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Thread: How long should I age my venison???

  1. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tripplebeards View Post
    Just found this article was kind of interesting just tells different ways people age their meat

    https://www.deerrecipes.online/aging-venison/
    At some higher end steak houses you get dry aged beef that has been aged 240 days. Is it tender, yes, but I don't care for the flavor. For beef 21 days to 90 days is were I like the flavor. Passed 120 days not so much. Aging any meat does effect flavor and in tenderness.

    A very good discussion on aging beef here:

    https://jesspryles.com/dry-aging/
    Scientifically speaking, there’s little evidence to support that aging for anything less than 12-14 days will yield any discernible results. So all this jazz about putting your uncovered steak in the fridge for a night or two to intensify flavor is complete bull.

    When it comes to venison you are dealing with a much leaner meat that MAY be adversely effected by drying for the longer aging times required to truly effect tenderness.

    I make no claims what is the best method to process and or age venison for anyone other than myself. The question I have is unless you have actually tested the same cut from the same deer with one cut being aged and the other not being aged how do you know what is best for you?
    Last edited by M-Tecs; 01-20-2020 at 02:24 AM.
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  2. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thundarstick View Post
    Read up on myoglobin and you'll have a better understanding of why red meat is red. It isn't blood coming out of that burger or steak that's been frozen, or rare steak. Just because it's red, don't mean blood. You'll also understand why meat turns brown.
    Thank you for this! My darling wife of 36 years is a doctor. Like many physicians, her bachelor's degree is in biochemistry. She is also an avid hunter who accounts for all of the deer in our household annually (I'm allowed to harvest the elk ). She explained the facts and the myths of aging meat to me long ago. Aging is a scientific process involving proteins and bacteria, temperature, the breakdown of lactic acid and the biochemical softening of tissue.

    Tripplebeards, I think you are fortunate to have found a way to make venison tolerable for your guts. But the method you are using is not aging- it is leeching, or rinsing. The process of aging is very specific and only occurs within narrow conditions. Your process is working for you? That is a worthy goal. As an FYI, try using buttermilk instead of milk to soak your meat. Milk is so filtered and diluted and pasteurized that it has little to no bio-activity. On the other hand, buttermilk is full of bacteria cultures that will improve the taste and the texture of your venison FAR better than milk.

    Once the heart stops beating, the ONLY thing that will remove blood from the tissue is gravity, and that stops once the clotting factors in the blood set in and the blood congeals. Even gravity has limitations to how much blood can drain out due to the myriad directions and routes of blood vessels. After the death of any warm-blooded creature, cellular barriers stop working and blood will begin to infiltrate through vessel walls and into the soft tissues. The ONLY way to reduce this is to hang your kill immediately, and sever large blood vessels so it can drain. Unfortunately, we fight rigor mortis if we try to hang our kill for too long just to bleed it- rigor mortis in wild animals can set in as fast as 30 minutes after death. Once again, we come to the decision of whether we want to age our deer or not. At this point, the best thing you can do with your deer is to hang it, chilled, for 24-36 hours. The rigor in deer breaks down in that time period and you end up with softer (more tender) meat.

    Freezing does absolutely nothing for the tenderizing of meat. Again, aging or tenderizing is a chemical process that ONLY occurs between 36-40 degrees. What freezing WILL do is cause some of the water molecules to separate from the tissue fibers (and the remaining dispersed blood) to crystallize when frozen, and then it will drain off when the meat is thawed. But you still have the blood solids in the tissues.

    Does aging improve venison? That is totally subjective. Or, it's a matter of taste. To give an analogy, Mexican food in Miami tastes totally strange to someone raised in Arizona. Different tastes. Your taste buds are different than mine, or hers, or that guy over there. To age meat or not is purely a matter of what tastes good to you.

  3. #43
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    I'm surprised there's not more mention of how aging meat changes its tenderness. I never really knew anything about the process until several years ago when I was reading the instructions on a game bag in which it said to never butcher a deer in the first 24-48 hours due to the onset of rigor mortis. So at that point, and for the last 15 years, I began aging my venison by hanging the deer in my shop for a minimum of 5 days before taking them to the processor. (I'll say here that I positively hate the tedious process of cutting up and packaging deer and now happily pay someone else $65 to do it.)

