Hanging meat in the garage.

[Matt Foley]

My son shot a cow elk yesterday!! We have decided to do our own processing and tryout the new grinder my in laws bought us for Christmas. When we went hunting yesterday, I was just thinking about having an available day to hunt and not an available day to process the meat. Being that today is Christmas Eve, we have family obligations through next Wednesday, so we are looking at 6 to 7 days before it is convenient. I have the boned out meat hanging in game bags in my garage.

The highs here are suppose to be in the low 40s today and tomorrow and the mid 30s next week with lows ranging in the upoer 20s down to the mid teens. My garrage has insulated walls and doors but the ceiling is not insulated. My ussual butcher hangs the meat for at least a week before processing. My question is, how long can/should we hang the meat? Are there in tricks we should do to help with the aging processes?

Worst case senerio, we take it the butcher.

 

[madtom]

A week should be no problem at those temps. My attached and insulated garage runs a fair bit warmer than the outside air temps, so I usually get the meat cold and keep it in a cooler outside or hang in our uninsulated shed instead of the garage.

 

[MTHunter1321]

The meat will be just fine, with those temps I’d have no issue having them hang for two weeks.

 

[Addicting]

I would just leave your garage door open 2-3” to let some air movement.

 

[SixPoint]

Quartered and hanging in those temps sounds ideal. I wouldn’t worry a bit.

 

[Caseknife]

You should be fine, use your nose. It will tell you when you better be cutting and putting it in the freezer. The blood pockets between the shoulder and the ribs will sour first. If your meat is relatively blood free, you should be fine for a week or so. Try to take advantage of the cold nights by leaving a window open or as Addicting said.

 

[Paul in Idaho]

That sounds exactly like how I hang and age meat here. I also keep the door open a few inches like @Addicting suggested. Works great!

 

[Gellar]

Not to be the devils advocate but if it is already boned out I would watch it very carefully. The meat chunks in the middle will go bad from the moisture and the blood. I would consider spreading them out on cookie sheets or something clean to get air flowing across them. At the very least I would rotate/stir the bones out meat and put them in clean meat bags.

The temperature in your garage will be fine, but mine does get quite a bit warmer than the outside temps. Make sure there is no sun shining through the windows directly on the meat. Adding a fan to blow across the meat can help if it gets to warm.

 

[MarvB]

I have done the same out in my shed at slightly warmer temps, the air flow (door cracked and fan) are pluses I utilize as well!

 

[OntarioHunter]

We would hang elk quarters from a week to nine days to cure. Get the hide off. If this is gutless method piles of loose meat in a sack, it might be a different story. I never was into that foolishness. I do know that boned meat for hamburger thrown in a bucket had to go into the freezer overnight if we had a lot of butchering to do. It would sour in a heartbeat even if the garage was cold.

 

[Addicting]

^^^^good point^^^

 

[Bambistew]

Make sure it hanging and not on the floor. Airflow is a good idea but watch an open door you could have animals. A week is no propblem. Weird that I've kept 70-80lb bags of foolishly gutless moose meet for more than a week, in the field at warmer temps. A bucket of burger trim is not the same as a big chunk of boned out meat. We've also kept other types of boned out meat, dozens and dozens of times in much warmer temps. My record is 12 days in the field with bagged meat then 2 days before it was cut. Citric acid is applied if I get worried. For decades we would pack 4-6+ elk a year on horses which probably 1/2 sat in the field for a week... with gasp... their hide on which was used to pack them out. None were hanging either, just propped up on logs cut limbs etc. It was Oct/Nov time frame though, freezing at night 40 in the day. In all those years and elk, we lost part of one elk. It was because the dude that prepped it didn't get it off the ground or open the chest cavity. It was his first elk and he and his buddy assured us they took care of it just as we told him... they didn't. This is out of 100s of elk my family packed off the hill. My grampa in his peak outfitter days packed 42 in one season, and average about 20 a year otherwise. He did drip hunts in the 50 and 60s.

