Meat Grinder getting clogged/(over-lubricated) with fat?

Hello,

I have this lens manual meat grinder. Sometimes it works fine, sometimes all it does it get clogged constantly. Like I get 1 cup of ground meat out of it before it needs a cleaning.

The basic design utilizes an auger that pushes the meat against the cutting plate. Pretty standard. This design seems to require more friction between the meat and the wall of the tube than the screw and the meat. Specifically the wall of the tube if covered in ridges that (particularly in one direction)  grab the meat and hold it still at the screw pushes it towards the cutting plate. What happens when the meat grinder clogs is that the walls get covered in fat and the meat just spins in a circle stuck to a single location on the screw.

I dont understand why it works so poorly a lot of the time. This auger design is pretty standard, I am pretty sure all meat grinders use it. The one possible difference is much of this meat grinder is made of cast aluminum.

Am I just doing something wrong?

One thought I had is maybe I could heat up the grinder to try and liquidize the fat?

Do you trim the fat off the meat before grinding?  

Do you cut the meat into smaller pieces?

What kind of meat are you trying to grind?

I would make sure the grinder is clean before trying to grind then clean it again when it gets clogged.

To prevent clogging, make sure the meat is properly trimmed and chilled, as this will make it easier to grind. Cut the meat into smaller pieces and avoid overloading the grinder. If the chilled meat still clogs try freezing the grinder.

If you trim the fat off the meat first then the fat can be rendered into lard.

I do trim, but you want fat in your ground meat.
I dont think the size of the chunks matter to much as when it is clogged and the meat is going nowhere it becomes almost a paste for some reason. I send mostly frozen meat through the grinder, but if anything this seemed to make it worse this time, which is what lead my to thinking maybe heating everything up would be better. I have done less chilled meat than this before but this time it might as been the most frozen ever.

I have done pork and beef. This last one that is really not working at all is almost completely frozen beef.

I guess I should just send as lean as possible meat their it?

Send it as lean as possible, then grind the fat at the end and mix it together after it is ground.

Not only does the type and temperature matter, but the particular genetics and the diet will greatly affect the quality of the fat. There is definitely a learning curve.

To use a different wording regarding having the meat chilled, I make sure the meat is almost frozen.

Working with very cold, but not frozen meat has always worked best, for me. So, if the meat isn't frozen to start with, I cut it into chunks that will fit in the hopper, then put them in the freezer for about an hour, to firm up. I don't do the fat and lean separately - I don't trim it, beyond what I'm looking for, in lean:fat ratio, then just put it through as is. Never had a problem with clogging, that way.

Are you sure it is fat and not silverskin? I find that removing any silverskin first makes grinding much easier