The old butcher on my block said my grinder was too warm and he was dead right
I was grinding pork shoulder at my counter in Boise about 6 months ago when a retired butcher named Gus stopped by to pick up his order. He put a hand on my grinder housing, frowned, and said "this thing is cooking your fat before it even hits the case." Sure enough, my sausage had been coming out dry and crumbly for a while and I had blamed the meat. He told me to chill the head in the freezer for 20 minutes and grind in smaller batches, which sounded like a hassle but fixed the texture right away. How often are you all chilling your grinder parts before a big grind run?