    After I shoot a deer and gut it, I bring it to the house and very thoroughly wash the body cavity out with a spray nozzle, removing all blood, hair, grass, leaves, etc. that tend to arrive there during the gutting/dragging/loading process, then hang the deer in my shop. I always leave the skin on because it protects the outside of the meat, keeping it from becoming dry and leathery on the outside, and keeps it from getting dirty. But I would imagine one could accomplish the same thing by quartering their deer and keeping it iced in coolers. Here in north Texas, one has to watch the weather closely if they want to hang a deer, and I wait until there's a stretch in which temps won't get out of the mid-50's during the day. My shop is quite temperate during the fall and winter and even during brief periods of temps in the '60's it will stay around 50° inside. I then let them hang for a minimum of 5 days, but usually a week, then take them to the processor. The old man I've used for the last couple of years doesn't have a walk-in freezer, only a walk-in cooler, and it takes him about 2 weeks to get to my deer done, meaning by the time my deer goes into my freezer, it's aged for about 3 weeks.

    According to those smarter than I, the rigor mortis process in deer begins at about 24 hours after death and lasts for about 48 hours. Here it is explained more succinctly and intelligently than I ever could-

    When an animal dies, the oxygen stops flowing and many reactions take place inside. For a few hours the meat remains relaxed and may still be processed or cooked. Then muscles contract and the meat stiffens which is known as the “rigor mortis” stage. During that stage, which lasts differently for different animals, the meat should not be processed or cooked as the resulting product will be tough. Meat stock prepared from meats still in the rigor mortis stage is cloudy and has poor flavor. When this stage ends, the meat enters rigor stage and is kept in a cooler. In time it becomes tender again and is ready for processing. It is widely accepted that this happens due to the changes in the protein structure. The length of rigor mortis or rigor stage directly depends on temperature. The higher the temperature, the shorter the stages and vice versa.

    Time for resolution of rigor in venison is said to be from 6-14 days.

    All the biology aside, I can relate from firsthand experience that we don't have tough venison any more since I began the hanging process. As to the change in taste from the process, that's difficult to say and is probably highly subjective. I love venison and really have never had any I didn't like.

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    must be myoglobin that's on my plate when I eat a rare steak Wonder how long a steak house would stay in business if they soaked all there steak in milk, vinegar or anything else that changes the taste of the beef or leaches out the moisture and blood in it or let it sit soaking in ice water to get all the blood out. Might as well go get a veggie burger at burger king or get your self a tofu turkey!! I believe you yourself said you don't mind the BLOOD in beef. Its venison blood that bothers you. Don't worry its just myoglobin
    Quote Originally Posted by Thundarstick View Post
    Read up on myoglobin and you'll have a better understanding of why red meat is red. It isn't blood coming out of that burger or steak that's been frozen, or rare steak. Just because it's red, don't mean blood. You'll also understand why meat turns brown.
    We have historically bleed animals because of religious practices. Some cultures eat and drink blood, but Christian and Jewish religions forbid it. There is even a push on for slaughter houses to start using CO2 chambers to more humanly kill the animals. The heart would be stopped before the first cut was ever made.
    Last edited by Lloyd Smale; 01-20-2020 at 08:07 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Lloyd Smale View Post
    I believe you yourself said you don't mind the BLOOD in beef. Its venison blood that bothers you. Don't worry its just myoglobin
    Where'd I say that? I think you have a miss quote there. As I've said over and over, "It's your deer, eat it how ever you prefer."

