New grinder - what hole size for chili grind?

I just bought a new #12 size electric grinder. I mainly bought it for making sausage, but I want to grind some beef for chili. Yes, I know there is the big debate over hand cut versus chili grind, and I don't want to get into that. I usually hand cut a mix of chuck and sirloin, but I want to see how my chili comes out with a chili grind.

My grinder came with a 1/4 inch (6mm) plate, and a 5/16th (8mm) plate. Those are too small for sure. I'll need to buy a plate with larger holes. I can get 3/8" (10mm), 1/2" (12mm) 9/16" (14mm), 5/8" (16mm), or 11/16" (18mm).

I'm thinking 9/16th inch or 5/8th for chili grind. Or is that too big? Would 1/2" be better? Does anyone know what butchers normally use for a coarse chili grind? Or anyone have any experience doing it?

I would say either 1/2 or 9/16 but that is pretty much a complete guess. I have never seen a "chili grind" before so I can't really say for sure.

Thanks dataz722. I've been searching the web, and it seems that 1/2 inch is frequently mentioned for a coarse chili grind. That's what I'm aiming for. So that's what I'm going with. I'll probably order a 9/16th size too, just in case, and it'll probably come in handy for grinding large chunks of back fat for andouille.

Had to bracket the 1/2 inch size when I ordered today. They were out of stock on that one. So I ordered the 3/8th and the 9/16th.

I think 3/8th will do fine for chili. I was at Whole Foods today and I asked the butcher what plate size they use for their chili grind, and he said they use 3/8th.

Meanwhile, I used the 1/4 inch plate to make 14 pounds of bulk breakfast sausage today. It was a variation of Len Poli's "close clone" of Jimmy Dean sausage. It came out tasting great. I didn't stuff it into casing. I just packed it in a bunch of one pound meat bags in roll form. Breakfast tomorrow, with eggs and waffles.

I have a 3/4" plate that I picked up off ebay.....I've used that for chili when I didn't have time to cut by hand.

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So how well did that work? I'd think you'd get huge chunks. And was that with chuck, sirloin, brisket?

The biggest I can get is 11/16ths (18mm), at least from the manufacturer of the grinder. But now that I see how my existing 1/4 and 5/16 inch plates work, I can't think of what I might use one that big for. I bet I''ll be using mainly the 3/8ths and smaller, as I'm mostly interested in sausage making.

It worked out pretty well....it was chuck. I have never tried sirloin or brisket in my chili, but I'm they are pretty good.

I usually try to cut my chuck roasts into 3/4" chunks when cutting by hand. The 3/4" plate doesn't cut the meat into quite as large chunks as when cutting by hand.

After making 14 pounds of breakfast sausage from 10.5 pounds of pork shoulder and 3.5 pounds of uncured pork belly, I still had 9 pounds of pork shoulder left over. I put a rub on it and let it sit overnight, and now I'm smoking it low and slow.

My new grinder plates and knives came in. I now have 4mm (5/32"), 6mm (1/4"), 8mm (5/16"), 10mm (3/8"), and 14mm (9/16") plate, with a 12mm (1/2") on backorder. Each one is paired up with its own knife.

And I've just ordered a 15 lb vertical sausage stuffer. Should be here in a few days, maybe next week considering the holiday.

In a couple of weeks when I'm on vacation, I'm planning on making andouille using this recipe and process:
Nola Cuisine » Blog Archive » Andouille Sausage Recipe
http://www.nolacuisine.com/2007/04/22/andouille-sausage/