Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Wet Aging Meat

Folks:

For those of you who use a cooler and ice to wet age meat, I have a couple of questions.

1. I know the water drains through the plug, but doo you keep the meat off the bottom of the cooler with a grate or something?
2. Do you put the ice directly on the meat, or is there something like freezer paper between the meat and ice? (I've seen that done both ways).

Thanks

RM

Ice on bottom deer on top is how I've always seen it.

Personally, if I can't hang, I just age individual cuts in the fridge when I take them out of the freezer.

I use frozen plastic bottles in the bottom of the ice chest and set the meat on top of them. Cover the meat with ice and leave the plug open to drain. This keeps the meat from laying in water for the most part. Works well for me.

Yep what Scott said.

When on the road I keep a cooler w/ frozen & sealed gallon milk jugs of water inside. Leaving venison to float in a pool of water is inviting problems, as water breeds nasties.

The enzymes that break down collagen do nothing after freezing. For tenderizing meat it must be done before freezing.

Ok, but it do make a difference proffesor

I wet age first to chill it quicker and bleed it out more then try to get the meat out of the water. I add salt to chill faster, slightly brine the meat, and to reduce bacteria. Tenderloins stay dry if possible. Paper or plastic just encourages bacteria and is best avoided. Although the ice in plastic is good.

Wet or over ice the meat can't age as long as in a proper cold locker, usually about half the time works for me. I have tried to push it two weeks and ended up with meat only I could eat.

Not in my direct experience, or at least not enough to matter. The typical muskox is killed in ridiculous cold and comes back frozen long before any aging had a chance. A pressure cooker has no chance... On the rare one killed early they are wonderful and tender, though quite coarse textured. Just for example.

Aging after a carcass freezes has absolutely made a difference in my experience. More so on a prematurely frozen carcass than one that was not frozen early.

A couple personal notes and a link I'll just leave here and let those interested make of it what they will.

I'll be honest. I'm beginning to realize that what I CONSIDER aged, and a whole lot of people consider aged........just isn't the same critter.

"Wet" aging...........is not in contact with ANY water, melting ice or other kind. WHAT a person considered as "aged" is their own decision to make and MIGHT be the reason more than a few just toss meat on or in ice but for MY opinion (only) "aged" meat is not done in a couple days and is only about 60-70 percent in a week........IF and ONLY IF, temperatures are strictly controlled, but no water, none, ever touches aged meat, "dry" OR"wet" aged. "Wet" simply refers to the fact that the animal has been skinned and cut up to one degree or another, packaged and refrigerated.

IF putting in a plastic bag, make SURE it's NOT one of the higher brand (Glad, etc) garbage bags. They have chemicals in them to kill about everything and it WILL ruin the meats flavor, let alone not meant to be eaten. The cheap as you can get white plastic trash liners work best.

One can "wet age" a steak bought at the store. I guarantee you it is NOT aged long enough to be prime beef. Buy them wrapped in their single plastic/Styrofoam package and toss it in the back of the fridge for a week......minimum. When steaks are marked down in a store, I 'll buy all I can if it's a good cut. It's going to be the best one on their shelf if eating it soon.

A point I'd like to add, only as food for thought for those who would like PRIME, aged meat.......is tenderness is but HALF of the reason to age your venison, if it's even that much.

FLAVOR, is the big one. Well taken care of venison, allowed enough time has a much richer flavor and , once again, I've fed it to a lot of people that refused to eat wild game "because of the gamey taste" and refused to admit what they had just asked for seconds was indeed.........venison, and yes, this goes for burger too.

Only my two cents, but also once again, I aged and butchered over 3000 whitetail and a handful of elk when I had my shop. Hunters drove up to 80 miles one way (or more in two cases) because of the flavor and tenderness of what came out of my shop.

I ice mine hanging (hide on) with DOUBLE BAGGED ice so NO water escapes on the meat and replace the bags of ice every 12 hours (min) untill very little of it has melted. Water spreads any bacteria that may be present and unless its distilled water (or ice made from such) it has bacteria IN it, to some point or another. "Wet" aged I only do if mandatory and it's to section the animal in sizes that will fit in those bags, get out what air I can, put it in the frig...(34 degrees).........and leave it set, at least a week......minimum. NO water contact.

Yes. You can do it like any of the above and age it "some", but good, tender, flavorful, top notch venison........takes TIME. Lots will say "we do it this way and it was ok." I'm not talking about "ok". I'm talking about meat that makes you slobber eating it.

No offense to anyone. Only my opinion from near two decades of doing this and I will NOT argue the point (again, lol).
I'm offering this for those who want the best and are willing to do what it takes to get it.

Some info, other than my opinion, in the link at the bottom. (Take special note of that under "Wet or dry aging.")