  6. #46
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    This is for beef but

    https://beef-cattle.extension.org/ho...the-best-meat/
    Meat has two major components: muscle fibers which contract and relax, and connective tissue, which basically support the muscle fibers. Muscle fibers usually shorten and stiffen right after slaughter and at the start of rigor mortis. This usually lasts for six to 12 hours in beef cattle. Cooling the carcass shortly after slaughter will allow the rigor to go only so far. Also as the carcass ages, is hung after slaughter, and the temperatures in the cooler are set properly, there are enzymes within the muscle that are released, causing a further breakdown of connective tissue that will increase the tenderness of the meat.
    How long should a carcass be hung to allow the enzymes to increase tenderness? Data would suggest 10 to 14 days. There is not much difference in tenderness in carcasses aged 10 to 14 days compared to longer. Many times, small slaughter facilities don’t have the cooler space to hang carcasses very long. If the meat is tough to start with, aging will help. If the meat is tender to start with, aging will, in theory, make it more tender.


    Interest read and time tables here
    https://meat.tamu.edu/ansc-307-honor...uscle-to-meat/

    Last edited by M-Tecs; 01-20-2020 at 11:14 PM.
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  7. #47
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    Post mortem muscle chemistry-rigor mortis & aging of meat

    2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. - "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

    "Before you argue with someone, ask yourself, is that person even mentally mature enough to grasp the concept of different perspectives? Because if not, there’s absolutely no point."
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  8. #48
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    https://www.petersenshunting.com/edi...ng-deer/331287

    Rigor Mortis: The Importance of Hanging Deer
    Jenny Nguyen-Wheatley


    It is recommended to hang your deer carcass for at least two days before butchering and cooking it. This will allow rigor mortis to run its course and will result in more tender venison meat. (Photo courtesy of Jenny Nguyen-Wheatley)
    Learn how to achieve tender venison meat by applying these essential deer-hanging tactics during the rigor mortis period
    Rigor mortis is the stiffening of joints and muscles after death. In deer, this period can last between 12-24 hours and sets in when a carcass begins to cool. If venison is cooked during this time frame, prepare to sit down to tough pieces of meat.
    For more tender venison, butcher and cook deer after rigor mortis has reversed – when the muscles have had time to relax. This is achieved by hanging deer after field dressing. To be safe, I usually allow two days for rigor mortis to completely fade.
    Temperature
    Before you hang deer, make sure the temperature is suitable: above 32 degrees Fahrenheit and below 42 degrees. Hang deer in a well-ventilated area that is ideally protected from weather, dust/dirt, insects and scavengers, such as in a shed, garage or even from a tree branch if you’re still out in the field. Prop open the ribcage with a stick to keep the inside cavity cool and well ventilated.


    Remove the tenderloins (inside loins), which are located inside the cavity and below the ribs. The tenderloins are tender already and because they are small, they will dry out quickly. Celebrate your kill at deer camp by throwing the tenderloins onto the fire or freeze to save for later.
    2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. - "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

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  9. #49
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    The above postings are from agricultural or educational sources. This is from a Sausage supply house that has a much different time table.
    https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sau...election/aging

    Meat Aging
    When an animal dies, the oxygen stops flowing and many reactions take place inside. For a few hours the meat remains relaxed and may still be processed or cooked. Then muscles contract and the meat stiffens which is known as the “rigor mortis” stage. During that stage, which lasts differently for different animals, the meat should not be processed or cooked as the resulting product will be tough. Meat stock prepared from meats still in the rigor mortis stage is cloudy and has poor flavor. When this stage ends, the meat enters rigor stage and is kept in a cooler. In time it becomes tender again and is ready for processing. It is widely accepted that this happens due to the changes in the protein structure. The length of rigor mortis or rigor stage directly depends on temperature. The higher the temperature, the shorter the stages and vice versa. Make note that aging meat at high temperature will help bacteria to grow and will adversely affect meat’s shelf keeping qualities.

