Freeze first...butcher later

[Stalker69]

They simply don’t know what they are talking about if they think aging meat on ice for a week ruins it. They have either had some bad meat that wasn’t cared for properly or are just repeating what they have heard.

@Stalker69

Wasn’t my intention to derail this thread to this extent but here we go...

I have done the drain open and 2x4 trick, no thanks, it allows flies (and warm air) into the cooler. After a couple days bacteria will grow around the drain and migrate into the cooler and you will begin to get a strong odor. Temps here are in the 80°s, 90° or over 100° in the early season, too warm to be leaving the drain open. It offers 0 positive impact on meat quality(imo). If you simply keep the meat up out of the bottom of the cooler it is fine. You also have to keep it off the sides of cooler and make sure the lid is not pressed directly onto the meat. This means not skimping on ice and using a larger cooler than what you think is necessary. If you leave it on ice for a week yes the water will penetrate the meat, all of about 1/4”. I try to leave all the silver skin and membrane on the meat while aging to protect it as much as possible. Once I am ready to process I remove the silver skin etc and Shave the thin outer layer of meat off, no different than removing the rind off a hung deer. No matter how you age it you will lose a little bit of the outer layer. The interior meat is exactly the same consistency when done correctly.(imo)

I have aged deer hung in a barn when up north, aged in walk in coolers, aged in refrigerators and aged on ice. It all works if you know what you are doing. It is best to leave the deer whole or in the largest in-tact pieces possible to minimize the lost meat(less surface area). This is why hanging in a barn or a walk in cooler are the best options when available.

They say a pic is worth 1,000 words so here you go. You can see exactly how far the water penetrated. This meat was on ice for 10 days which is about the MAX amount of days I like to leave it.(6-7 days Seems like the sweet spot):
View attachment 180057
If you are wondering, it didn’t taste like tofu.

I am constantly trying to learn and improve my meat care, processing and preparation so while I appreciate information, I don’t appreciate someone talking down their nose at me.

I can understand the apprehension of handling and processing the ice aged meat vs dry aged meat as it looks and feels very different on the outside. But once it’s trimmed up, it’s exactly the same.

To be transparent, I will concede that aging on ice is the most volatile and requires the most diligence to keep the meat quality as high as possible when compared to the other methods. But with care it produces just as good of a result on the table.

This is ready to wrap ?

 

[eaglemountainman]

I am not sure how you do it but if your putting ice cubes on the meat, the ice is melting on your meat and your meat is “ bleaching”. If all your using is frozen milk jugs milk jugs, then your meat should stay dry. But you say drain it every day, leads me to believe your meat is water logged. A lot of guys we hunt with down south, do the same thing, although they leave the plug out of the cooler so the water never builds up, and angle the cooler up on one end with a 2x4 ( most of them) so the water continually drains. That meat still turns grey and slimy when we process it. I have eaten it and I know what it taste like. Many have turned to cooling them down with out getting the meat wet at all, but a few of them ( quite a few) that is the way they were taught and that is the way they continue to cool it, and it eat. They say they like it , who am I to say, some like tofu some don’t. I am one that don’t. You don’t need a walk in cooler. If you don’t want to freeze it right away ( I prefer it). You can turn an upright freezer or a chest freezer into a “ refrigerator” with a simple control. We use on an a buddies freezer. We have mine to freeze the meat. His stores all our refrigerated food while at camp. The night before we leave, refrigerated food gone. We unplug the control and his is a freezer again, and we put their meat in theirs for the trip home.
You can make a small walk in with a freeze bot also, uses a window saker A/C unit. But upright freezer or frig. Works great. With out using “ space”. Probably less space then your industrial ice machine. Ice in coolers is great for beer and drinks. Jonson Controls A19AAT-2C Freezer Temperature Controller (D132)

This is such a great option! I never knew something so simple existed. And you even provided a model and part number! I think this is going to be $70 bucks well spent. Thanks, Stalker69

 

[eaglemountainman]

Some we freeze right away, thaw, process , re freeze, and some we age, process , before freezing. No body can tell which is which while eating it. We do it with venison ( deer, elk) wild pig, javelina for years now and no one can tell which is which. I believe the biggest factor is how quickly the animal dies. The longer they “ suffer” the more noticeable it is in the “ quality” of meat, more so taste then toughness.

The way it's been explained to me is that, the longer it takes to expire, especially if frightened, the more the muscles become infused with adrenaline, which produces an off flavor. And no amount of proper handling afterwards can negate that.

 

[Stalker69]

This is such a great option! I never knew something so simple existed. And you even provided a model and part number! I think this is going to be $70 bucks well spent. Thanks, Stalker69

Yea you could have it as a frig. to age it if you feel the need. For how ever many days you want and at what ever temp. you want. Then you can take that thing off and freeze the meat before processing or after. Beef and domestic pork have a higher fat content and benefit from aging. Venison ( deer, elk, antelope and feral pigs) don’t have enough fat to make it beneficial. But some still do it, don’t hurt any thing. And yes those things are very handy. No need for water logged meat. We don’t ice down our beef or pork when we age them, I see no reason to do so with venison.

 

[kpalu]

I shot a Muley this year and the quarters froze that night. When I butchered it at home I could tell the meat was going to be tough. I wet aged it for 28 days and it’s extremely tender now. Seemed to counteract the cold shortening pretty well

 

[NB7]

I've had great success with the following, sorta as described above:
Quarters and loose meat hung to cool naturally (sometimes overnight, sometimes a few hours) in quality synthetic game bags (I use Caribou), then they are double bagged in plastic bags while still remaining in the game bags, then into a large igloo cooler. I have everything suspended off the bottom about 2 inches on grates which are old cookie racks with a spacer underneath for elevation. Whatever melted ice drains later remains under the grate and goes out. The quarters are situated vertically and then in between them I place large block ice in the form of frozen milk jugs both full and half gallon size. After everything is set up, I dump loose ice over it all and make sure the loose ice works it's way down into any crevice. This helps minimize any leftover air space. The ice doesn't come into direct contact with the meat itself. The lid goes on tight and I crack open the drain plug. Even in hot weather I find I don't need to refresh the loose ice until 3-4 days later. I usually give this 7-10 days and then butcher. Doing it this way keeps the meat cold and it remains dry due to how I've packaged it. It is never water logged or bleached as Stalker69 describes. I've been doing this for years now and have always been satisfied with the results
Unfortunately here in MD, unless you're killing a deer in January on a cold year it's very unlikely anymore to be guaranteed the outside temps remain cool enough over any week long period. Even January is unlikely to give you more than 3-4 days in a row of cool enough weather anymore. Seems like I remember being able to hang deer outside for a week or more as a kid and it being cold enough to do it the whole time. At least more often than not. And I'm talking the regular gun season in late November.