bucket has four latches that lock into the base latches.



The mixing blade just misses the sides of the bucket but never hit it.



The mixing blade tube is 1 inch stainless with the hexagonal end of a old hole saw welded to for good grip in the drill and the inside of the tube has a length of 3/4 inch sprinkler riser pipe inserted and locked in with a set of stainless screws near the top.



The bucket lid has a bushing screwed to it that guides the top of the mixer blade. Notice that the 3/8 tube is long enough to just clear the top of the bucket lid bushing. In this way you control the mixing blade as you pull it up and down it the sausage.



The mixing shaft fits snug and you can see the screws that hold the bushing inside of the tube. Remember to take the screws out and pull the bushing out and clean every thing well after mixing.



This is what the final mixer looks like.
Attach a 1/2 inch drill and stand on the plastic sheet and let her fly. When you are mixing sausage you should start in a mixing tub to get a general mix and add the meat cure last. Do not let it sit long before putting it into the bucket mixer. Once the meat cure is added to a sausage blend the sausage starts to stiffen up quickly. Once a batch is mixed just unattached the bucket off of the base and slide it off the 3/8 shaft.
This mixer has done hundreds of pounds of meat and the old drill is still going strong. If you remember these old Wards drills used to about twist your arms off when they got stuck in something. As you can tell I like to build equipment and I enjoy making sausage. I have two hydraulic sausage stuffers that I have built that run off the water pressure from your sink. If you are interested in them drop me a privatd note.

[DTAggie]

Patent?

[pikeman_95]

No it is not patented and I do not intend to produce them. It is kind of my gift to other home sausage makers. But I would encourage others to try to build their own. It really works well and is not much to build. Any welding shop or a friend with a welder can do the welding . I do intend to sell plans to my hydraulic stuffers. One holds 15 pounds and the other holds 65# They have each stuffed over 1000# of sausage each with out fail.

[classicrockgriller]

That is just awesome.

I applaud you for your fine workmanship.

[SouthernSmoked]

Another awesome job!!

[ExpatCanadian]

That looks fantastic, could have used that this weekend!

[Habanero Smoker]

Very innovative. Very nice work.

[3rensho]

Wow, I am impressed.  Wish I had skills like that.  Looks great.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

That is very impressive.  Superb work!

[Caneyscud]

I bow down to impressive ingenuity and craftsmanship!

That is awe-inspiring!

Thank you!

[DTJ]

Looks great, very good thinking!!! It is great to have skills to be able to develop and build ideas like that.

[Northern_Smoke]

You should make a video of this bad boy in action. It looks pretty awsome.

[pikeman_95]

When we fire this baby up next time I will get it on video. We can mix 30# in about 30 seconds. I believe it would do 40# but I have never tried.  We used it like crazy last spring when I kind of gave a sausage making class of a sorts with the men's group at our church. We made 10 -30 lb. batches of German frankfurters. That was 1000 German franks. The old bucket mixer worked like a charm. I would encourage you guys to give it a try. It is a easy build. I did mine in a evening after work. I am going to post the pictures of that process. We had a great time and none of the guys had ever made sausage before so it was a good learning experience for them.

[RossP]

When we fire this baby up next time I will get it on video. We can mix 30# in about 30 seconds. I believe it would do 40# but I have never tried.  We used it like crazy last spring when I kind of gave a sausage making class of a sorts with the men's group at our church. We made 10 -30 lb. batches of German frankfurters. That was 1000 German franks. The old bucket mixer worked like a charm. I would encourage you guys to give it a try. It is a easy build. I did mine in a evening after work. I am going to post the pictures of that process. We had a great time and none of the guys had ever made sausage before so it was a good learning experience for them.

Can I join your men's group? Mine doesn't make smoked food yet ;)

[pikeman_95]

I put the bucket mixer to use this weekend and thought you might like to see it in action. First I fold in the spices and then the meat cure and a little extra garlic





load the bucket




all mixed in 45 seconds

video of it mixing

http://s943.photobucket.com/albums/ad274/pikeman_95/Large%20hog%20casings/?action=view&current=100_6590.mp4

dump out the mixer


all mixed and all the same color.