If REALLY interested in the research of aging. Look You'll find research on aging beef ....not days, not weeks...........months, and the flavor changes each produces. Commercially, they age beef the bare minimum due to the weight loss dry aging causes. They sell it by the lb. You CAN buy "aged beef steaks" online, but you won't like the prices. (Maybe I'm just cheap? lol) Keep in mind TOO that BEEF, unlike deer, have fat marbled within it..........and they still can age it a long, long time.
Before someone asks. I prefer dry aged and when the temps are good where it's hanging (out of the wind and sun), a doe or young buck will hang NO LESS than 10 days, 14-16 normally. A bigger, older buck.......21 days, but I don't shoot many of them, lol. (Dangit!)

https://meatscience.org/TheMeatWeEat/topics/article/2018/08/20/aging-beef

God Bless
Steve

Okay, but that is not what the folks that study such things have found over and over again...

I’m kinda curious about it. Just started Googling a bit. Here is one study:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24671601

“Freezing and thawing or a combination of freezing, thawing, and aging resulted in increased tenderness for LL and ST steaks when compared to fresh steaks with the same aging time.”

Another that determined while steaks frozen prior to aging exhibited more moisture loss, they saw no difference in shear values between steaks previously frozen then aged, and those aged before freezing:

http://www.beefextension.com/research_reports/1993rr/93_10.pdf

Mike I do it all the time bringing meat home from texas..meat and ice in the cooler, drain and re-ice daily. I do it more as a method to bleed it than to age it. Also do it out of necessity cause I gotta get the fresh meat home to Montucky.

I havent noticed the same benefit I get from hanging to age for about a week...but it always comes home good nonetheless.

I assume that some of that is probably pork, which I'm also curious about. I've seen folks who do the same thing: ice, drain, re-ice daily for two or three days. But again, the question: Ice on top of meat (i.e., meat held of the bottom by a grate or something, with water being drained off by the open drain plug) or meat on top of ice? I'm not sure how the latter would help drain blood, but I can see how it would keep meat cool enough to somewhat break down enzymes.

Mike

This is what I do too Tom, and it works well for me.

We don't age feral hogs more than a couple of days and if possible keep it separate from venison especially if a boar. The entire ice chest will taste like hog if it is wet aged together. This is where I would wrap the hog to segregate it if I had to carry them together. Same for javelina.

Just getting ready to head to west Tx. for Mule Deer and am wondering if dry ice will help as it is not that cold this season. When I have used it before it sometimes would freeze the meat so maybe not practical.

Hello Mike.....

The way I do it is to put a layer of ice on the bottom of the cooler, chunk the meat in and put ice on top. I don't wrap the meat or anything, don't put salt or anything else in the ice either. Drain the water out each day and refill with ice. I don't try to crowd the meat ie attempt to stuff an entire quartered whitetail in a 48 quart cooler. I put the hindquarters in one cooler and the rest of the deer in another just so I have a lot of ice. I find two little coolers (54 quart) a little easier to work with than one big one but YMMV on that.

You are going to get some water on the meat, especially at first as the first round of ice has to dissipate body heat, but there is no way in heck that bacteria is going to be an issue as long as you have plenty of ice in the box. That water is going to be just above freezing temp, and unless you get water from a creek somewhere to make your ice its gonna be coming from a purified source. The only way you can screw this up is to forget about it, let all the ice melt and the water get warm. After about a week give or take, the meat will appear pale, looking kind of like chicken, and that worries some people, but that is only superficial. I use plain old igloo coolers, not the high dollar stuff.

I don't know how much "bleeding" takes place in this process. You cut a heck of a lot of little blood vessels when you butcher an animal and these are going to bleed into the water. It does not take much blood to make the drain water look red. Usually after a day or two the water gets pretty clear.

I'm usually tired of acquiring ice, draining the cooler, etc after about a week and get motivated to put the deer away in the freezer. So I have not left the meat on ice much longer than that.

I've never had any problems or complaints about meat quality. I have had a chance to eat some venison that was aged in a walk in cooler with the hide on, ie the ideal way, and I could not tell any difference personally. I've also "dry aged" it in a fridge and can't tell the difference. It is my opinion that most average deer people kill are relatively young and don't benefit that much from a long aging process........but this stuff is almost like a religion.

Mike I put the ice on top of the meat so the cold from it, and the water all go down. I don't bother elevating it off the floor of the cooler with a grate, I just kind of stir it up a little when Im draining it...

This system works well. Bringing pronghorn from NM, draining and adding ice once or twice a day keeps the meat very well. With hot weather, getting the meat on ice ASAP is crucial. Some call pronghorns “stink goats”. I’ve seen how some handle the meat and no doubt that meat can spoil and quickly. We skin them in the truck, have ice in ice chests ready to go. We have our pronghorns on ice in a matter of minutes, not hours.

Drain the water regularly, add ice as needed. As time passes, you need less and less ice. We’ve kept meat like this for several days. Works great.

DF

Read the posts and the links some provided. Must say it is a bit confusing. Each hunt has challenges with temperatures and distances to travel. I hope Mule Deer chimes in here................

I 10X over prefer to dry age because bacteria loves wet environments, but if that isn't feasible I will go ahead and cut the critter up like normal and vacuum seal it in bags, then age it. It will age just fine in the fridge before or after freezing. You could even do this and transport it home in coolers, keeping ice on it, which I guess would be considered wet aging. There's lots of ways to do what you're wanting.