    Effect of rigor mortis
    Times for onset and resolution of rigor
    Animal
    Time to onset of rigor
    Time for resolution of rigor
    Cattle
    12 - 24 hours
    2 - 10 days
    Pig
    6 - 12 hours
    1 - 2 days
    Lamb
    7 - 8 hours
    1 day
    Turkey
    1/2 - 2 hours
    6 - 24 hours
    Chicken
    1/2 - 1 hour
    4 - 6 hours
    Rabbit
    12-20 hours
    2-7 days
    Venison
    24 - 36 hours
    6 - 14 days
    Looking at the above data, it becomes conclusive that the aging process is more crucial for animals which are older at the slaughter time (cattle, venison). Warm meat of a freshly slaughtered animal exhibits the highest quality and juiciness. Unfortunately there is a very narrow window of opportunity for processing it. The slaughter house and the meat plant must be located within the same building to be effective. Meat that we buy in a supermarket has already been aged by a packing house. If an animal carcass is cooled too rapidly (below 50° F, 10° C) before the onset of the rigor (within 10 hours), the muscles may contract which results in tough meat when cooked. This is known as “cold shortening.” To prevent this the carcass is kept at room temperature for some hours to accelerate rigor and then aged at between 30-41° F, (-1 - 5° C).
    Last edited by M-Tecs; 01-21-2020 at 12:29 AM.
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  10. #50
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    I fried up a few pieces the other day after I aged it. I didn’t soak them in milk, I didn’t soak them in vinegar and salt, I just fried them with nothing else added in a pan. It tasted EXACTLY THE SAME as when I did my brine soaking in vinegar and salt for two days to leech out the blood and then another 1 to 2 days and milk. No gamey or after taste what so ever. When I did the milk thing 2 days soaked in milk the milk would look white as white so I knew all the blood was gone I was going to get out of it. So basically doing all those soaks doesn’t change ANY taste of the meat that so many people here keep posting that it does...and they obviously never tried it to find out. What got me excited was it never tore me up after I eat it.


    I then took some more of the meat and salt and peppered it and then fried it in virgin olive oil like just about like everyone here cooks their venison. Guess what???.... that changed the taste of the meat!!! Totally different taste. Everybody here puts oil or butter in their pan to fry up their venison steaks along with seasoning it....Whether it’s seasoning butter or virgin olive oil it all changes the taste. If you’re going to do that just go to McDonald’s....lol. To me it tasted a lot better with absolutely no oil or seasoning in my cast iron pan just like the way the Cowboys did it. And nobody here can give me crap for eating it straight and I luckily did take a violent, loose crap when I got done eating it. Now that’s what I call real venison! And after the aging process when I took that meat out I could stick my fingers in between the strings and the silver and literally rip the meat off of it and not have to use a knife. It was extremely soft. I couldn’t believe it. Now that’s what I call some relaxed meat which explains why it was so tender When I fried it up. I did notice the other day when I made some soaked in milk for a couple hours that gave me some violent gas but I didn’t have to run to the toilet. That being I’m allergic to milk so I’m sure some of it was in that steak.

    Guess I can eat my venison like a real man now and nobody can tease me.

    And the up the above poster that said I wasn’t aging it the right way and it’s not gonna work my cooler never had melted ice in it the whole time I was aging my venison. And it never raised above 40° the whole time so it was properly aged but then again there’s 30,000 different opinions on aging deer meat here and someone would tell me I did it wrong because it should’ve been 45°.lol. All I know is it’s the best venison I’ve ever eaten without having to do any soaking or brining to it and in my opinion it all comes down to getting that rotten, rancid, blood out of it that causes the gamey/off/ strong after taste. Im guessing some people like that disgusting taste. Which in my opinion are a very select few. Not me. I’m on day number one with my last deer sitting in my cooler and I can’t wait for another week so I can get it all cut up and processed again. It shouldn’t take very long with this one since I’m gonna cut up both the rear quarters into 1 inch cubes for canning I don’t think I have to be too picky when Cubing? And I won’t be putting any bouillon cubes in my canning jars because I want to taste my venison!

    I recommend aging your venison in a cooler for a week it definitely works for me. If it bothers you you can always get a little thermometer like I have to always check it.
    Last edited by Tripplebeards; 01-21-2020 at 01:45 AM.

