Substitute for hanging meat

Braces Airgun Masters
Heym SR20 said:
I just dismantle carcass into haunch, shoulders and loins and then age these in the fridge for a number of days. Don’t cover though with cling film or plastic - use a cloth or tea towel. A lot of ageing is due to drying out and looseing some of the excess moisture in the meat.
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Do you skin them?
 
As a young one we had no fridge and our system to cool the milk bottles taken from the front step was to put it in a dish of water with a cloth over it and the evaporation cooled the milk down.
So :- what if a deer transport tray had 4 inches of water in it and the deer hung down from a rafter in garage say to just above contact to the water with an old clean bed sheet over the deer but not contacting to it and hanging down into the water so keeping blowflies away and the capillary action will suck up water to evaporate away, could even spray the sheet with water every few hours.
 
JMikeyH said:
Do you skin them?
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yes - mrs Heym would instigate divorce proceedings if I put unskinned haunches in the fridge :)

i have though taken off haunches still in the skin to carry out. Done this several times on big red deer in windblown forestry. No chance of getting carcass out so haunches and backstraps off and left everything else for the sea eagles.
 
In the winter you would be able to hang a carcass for 10 days or so without refrigeration, in an outbuilding or unheated garage.
 
@JMikeyH you don't need a chiller although it might be nice to have. I've never had any problems with hanging a carcass 1-2 days in a cool outbuilding in summer. I then butcher, vac pack and freeze the venison. Freezing ages venison nicely.
 
The enzymes responsible for breakdown of the muscular fibre elements that require tenderisation generally 'work to rule'.

I don't personally know of any shortcuts to success, so I leave this aspect to the experts!
 
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You need a fridge to keep it cool overnight. Go with a friend who has one and pay for the overnight storage as suggested

As an aside is there any real reason to hang deer in or out of their coats. Or is it as i suspect just down to personal preference. I know i leave mind in the skin so as the meat is not very dark on the outside but a friend skins immediately as he hates battling with the skin a week later
 
SikaHunter said:
As an aside is there any real reason to hang deer in or out of their coats. Or is it as i suspect just down to personal preference. I know i leave mind in the skin so as the meat is not very dark on the outside but a friend skins immediately as he hates battling with the skin a week later
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The reason for leaving the skin on during hanging is because deer carcasses do not have a thick layer of fat to protect the meat during maturation in the way that mutton or beef carcasses do. Without the protection provided by either the skin or the fat the meat will dry out and mature unevenly. An alternative to leaving the skin on deer is to use a carcass sock to protect the meat during hanging.
 
How big is the coal shed? Could you not hang a carcass in there for a day or two with something over it to stop the flies?
 
Fair enough. I can’t advise you on that but I’m sure someone else on here can. I would think that it would be ok for 24-48 hrs though, longer in winter, especially if it’s a decent stone/brick building.
 
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As far as the method shown in the link of electro treating the meat this is decades old and our experience was it was rubbish at the time. We had more complaints about the quality of the meat than ever. It could never replace the 21 day plus hanging in the chiller.

I am no expert but FreeForester has the answers on this, hanging a whole carcass is better that hanging the primals, it needs air to circulate freely around or it starts to turn.
I would not worry about hanging over night, keep the fly's off, cut it up and stick to hanging during the winter months.
 
If you don't have a chiller but have space in a fridge. Skin and break down into primal joints when it has cooled. Obviously in summer it won't fully cool down outside of a chiller. Anyway just put the joints in a plastic bag and leave in the fridge. It will be fine for 48 hrs. Just take the meat out every 8hrs and wipe any moisture off with a clean cloth, dry the inside of the bag as well. The main thing is not to let the moisture build up. Imo venison doesn't really need to be hung for very long anyway.
 
you can butcher the beast into cuts and get some dry age bags its like a vac pac bag but it breathes to dry age the cuts of meat and just leave them in the fridge,regards wayne
 
Could you use a tall larder fridge and then buy one of those conversion kits sold by Bushwear? I've got the same issue: I've space to hang the deer but no chiller unit. Last one I took I hung over night wrapped in a clean old sheet, then skinned and butchered the next day. Was delicious. However, I'd not want to hang it in warm conditions for more than a day or two. Hence why I was thinking of getting an old larder type tall fridge.
 
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