Jonathon makes sense on the cure accelerator and going straight to stuffing, thanks.

I’m not exactly sure how much water I was adding, I only know that I added what I thought was a lot of water, had trouble, added more, to then getting blasted in the face with meat and water once the seal broke. Haha, it was quite the sight to see. And yes, I tried different setups with the seal thinking I might have it wrong but it blew out no matter how I tried it.

As for fat content, we used 50% beef(brisket) and 50% venison.

Harkness Awesome design, that’s impressive.

Jonathon the stuffing tube doesn’t have a label but I think it’s an un-tapered 12mm. I don’t think anything was blocking the end because it happened too many times. However, I did some closer inspection last night and the seal does have a little nick in it, not sure if this happened before our struggle or during our struggle but I’d suspect that could be a big reason as well.

Some very good points and ideas on here, thanks everyone. Now it’s decision time for me, fix “cheap” stuffer, improve cast iron stuffer as shown above, or buy one of the stuffers on this website. I must admit, the smooth elbow at the bottom, having 2 different crank speeds, etc. seem like a big advantage. From what I’ve read and seen online, they also look very well built.

Jonathon the stuffing tube doesn’t have a label but I think it’s an un-tapered 12mm. I don’t think anything was blocking the end because it happened too many times. However, I did some closer inspection last night and the seal does have a little nick in it, not sure if this happened before our struggle or during our struggle but I’d suspect that could be a big reason as well.

Some very good points and ideas on here, thanks everyone. Now it’s decision time for me, fix “cheap” stuffer, improve cast iron stuffer as shown above, or buy one of the stuffers on this website. I must admit, the smooth elbow at the bottom, having 2 different crank speeds, etc. seem like a big advantage. From what I’ve read and seen online, they also look very well built.

Harkness Awesome design, that’s impressive.

Jonathon makes sense on the cure accelerator and going straight to stuffing, thanks.

I’m not exactly sure how much water I was adding, I only know that I added what I thought was a lot of water, had trouble, added more, to then getting blasted in the face with meat and water once the seal broke. Haha, it was quite the sight to see. And yes, I tried different setups with the seal thinking I might have it wrong but it blew out no matter how I tried it.

As for fat content, we used 50% beef(brisket) and 50% venison.

processhead I did notice the socket, I have a few extras and some square tubing I have laying around that I’ll try to rig up. Great idea, thanks for the input.

That’s genius, I love that idea.

Been processing my own venison for a few years now and really enjoy it. New member here but I’ve been perusing quite a bit of helpful information on here. Nonetheless, we typically make hamburger meat, sausage, jerky, and snack sticks. Snack sticks are my fav taste by far but they always kick my butt during the stuffing process. I’ve always had trouble getting them to stuff very easily. Over the last couple years I’ve learned to add more water, don’t add cure the night before stuffing, etc. but I’m still struggling.

This year I had hell again. We have two stuffers, one old cast iron stuffer that says 8 qt but built like a tank and a cheaper 5# bought from academy a couple years ago. Used 19mm casing but had two problems, cast iron stuffer was way too hard to crank no matter how much water I added, and the cheap one is cheap foreign made junk. Started blowing seals, stripping metal gears, among other things. Not fun.

Only ideas of potential causes is that the diameter of the cast iron might be too large and maybe a taller/skinnier well built stuffer would help? Also concerned about the stuffing tube I use for the cast iron because it doesn’t taper down in size near the throat, it’s just a straight opening all the way to the collar. Are these crazy ideas? I really didn’t want to buy another stuffer if there was a way to utilize the cast iron built like a tank. But I’m out of ideas…