Meat: ounces/cubic inch?

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Has anyone ever measured how much a cubic inch of meat weighs? Alternatively, how many cubic inches of space 1lb or 1oz of meat takes up?

I've been wondering, so I played around with it a little this morning. I told a 24oz chunk of backstrap and measured how much water it displaced in a big pot. It displaced ~45 cubic inches. of water.

By my calculations, that's 1.9 ci/oz and 0.53 oz/ci ... or about 30 cubic inches per pound of meat. This sounds about right to me. Skeletal muscle is mostly water and is only slightly buoyant. Water is about 27 cubic inches per pound.

So, if I've done my math right, and I kill an elk with 250 lbs of meat, it will require 27 ci/lb * 250lbs = 7400 ci. And, since my Kifaru Reckoning + Guide lid is about 7700ci, I should be able to carry out an entire boned out elk in one load, right? :)
 

406

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Your math and your back may disagree on this one.

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William Hanson (live2hunt)

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Has anyone ever measured how much a cubic inch of meat weighs? Alternatively, how many cubic inches of space 1lb or 1oz of meat takes up?

I've been wondering, so I played around with it a little this morning. I told a 24oz chunk of backstrap and measured how much water it displaced in a big pot. It displaced ~45 cubic inches. of water.

By my calculations, that's 1.9 ci/oz and 0.53 oz/ci ... or about 30 cubic inches per pound of meat. This sounds about right to me. Skeletal muscle is mostly water and is only slightly buoyant. Water is about 27 cubic inches per pound.

So, if I've done my math right, and I kill an elk with 250 lbs of meat, it will require 27 ci/lb * 250lbs = 7400 ci. And, since my Kifaru Reckoning + Guide lid is about 7700ci, I should be able to carry out an entire boned out elk in one load, right? :)
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Akicita

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One cubic foot of raw beef weighs approximately 55 lbs. I would wager an experienced guess that Elk would be similar. So on the higher end of my estimation 250 lbs of meat would be approximately 7700 cubic inches or 4.5 lbs per cubic foot.
 

Tod osier

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I would have just estimated it as the density of water and not looked back, but sounds like you had fun. In fact, you substituted the density of water in your calculation ("27 ci/lb * 250lbs = 7400 ci") rather than using 30 ci from the meat you calculated. :)
 
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freebird134
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I would have just estimated it as the density of water and not looked back, but sounds like you had fun. In fact, you substituted the density of water in your calculation ("27 ci/lb * 250lbs = 7400 ci") rather than using 30 ci from the meat you calculated. :)

Doh! Should be 6750ci.....which means I can probably take a whole elk out in one trip without the guide lid! :)
 
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One cubic foot of raw beef weighs approximately 55 lbs. I would wager an experienced guess that Elk would be similar. So on the higher end of my estimation 250 lbs of meat would be approximately 7700 cubic inches or 4.5 lbs per cubic foot.

4.5#s per cubic foot is way wrong. Water weighs about 62.4# / cubic foot and as stated above, meat is mainly water.
 

Akicita

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4.5#s per cubic foot is way wrong. Water weighs about 62.4# / cubic foot and as stated above, meat is mainly water.

Yes a typo. . . My sincerest apologies for any confusion I will be sure to be more careful in future postings when theoretical math is being discussed.

What I meant to say is it would be about 4.5 cubic feet of meat for a 250 pounds of elk meat which would calculate to 7700 cubic inches. As I stated in the first sentence a cubic foot of beef averages 55 lbs. This average is calculated by subject matter experience based on the 65 tons of boneless trimmed - and ground beef my family processes every year.

Respectfully,
Akicita
 
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BuckSnort

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Next time I get an elk down I'm calling you and you're Reckoning for help... I'll carry the beer, however much a 6 pack weighs/takes up in CI...
 

KJH

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Anyone who can carry 250lbs of meat in one haul to the truck... even a short way should also be capable of scaring the elk to death...
 
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Akicita, ah that makes sense now. You had me going with your original statement. Good luck, hope you are packing out a big one this fall!
 

Larry Bartlett

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I haven't measured specifically what you ask about, but i can tell you that wild game weights varies a great deal from day 1 to day 4 (by 8-12%) due to fluid drainage and drying. Example: 300 lbs of meat on day one will weigh 24-36 lbs lighter on the morning of day 5.

So the answer depends on which day you take your measurements, or at what stage of the drying phase you take your measurements.

larry
 
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