If it's bagged rotate to fresh bags. I will rotate meat to new bags on day 2 then every 3-4 after Keep it hanging, and meat in the biggest chunks possible when boning. You should end up with about 10 pieces off an animal. No need to lay them out, it will just dry them out and you also get no air moment across the bottom, which will be in a puddle of blood. A clean game bag will work great, you will still get a little crust in the bag. Boned meat should be in the biggest pieces possible to reduce surface area and contamination potential.

I've left the hide on elk both full carcass and quarters at those temps in a garage at least a week. Same with deer and antelope Countless times. I wouldn't on a moose, the hide has to come off too cool, it's 3x thicker and they don't cool out as easy as elk.

Make sure the chest is spread open and the neck is clean. Once they are cooled out, the hide on or off doesn't matter. The first 24 hrs is critical for cooling meat.. critical spots are the ball area on the hinds which if the insides are open to air AND the bottom is off the ground, will cool just fine on elk. The other sour spot is the point of the shoulder/neck. The hair/hide is thick. I will skin it back a little ther to make sure its exposed. Leaving the hide on, you don't end up with the typical MT jerky special and excersize your God give right to throw away 20lbs of meat. When I cut meat for a couple years the spots that would go bad where the ones I mentioned. We cut ~1200-1000 animals a season.

I wish I had an elk hanging in my garage! Congrats.

 

[Sask hunter]

Should be fine. Throw a thermometer in there and try to keep it in the 30’s but it’s ok warmer. Often my garage gets into the 50’s for a couple hours during mid day. Just try your best to keep it in the 30’s or low 40’s as much as possible. Also try not to let it freeze

 

[2rocky]

Commercial recommendations for aging beef:

Aging environments
Temperature, relative humidity, air movement and general sanitation of the aging room are essential considerations in successfully aging beef. Temperature of the aging room should be maintained at approximately 34 to 36 degrees Fahrenheit, relative humidity at 85 to 90 percent and an air flow of 15 to 20 linear feet per minute at the surface of the product.

The aging room should be clean and free of all off-odors at all times. Floors and walls of the aging room should be thoroughly washed with an alkaline cleaning solution and an approved sanitizer applied weekly or more often if needed. Sawdust should not be used on the floors because it contributes to air contamination.

Cured and smoked meat, poultry, vegetables, fruits or shipping cartons should not be stored in the aging room because of the off-odor produced by such items, which will be adsorbed by the meat. Except during cleaning, walls, floors, and ceiling of the aging room should be kept as dry as possible.

Carcasses and wholesale cuts should be properly spaced on trolleys or hooks to allow complete circulation of air around the product.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Make sure it hanging and not on the floor. Airflow is a good idea but watch an open door you could have animals. A week is no propblem. Weird that I've kept 70-80lb bags of foolishly gutless moose meet for more than a week, in the field at warmer temps. A bucket of burger trim is not the same as a big chunk of boned out meat. We've also kept other types of boned out meat, dozens and dozens of times in much warmer temps. My record is 12 days in the field with bagged meat then 2 days before it was cut. Citric acid is applied if I get worried. For decades we would pack 4-6+ elk a year on horses which probably 1/2 sat in the field for a week... with gasp... their hide on which was used to pack them out. None were hanging either, just propped up on logs cut limbs etc. It was Oct/Nov time frame though, freezing at night 40 in the day. In all those years and elk, we lost part of one elk. It was because the dude that prepped it didn't get it off the ground or open the chest cavity. It was his first elk and he and his buddy assured us they took care of it just as we told him... they didn't. This is out of 100s of elk my family packed off the hill. My grampa in his peak outfitter days packed 42 in one season, and average about 20 a year otherwise. He did drip hunts in the 50 and 60s.

If it's bagged rotate to fresh bags. I will rotate meat to new bags on day 2 then every 3-4 after Keep it hanging, and meat in the biggest chunks possible when boning. You should end up with about 10 pieces off an animal. No need to lay them out, it will just dry them out and you also get no air moment across the bottom, which will be in a puddle of blood. A clean game bag will work great, you will still get a little crust in the bag. Boned meat should be in the biggest pieces possible to reduce surface area and contamination potential.

