Aging venison at home?

[zuren]

Assuming that you process your own deer, how does everyone age their venison? I've done a bit of reading and the general guidance is age for 7-10 days at 38-39 degrees.

I was not thinking when I sold our older refrigerator earlier this year but I'm not sure it would have worked anyway (shelves and drawers were weird; reason that we got rid of it). I've been reading online about guys building their own walk-in coolers (using a window AC unit and a Coolbot) or modifying a fridge. Seems that a side-by-side or full height fridge (with no freezer) would work best for a DIY meat locker. The Coolbot seems slick but the unit is $300 and I still need to build an enclosure and acquire a compatible AC unit.

The past few years I've quartered the deer and used coolers with ice. It has worked but I would like to make improvements if I can. If anything, I'm considering a larger cooler with racks in the bottom to keep the meat up out of the water.

Thanks!

 

[yoderjac]

That is a bit warm. I use a restaurant style reach-in cooler in my garage. I removed the shelving and ran a piece a galvanized pipe so I can use meat hooks. Target temperature is 34-36 degrees. The idea is to minimize bacterial growth while allowing enzymes to break down the muscle. The time really depends on the deer. 6 month old deer are so tender they really don't need aging. A year an a half old deer only needs a couple days in my area. 7-10 days is about right for older and larger deer.

Before I got the reach-in cooler, I used an old side by side refrigerator. It was a bit cramped but it worked. Again, I removed the shelves. I used a threaded rod that I attached to two of the shelf hangers for the meat hooks.

In my area, restaurants come and go all the time. I picked up my reach-in cooler for a couple hundred bucks on craigslist from a restaurant that went out of business. I eventually got a second one for the barn at my farm. I skin, quarter, and hang my deer immediately at the farm. When I head home from the farm, I just put the full quarters in a Rubbermaid tub in the back of my vehicle. I hang them back in the cooler when I get home until I'm ready to butcher. I'm in zone 7A and it can get quite hot during archery season, so quartering and cooling quickly is important in my area.

Thanks,

Jack

P.S. One more note. I bought some low profile tubs that fit in the bottom of each cooler. This makes cleaning a snap. Any blood drips into the tub and I can remove them for easy cleaning.

 

[ncstewart]

We use just an old fridge but we usually will processes the meat 2-3 days.


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[Jameson]

Quarter the deer and use coolers with ice when temps are too warm. Just let them hang in the garage when temps are good.