  11. #51
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    Not really sure about statement about milk or buttermilk changing the taste? I have never found that to be true unless it was to remove foreign tastes like sage or the iron taste of excess blood. Deer or antelope that have been feeding on sage have a very strong sage taste. Soaking in buttermilk makes it taste like normal antelope or venison. Never found it to change the taste of normal venison or antelope.
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  12. #52
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    Quote Originally Posted by M-Tecs View Post
    Not really sure about statement about milk or buttermilk changing the taste? I have never found that to be true unless it was to remove foreign tastes like sage or the iron taste of excess blood. Deer or antelope that have been feeding on sage have a very strong sage taste. Soaking in buttermilk makes it taste like normal antelope or venison.
    Agree.

    It doesn’t changes the taste of it whatsoever, it just leeches more blood that was missed by not aging long enough imo. What color is your milk after you soak it for a few hours?...red/brown/Pink. And by doing so you just made it a lot better tasting because you removed the rotten, gamey blood taste.

    I can tolerate drinking skim milk every once in a while without reactions and to me it tastes like water. That’s what I use when I used to soak my steak. I don’t see how milk that taste like water “changes” the taste of meat because it doesn’t all it does is sucks the blood out.

    Btw Lloyd Keeps giving me TONS of crap about soaking my steaks in brine and I just read that he cans his deer meat using beef bouillon cubes!!! Lol!!! Busted!...got to give you some crap back there buddy on your venison that you eat straight up and don’t add anything to it keep telling me I should go to the store and buy beef we’re going to McDonald’s.lol and and few other stupid comments by other posters said to stop hunting... are you kidding?.. me give me a break. I get a kick out some of the posters here who know everything...just ask them... And they’re never wrong. There not opinions, just all facts. Lol...just ask them. Hopefully most will have enough common sense to see through the lines and realize most comments here are just opinions...just as mine are. There’s more than one way to skin a cat but if you’re only going to say one way is the best... and you’re never going to try any of the other ways...and then say everybody else’s way is the wrong way with self experimenting for yourself, you’re never learn. You can train old dogs new tricks all day long... It’s not the lack of knowledge, it’s the lack of desire.
    Last edited by Tripplebeards; 01-22-2020 at 11:49 AM.

  13. #53
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    I just tried some of my age venison for the first time(not including the jerky I made last week). I had some leftover burger that didn’t weigh a pound so I made one nice flat burger and froze it. I took it out of the freezer this morning and while still froze I poured in some virgin olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, and some skim milk into the Ziploc bag with it. I let it sit all afternoon in the fridge and fried it up and butter and melted some cheese on it. That was the best tasting venison burger I’ve ever eaten! It had Zero gamey aftertaste. And I’m not gonna lie...I had no idea it was venison when I ate it! It tasted just as good (and almost the same taste) as really excellent quality beef. I’ll definitely be aging all my venison from now In a cooler for a week or more from now on. Leaching all the blood out of this meat definitely made the burger taste better than any venison burger I’ve ever eaten in the past. And I’ve eaten hundreds of pounds of venison burger in my life.


    Sorry for the fuzzy pic. I snapped a quick one before I ate it...

    Last edited by Tripplebeards; 02-01-2020 at 09:13 PM.

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    is it good and green yet? Time to cut it down??

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    Aging venison is not practical for me. If you don't have a clean controlled temperature place to age it....between 40-45*. Warmer and it is rotting, not aging, and if it freezes that is no help either. We hang them overnight, skin and quarter the following day, and process vacuum pack and freeze them as soon as possible after that. The venison tastes just fine.

  16. #56
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lloyd Smale View Post
    is it good and green yet? Time to cut it down??

    Lol, that was my biggest fear Lloyd. I kept giving my aging meat the sniff test every day in the cooler expecting the worst. The meat actually smelled cleaner and fresher after eight days than it did when I put it in the cooler. I honestly was expecting disaster by doing it but it turned out great. I’ve never hung it anywhere, it just laid on top of some frozen 2 liter ice bottles With my smoker grates inside my cooler so the meat was suspended and could drain down to the bottom of the cooler and yet be suspended so it wouldn’t touch the sea of blood in the bottom. I kept adding three trays of ice cubes every day. At no time did I have zero ice cubes on top of my meat. The ice cubes seem to last a good two 2 plus days. I’m sure the frozen 2 L on the bottom kept the temperature regulated pretty good. I drain the coolant twice in both scenarios every four days. I got out a couple gallons of solid red blood every time I poured it out. You wouldn’t believe how much blood leached out of my meat. I could’ve fed a colony of vampires twice. When I poured the blood out There was zero foul smell. I cooler aged both my gun deer for eight days and then processed it. It’s all refrozen now and ready for consumption. Maybe someday I’ll look for a used refrigerator to do this in instead of a cooler. I’ll take all the trays out and use a tote in the bottom to catch the blood. Imo I believe the ice melting on top of the venison helped leech/drain the blood out of the meat.