I've left the hide on elk both full carcass and quarters at those temps in a garage at least a week. Same with deer and antelope Countless times. I wouldn't on a moose, the hide has to come off too cool, it's 3x thicker and they don't cool out as easy as elk.

Make sure the chest is spread open and the neck is clean. Once they are cooled out, the hide on or off doesn't matter. The first 24 hrs is critical for cooling meat.. critical spots are the ball area on the hinds which if the insides are open to air AND the bottom is off the ground, will cool just fine on elk. The other sour spot is the point of the shoulder/neck. The hair/hide is thick. I will skin it back a little ther to make sure its exposed. Leaving the hide on, you don't end up with the typical MT jerky special and excersize your God give right to throw away 20lbs of meat. When I cut meat for a couple years the spots that would go bad where the ones I mentioned. We cut ~1200-1000 animals a season.

I wish I had an elk hanging in my garage! Congrats.

To clarify, getting the hide off was I think mostly to help with curing. Or so I was told. I had some of a cow spoil overnight opening day in 1972. I did everything right. Got her off the ground onto tag alders and opened up. Still some of the neck and top of the shoulder bone soured. Hide is thickest in that area.

You will note that I said I had no advice about what to do with meat hanging in sacks. I do know what to do with boned meat in a bucket. How much different is boned meat hanging in a sack? I guess you're the expert on that. Back when I was young anyone who shot an elk in a place where it couldn't be retrieved whole or in quarters was not looked on very favourably. I did not care for packing anything loose and shifty on my horses. When I bought my outfit it came with military surplus panniers. I got rid of them. I packed elk quarters with bone in. The loads have some structure and stay put well with the proper hitches (basket for fronts and barrel for rear quarters). Stuff in panniers tended to move around too much, especially in rugged country ... which elk like. Also, pannier loads tended to hang too low. Generally speaking, hitching loads onto the horse kept the loads in place better.

I know I had a hard enough time keeping meat clean while quartering it up. Do not like to think what it would look like if I had to bone it out alone on those steep dirty slopes.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

You did cut out the Esophagus or wind pipe I assume? Lots of Bacteria in there that will lead to spoilage.

 

[Bambistew]

You will note that I said I had no advice about what to do with meat hanging in sacks. I do know what to do with boned meat in a bucket. How much different is boned meat hanging in a sack?

Its totally different. All those little pieces of meat have a large surface area and, will "leak" hemoglobin (not blood). A big piece of meat has a much lower surface area, and it will get a crust on it to prevent it from leaking. When we bone out meat, its not in a bunch o f little pieces. As I mentioned I usually have about 10 pieces of meat, sometimes a few more, but the key is to keep them in the biggest pieces possible. There is very little difference between a boned out hind quarter and a bone in quarter, other than a cut up the middle to remove the bones. It will all come off in one big chunk, the front is similar. A tub or bucket of trim will be floating in hemoglobin in 3-4 hrs of sitting by the cutting table. A bag of meat will stop leaking pretty shortly, even after swapping out game bags. The first game bag will be bloody, the second ones will have very little blood on them, and the 3rd set is usually about 99% dry and stain free.

You are 100% right about keeping it clean, that is the #1 reason for spoilage right after not properly cooling it. Keeping meat clean can be difficult in the field, but not that bad if you are careful and take your time and use quality game bags.

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

On early Fall deer hunts where the days were warm but the nights chilled off Dad would hang the deer in a shaded tree, let it cool down at night and put a sleeping bag on it early the next morning to keep the cold in. I still do that at times 50 years later.

 

[hank4elk]

Never kept boned out meat very long.
I'll hang the whole quarter if it's going to be cold,bone in. The bone chills the core.
Hell I've had them freeze and bring them in one at a time to thaw to work.
Shade,breeze,TEMPS!
I would have told the family you have family business to take care of,want to help?

 

[hank4elk]

To the OG. What they said if it's cold & you have airflow.