home made air powered sausage stuffer [General]

2012 Dec 8
a few months back i tried making sausage this my maverick meat grinder. it ground the pork butt just fine but when i added the sausage attachment and tried stuffing it, it was a big pain, so i stopped and thunk how i could do it better and faster.

and then the light bulb went off and i was off to home depot to get what i needed. i got a 2' long piece of 4" abs with 2 end caps. and a 2" threaded reducer. and 1 3" end cap.

on one end cap i threaded a hole for a air fitting with a control valve. on the other end cap i drilled out about a 1" hole in the center and glued the threaded reducer over the hole. this was so i could use the sausage cone from my maverick. (it worked great).

i double cleaned all parts and then began the assembly. i put the end cap with the cone attachment on and screwed it to the tube. i then inserted 15LBs of seasoned ground pork into the tube, then i inserted the 3" end cap behind the meat as a piston (it fit nice) then i put on the end cap with the air fitting and screwed it on.

i put on the casings and turned on the compressor and by just barley opening the air valve it pushed the 3" end cap/piston and the sausage emerged. i emptied the 15lbs in less than 5min. the longest part was having to stop and put on more casing.

now i can already hear the purest saying that abs isn't food grade and my inerds are going to rot and fall off bla-bla-bla! but if you think about it, what is abs used for? to carry poop. what was poop? FOOD! thus food grade.

and the brats tasted great. and just a side note, if you open the air valve all the way it makes a nice meat cannon. i'm still pickin pork of the side of the garage.

but it think for my first time it turned out good. now gimme your thoughts.

s570.beta.photobucket.com

2012 Dec 10
Thought #1: That is awesome, and I want one. I've never seen an air-powered sausage stuffer before, and it makes a lot of sense. Cleaner and more efficient than many other designs.

Thought #2: Even if you include the cost of a small air compressor, your rig is still cheaper than many stuffers that do a worse job.

Thought #3: If this was in the Cabelas catalogue, I would buy one. As a paying customer, I might insist on food grade plastic. As a guest at your barbeque I wouldn't care.

2012 Dec 10
After a brief web search, PVC pipe does come in a food grade. Not all PVC but designated PVC.


2012 Dec 10
That sounds awesome!