Here's part of the whitetail I shot last week, aging in my fridge. This is no different than traveling home with the vacuum bags in a cooler with ice. I'll keep it in there like this for another week or so. You may not be able to see the blood in the vacuum bags, but if you can you can see how cutting it up before aging also bleeds the meat fairly well. I'll freeze it this way and pat it dry before cooking or you can open the bags, drain the blood and reseal before freezing.





I try to avoid total deboning before processing if possible so I don't have to trim so much red crust, but that's a topic for a different time.

Line the bottom of the cooler/coolers with unopened bags of ice toss hog/deer/bobcat in - cover with more unopened bags of ice . Dump semi melted bags of ice pour - two 3 liter sprite/fresca/mountain dew soft drink in - keep drain plug open add ice on day three . Day four tired of messing with ice - cut/pack for plate/fridge/freezer .

Bacteria can't fly, walk, or levitate.

But it can float, some " swim" , and it can propagate if in a moist enough environment.

Think about it.

The key though is temperature. "Dry age" a deer for a week at 85 degrees and it is obviously gonna rot.

People repeat something often enough that it becomes a thing, like bacteria loves wet environments, when it is much more accurate to say that bacteria loves wet, warm environments.....at least if we are talking the kind of bacteria that makes things rot. Otherwise keeping meat on ice would not work and it works every time.

I think some are referring to transporting meat home, some actual aging...........or I'm not understanding their posts.

Still.......in my opinion, and that of all government agencies involved with such, contact with water is never included for AGING.

Taking it home and cutting it up and freezing it is another story for those NOT aging theirs.

My post was completely referring to the OP on aging meat. If you want to REALLY get confused look up storing in 20 percent brine as was (and still is some places) for meat where refrigeration is not an option.

Lots of things work. Some are better but better is a relative opinion so many practices are used.

God bless

That's the best and easiest way, IMO. With a good vacuum sealing system it takes very little time to process a deer anymore, especially if I can get the wife involved. If its a pre-rut deer, I don't age at all anymore as I can't tell the difference. Some of the best meat I've had has been vacuum packed and frozen the same day it was killed.

personally I just quarter my deer or what ever put tender loins and back straps on top of the quarters in the big cooler dump ice on top of it all,if not leaving for a few days I angle the cooler with bottom plug open so water and blood runs out.i check cooler meat once a day maybe add more ice. before I put any quarters in my coolers I wipe meat clean best I can and I always put front quarters down first too,i always cut my own meat up with my son ,wife wraps for us. I try to never let my meat freeze solid before I cut the quarters up ,its just a pain to work on quarters then when froze with unthrawing.i also prefer to skin my animals before aninal is cooled down,warm animals hides skin much easier and my hands don't get cooled then either

Tejano: If you use dry ice do not put it directly on the meat or it freezer burns. I put ice on the meat in bags and then put the dry ice on top of the ice just to make the ice last longer. Eliminates the need to buy ice every day. Worked great for a 3 day drive from Colorado in 90* heat. after Sept. muzzle loader.

I've used dry ice to keep to keep my ice bottles frozen as long as possible. I like to lay the meat on top of some frozen bottles and then put some more bottles on top. If they start to thaw I will throw bagged ice(in the bag) on top so as it melts the meat isn't sitting in water. I prefer not to have the meat sitting in water but I know others have good luck that way.

I do a wet soak in ice.....been doing it since the 80's

Lots of ice with enough water to allow the ice to move

We soak quarters in this ice water mix for a couple days with one pound of rock salt mixed in big Igloo coolers

I love how clean the meat is when we cut it up or grind

Ended up using blue ice cold packs. These kept things frozen for about four days in cool weather. The dry ice was kept in an insulated mylar bubble wrap bag with paper or plastic between it and the meat. These only lasted about two days and the meat that only had the plastic between it and the dry ice I trimmed away. Decided it is only worth it for transporting previously frozen meat.

Yes to combining transport and ageing so it is usually a combination of methods for me. Mine is like Tedhorn's but I start draining the second day and thereafter unless I am intentionally brining the meat.

I have been icing my deer for several years. When I kill one I skin. I quarter it up and throw it in a big clean cooler. Cover it up with ice between meat and cover it all. Salt the ice good. Then drain off the bloody water at least once a day and add ice. If I can it stays in the cooler 5 days. The meat tastes good. To me better than one that has been hung up. Never had anyone get sick eating it either.

Ice in the cooler. 7-10 days, I dont' drain the water unless it gets full of water. If meat isnt' in water to start with it is by the time I cut it.

Iv'e never had a single issue this way.

This. ^^^^., i leave the drain open, add ice daily and a bit of salt every couple of days. Put up in a week. In a week it looks whiter than chicken if left in ice water. Still tastes great.

I have quartered up deer in coolers for years. Ice them down and let it drip out on its own from the drain... let it sit a few days and cut it up. I used to hang them for 1-3 weeks and really like the wet method better. Seems to get more of the blood out and have a much more tasty product.