    Once again no one’s ever gonna know if they don’t try it. Pretty easy experiment take your non age venison steak out and put it in the fridge for a week. But I would suggest wrapping it in plastic and put in some holes in the bottom and sunny in it and some ice in a container like I did. I did this with some small pieces of meat in my fridge for a week and they turned out really good. You just have to dump the blood in the ice out every day and put in fresh ice. You wouldn’t believe how much blood comes out of it. Imo The blood is what gives the foul/gamey taste. Just like one of the posters mentioned here that he ate a buck that tasted real nasty and gamey. I guarantee if it was aged like I did for a week it would’ve tasted great. The first time I actually did this were a couple of pronghorn a shot in Wyoming. I cut them up 20 minutes after they hit the ground. Ordered them up and de boned the meat. Threw it in a cooler on ice then came home two days later with it to process it. I drain the bloody water out of the bottom of the cooler just by leaving the plug out and adding ice all the way home. Just in that short time Spand there was no blood coming out of that meat. Those pronghorn tasted better than any venison I’ve eaten. I’ve talked to so many people that say pronghorn tastes horrible and gamey... Not mine I eat that every year! I was actually all excited because my buddy went with and one was his. His wife didn’t want to eat it at the time because of the CWD scare In our state back in 2000’ and one of the antelope had hair missing off the side of it like it’s been breeding or rubbed up against something so I was lucky to enough to get both of them!

    Lloyd I’ll invite you over for some green eggs and ham and you can judge for yourself.
    Last edited by Tripplebeards; 02-02-2020 at 12:02 PM.

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    naw, Ive got a freezer full of good venison that was in the freezer within 24 hours of it hitting the ground. Ive probably don't 200 deer like that in my life and have yet to have a gammy tasting one or other then a wall hanger a deer that was chewy. I don't listen to what some internet experts says or some buddys buddys buddys butcher that's spent his life butchering cattle. There is absolutely no disadvantage to putting a deer in the freezer 12 hours after its shot. NONE. Letting it sit out and age?? That's pot luck. You feed it to your family. Ill feed mine the fresh stuff.
    Quote Originally Posted by Tripplebeards View Post
    Lol, that was my biggest fear Lloyd. I kept giving my aging meat the sniff test every day in the cooler expecting the worst. The meat actually smelled cleaner and fresher after eight days than it did when I put it in the cooler. I honestly was expecting disaster by doing it but it turned out great. I’ve never hung it anywhere, it just laid on top of some frozen 2 liter ice bottles With my smoker grates inside my cooler so the meat was suspended and could drain down to the bottom of the cooler and yet be suspended so it wouldn’t touch the sea of blood in the bottom. I kept adding three trays of ice cubes every day. At no time did I have zero ice cubes on top of my meat. The ice cubes seem to last a good two 2 plus days. I’m sure the frozen 2 L on the bottom kept the temperature regulated pretty good. I drain the coolant twice in both scenarios every four days. I got out a couple gallons of solid red blood every time I poured it out. You wouldn’t believe how much blood leached out of my meat. I could’ve fed a colony of vampires twice. When I poured the blood out There was zero foul smell. I cooler aged both my gun deer for eight days and then processed it. It’s all refrozen now and ready for consumption. Maybe someday I’ll look for a used refrigerator to do this in instead of a cooler. I’ll take all the trays out and use a tote in the bottom to catch the blood. Imo I believe the ice melting on top of the venison helped leech/drain the blood out of the meat.

