Bow season has come and gone and DH never got a deer; shotgun season, which comes prior, got them all spooked. He could hunt earlier in the year but it is still warm here in October. Any tricks for hanging game or other meats in less-than-ideal temperatures? We could cut it up and put it downstairs in our spare refrigerator, but we'd have to skin it first and then it would dry out.
Keeping Deer Carcasses Cool in the Fall?
Texas never has ideal hanging temps.lol
We try to kill, butcher and have the meat cooling with an hour or two. We use ice chests and layer ice, salt and the larger cuts of meat. Basically, a brine. It doesn't dry out, makes it nice and tender when cooked. We pour off the melted ice once a day and add more ice, sometimes more salt. After three days we rinse, wrap and process the smaller cuts and freeze.
We keep the ice chests in a small room off of the garage. Not as hot as being outside, but not as cool as being inside. Also keeps our dogs away from the coolers :0)
In all honesty, we haven't used that method with deer. We have done it that way with goat, wild boar, chickens and turkey (The birds we leave in the brine for 1 day) I can't foresee any reason why deer couldn't be handled in the same manner.
We do that with our chickens; after we gut and pluck them we put them in individual plastic bags and I dry-brine them and let them sit in the basement refrigerator for two or three days before freezing them. When I thaw them to cook, I fill the bag with water and change it several times, so that also helps to brine and tenderize them. But I don't know if that would work for something the size of deer.
Also, we bone out our deer when we package it; I think it would tenderize better if the whole carcass were hanging.
I asked my husband how our friends do their deer. He said the same way, "just put it on ice". "That the enzymes would tenderize it just the same as hanging."
Now, I love my husband, but I don't know if that's 100 percent correct.lol Cause I'm like you I prefer a dry brine on plucked birds (crispier skin). Our wet brined birds are skinned. But the deer would be skinned too. It's been many, many years since I've had hanged venison. So, I can't properly defend the taste between the two. But, that's really the only DIY way we process meat in the south.
You mentioned the fridge, Other then taking it to the processor or building your own $ 500 cooling hutch. I'm out of ideas, sorry.
If you skin the deer it's more likely to grow mold on it; our friend who's a vet doesn't think that's a good idea. We usually hang for a week or more, unskinned of course, and the meat is always nice and tender. DH is thinking of building a cooling hutch out in the barn and using an old air conditioner to keep the meat cool enough when the outside temperatures get too high. Where would you find a $500 cooling hutch - do they really make those things?
I wonder if he could use his wine room, though. That keeps a fairly constant temperature. Hmmmm....
Oh no, I didn't mean hang it skinned. I meant wet cooling as in the ice bath, no mold.
I haven't seen any cooling hutches, but we had priced materials in building one large enough to hold a steer. We decided we didn't want to go that route. But total cost in materials would run about 500.
I think a wine cave is a great idea, especially if it's temp controlled. That might be your solution ;0)
The wine cave isn't temp controlled by any artificial mechanism; it's just naturally rather resistant to changes. I'll have to mention it to DH; I don't know if he thought of that. But he may not want a dead deer in with his wine.
I know it's been a couple months for this thread, but I'm new to DG. I built a collaspible meat locker from 1/2 in inch plywood, a couple 2x4s, some foam insulation and a room air conditioner. It's an eight foot high 4x4 foot box. I set it on my concrete slab with my barbeque grill and plug in the A/C. a roll of ductape seals all the cracks. When my critturs are ready to process, I get the job done, then use the screw gun to take it apart. It works pretty good. I got the 2inch foam off of freecycle, 1/2 plywood was about 8 dollars a sheet, the 2x4s I had laying around. I used a window A/C unit from my spare bedroom. It hadn't been on in 2 years. My place is pretty comfortable in the summer. But in the summer it went back into the window, and the next fall (this past one) it went back into the meat locker before being put up for the winter. I hope this gives some of you a couple of ideas.
Clever!
NikB, I had heard that an airconditioner wouldn't keep deer at 40° without some modification. Did you check your temperatures to see if you were there? It does sound like a handy contraption!
I never checked; it was cold in there, gelatin set up, etc. I leave meat in there for up to a week before furthur processing. But, It's also in the fall when the temps aren't real warm anyway.
Sometimes it's warm here in October, but you're right, probably not really hot. I'm going to show him your description. Thanks!
????
Yeah, I don't know WHAT that was about....
huh?
Nik, someone posted an off-the-subject photo on this thread; didn't make any sense at all. I don't know if the administrators decided it was spam or had previous dealings with the person who posted it, but the next day it was gone. I didn't look too carefully at the photo so I don't know if it had a virus or what was going on. Most viruses don't bother my Mac.
ah! Okay, I thought I started spouting gibberish or something.
I notified admin about it when I saw 2 of his/her strange posts yesterday. It was someone who just signed up minutes before, probably to attract business which is not allowed in the threads. Admin removed them.
Thanks, Darius, and thanks for the explanation! Kind of what I figured.
Hope you're feeling better!!
Yes, finally feeling better... I think. Went to the doc yesterday and was prescribed an antibiotic to kill whatever killed my good flora. 10 days or more if it got to worrisome.
I hope the antibiotic doesn't kill whatever good flora have finally managed to reestablish themselves, though!
Well, I have a 2 week supply (refrigerated) of probiotic capsules, 35 billion/capsule to take after the antibiotics!
That should give them what for!
Gads, I hope so. Enough is enough!
Darius, glad to hear your doing better.