Shoutout to the old timer at the shop on 5th who caught my grinder running hot

Was breaking down a whole ribeye last Tuesday, about 40 lbs worth, and my grinder started smelling like hot metal. I figured it just needed a break so I kept pushing through. Guy who rents the space next to mine walked by, put his hand on the housing, and said "that's hotter than a two dollar pistol, you're cooking the gears." Turns out I had been packing the feed tube too tight trying to speed things up. He showed me to feed it looser and let the auger pull it through. Ran the rest of the batch with no smell and the grind looked way better. Probably saved me a $200 motor replacement. Any of you run into this with your grinders? Trying to figure out if it's just a ribeye thing or if I've been doing this wrong on everything.

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blair_taylor1d ago

My uncle ran a butcher shop for 22 years and he'd always yell at me to chill the meat before grinding, not the grinder itself. Cold fat grinds clean and puts way less strain on the auger, and he swore warm beef was the number one killer of kitchen motors. Try tossing your ribeye chunks in the freezer for 20 minutes next time and see if the housing stays cooler.

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