    Once again no one’s ever gonna know if they don’t try it. Pretty easy experiment take your non age venison steak out and put it in the fridge for a week. But I would suggest wrapping it in plastic and put in some holes in the bottom and sunny in it and some ice in a container like I did. I did this with some small pieces of meat in my fridge for a week and they turned out really good. You just have to dump the blood in the ice out every day and put in fresh ice. You wouldn’t believe how much blood comes out of it. Imo The blood is what gives the foul/gamey taste. Just like one of the posters mentioned here that he ate a buck that tasted real nasty and gamey. I guarantee if it was aged like I did for a week it would’ve tasted great. The first time I actually did this were a couple of pronghorn a shot in Wyoming. I cut them up 20 minutes after they hit the ground. Ordered them up and de boned the meat. Threw it in a cooler on ice then came home two days later with it to process it. I drain the bloody water out of the bottom of the cooler just by leaving the plug out and adding ice all the way home. Just in that short time Spand there was no blood coming out of that meat. Those pronghorn tasted better than any venison I’ve eaten. I’ve talked to so many people that say pronghorn tastes horrible and gamey... Not mine I eat that every year! I was actually all excited because my buddy went with and one was his. His wife didn’t want to eat it at the time because of the CWD scare In our state back in 2000’ and one of the antelope had hair missing off the side of it like it’s been breeding or rubbed up against something so I was lucky to enough to get both of them!

    Lloyd I’ll invite you over for some green eggs and ham and you can judge for yourself.

  18. #58
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    You must like the “blood” and the “wild/gamey” after taste that I don’t care for. After aging all that taste had disappeared. I determined it’s what has been giving me food poisoning symptoms. After aging my deer I don’t get the symptoms (stomach ache and diarrhea within minutes to a half hour after eating) so in my opinion it’s definitely the blood my system has issues with. When you thaw out your meat in the refrigerator and you leave it in there for a a day or so before eating it you’re aging your meat anyways. I don’t think most thaw their meat out within an hour or two and eat it. I believe a lot of people are aging their meat to some degree and they don’t realize it.
    Last edited by Tripplebeards; 02-04-2020 at 11:11 AM.

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    news flash aging INCREASES bacteria in meat not decreases it. NOBODY has ever died from eating to meat that's to fresh. Lots have gotten sick and died from meat that sat out to long. When you age your meat your not removing the blood. Look under your carcuss and you will see very little blood after the initial butchering. What you are removing is the moisture (water) that's in the blood that's in the meat. The dried blood is still there. You can do the same thing buy vaccum packing meat right after you butcher and then freezing it. When it thaws the moisture comes out of the meat right in the package and can be drained off in the sink. I doubt many take that blood and inject it back into the meat. If you want to call overnight thawing in the fridge aging so be it or even though I don't do it some might even leave it in the fridged for a couple days. Keep in mind that when YOU do that with meat that's aged and the bacteria has already started to break the meat down your just adding a couple more days of rot. Find me ONE doctor ANYWHERE that will make the claim that meat fried 30 minutes after being killed is going to give you food poisoning symptoms more then meat that aged for two weeks. Weve gone round and round on this for a long time. Eat it any way you want. That's your prerogative. But bottom line is I probably put more venison in the freezer in one year then you have in your entire life and have gave venison to probably well over 50 people both cooked and uncooked and have yet to have ONE SINGLE COMPLAINT. Matter of fact when the church puts on there wild game feed every year. Its my venison that's asked for and its me that they wrangle to be in charge of the kitchen. Last year I donated 5 deer and cooked it all just for that one meal. Not one complaint and it was all licked up. Funny thing is not one case of even indigestion that I heard of let alone food poisoning. I guess the big difference is up here people are actually used to the taste of venison and don't concern themselves with trying to make it taste like beef or take all the taste out of it. Up here we actually like the taste of venision.

  20. #60
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    The only way you’re going to get bacteria on the meat is if you don’t monitor to keep it at the temperature while doing so.

    You get deprivation and crop control tags if I remember don’t you Lloyd?

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