sous vide euro failure

[MThuntr]

Well, last week I began my first sous vide euro on my raghorn. The process seemed to work great...140 degrees with some OxyClean for 14hrs. Pressure wash skull. Dunk again at 140 for another 12hrs pressure wash and pick off bits. Dunk again at 140 for another 12hrs to get the last resistant bits.

Bleach with the 40% peroxide and wrap with plastic wrap.

Due to time constraints and a family thing I had to attend. I left everything wrapped and put in a plastic tote out of the way. Fast forward to midnight last night and I walk into the house to a mild smell of funk. Lift skull to see bloodly liquid pool in the bottom of the tote and obvious smell of rotting meat. Looking around I see a faint pink staining inside the skull...no meat, no tissue, no cartilage but pink bone. Also bleaching process was patchy at best. My guess is 140 isn't hot enough and as @MinnesotaHunter mentioned in a reply in a different thread 180ish may be the magic number.

You guys think if I wash off the peroxide and dunk again at 180 for 6-8hrs to cook it that I could give it another go?

 

[np307]

I did 48 hrs at 140f on a whitetail skull and had no problems. Didn't even need a pressure washer, just a regular hose with sprayer. 140 is definitely hot enough to break down the meat. Probably needed more time. Where was the stained bone? How well did you clean out the sinuses and brain?

 

[TOGIE]

where was that inside the skull? brain cavity? nasal cavity?

i've never done an elk, but if i did i would feel comfortable with higher temps than 140 for sure, especially early on.

however, now that it's largely clean, i personally don't know if i would want to crank it at 180 for very long. maybe 155-160 with oxi clean for a few hours and step it down. but i may be overly cautious, and it is an elk - pretty sturdy skulls

i agree with above, probably just more time, i've always breached 48 total hours in sous vide whenever i've done a skull

 

[MThuntr]

The pressure washer was likely unnecessary but it makes for quick work. I took a pair of hemostats/forceps inside the nasal cavity and also rinse really well inside to make sure there weren't any leftovers. The brain cavity is very clean and everything looked great which is why I pulled it out.

The bone staining is on the palate. The more I look at it the more I think it needed a lot more time

 

[DouglasR]

Every time I see you guys do one of these it makes taxidermist costs and skull caps seem way more appealing.

 

[TOGIE]

man, i know i'm a broken record on peroxide bathing, but i feel like it would solve that issue so well

yeah, just looks like leftover oil and nasties that more time would fix

i also am aware that lots of people don't do peroxide bathing and their skulls look better than mine

 

[MThuntr]

Every time I see you guys do one of these it makes taxidermist costs and skull caps seem way more appealing.

I agree and was going to just take it there BUT locally guys want $140 for elk and $120 for deer which is double what I last paid. I figured it was worth the hassle and 2hrs I have invested on a raghorn and so far it has been pretty easy with exception of the learning curve. It'll hopefully pay off for others as they read my mistakes

 

[Schaaf]

I don't trust the french and that's the main reason I haven't tried doing anything with sous vide.

 

[TOGIE]

Every time I see you guys do one of these it makes taxidermist costs and skull caps seem way more appealing.

i feel ya

but also don't

cleaning an elk skull along the colorado front range is a 300 dollar endeavor these days, looking at like 130-175 for small deer. it's stupid.

if i only have one head to do it costs me 25 bucks to do one. peroxide is really the only significant recurring cost at the end of the day and a peroxide bath is reusable, divide that 25 by the number of heads there are to do up to a certain point and the cost to do a euro mount can turn into a couple bucks. couple bucks versus 300....

and i think i've even found gallons of clear peroxide for a low as 15 bucks a gallon

i know i know, i'm discounting the time cost

 

[Deleted member 16014]

I've stuck with a peroxide bath over the years as well. Pros and cons to everything. If I go to the peroxide tub with a skull that's even 95% clean I don't have any smell issues by the time it dries out. I'm not that picky any more on the finished product and prefer a sorta natural look anyway. For a skull or two a year I'd drop them off, but between my house and friends animals I ran 11 skulls through my boiler this year, that's a lot of $$$. Economy of scale is what saves a bunch of money as TOGIE notes.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

I agree and was going to just take it there BUT locally guys want $140 for elk and $120 for deer which is double what I last paid. I figured it was worth the hassle and 2hrs I have invested on a raghorn and so far it has been pretty easy with exception of the learning curve. It'll hopefully pay off for others as they read my mistakes

Dude in Denver it's $220 for an elk

 

[MTLabrador]

Dude in Denver it's $220 for an elk

The local guy here charges $225 for an antelope. It’s absolutely insane.

 

[Four22]

$225 for deer here in Ohio. And I have 5 to do

Was going to try this method as the last one my father did got incredibly brittle and cracked

 

[pabearhunter]

I just finished one last week. Slow boil 3 times with oxy and borax for 1.5 to 2 hours each. Cleaned skull after each boil with brush and made sure brain was cleaned out. Mounted on plaque and done.

 

[MThuntr]

Well Round 2 of a sous vide soak just started. I guess worst case scenario it doesn't work and it sits in a buddy's shed until spring. I think I'm going to repurpose an old 18 pack cooler for my mule deer as my tote wrapped with fiberglass insulation requires too much water for a deer skull. Also it's 15 degrees now so no pressure washer so I'm getting some more picks and scoops on Amazon delivered for brain removal

 

[brendog84cj8]

I have started to clean up my own deer skulls and have found that boiling them with Arm and Hammer laundry detergent in the water and a power washer, I have have a deer skull whipped out in 2-3 hours or less. Boil for a bit then go to work with the power washer, repeat till clean. Works great. If you like the bleached look just use the salon style cream peroxide after its all cleaned up.

 

[Elmacho]

I have had poor results using oxyclean----it took the sheen off the bone and left it somewhat chalky. Anyone else experience this?

 

[MThuntr]

Every time I see you guys do one of these it makes taxidermist costs and skull caps seem way more appealing.

Also it was explained to me today that this experiment in taxidermy is why I'm single...I probably deserved that lol.

 

[MTelkHuntress]

I have had poor results using oxyclean----it took the sheen off the bone and left it somewhat chalky. Anyone else experience this?

I noticed something similar but I assumed it was some sort of deposit and just scrubbed it off with a brush.

 

[CMF]

Well Round 2 of a sous vide soak just started. I guess worst case scenario it doesn't work and it sits in a buddy's shed until spring. I think I'm going to repurpose an old 18 pack cooler for my mule deer as my tote wrapped with fiberglass insulation requires too much water for a deer skull. Also it's 15 degrees now so no pressure washer so I'm getting some more picks and scoops on Amazon delivered for brain removal

I think if you need picks and scoops you haven't let it go long enough. When I did mine I could shake the brains out.

I don't see any problem with doing it at 180, I used a boiling pot and had it up to a boil. I don't remember how long it went for, but it was several hours. I use dawn dishsoap in the boil to cut the grease and change the water every hour or two and pick off or pressure wash what I can between boils. Usually two boils and a deer is done, the third is just a boil to degrease with fresh water and dawn.
I usually use the pressure washer for my whitetail skulls, but had to do the elk before we left NM. With deer I usually blast the brains out with pressure washer.
I use the peroxide from wal mart, not sure the %, but I let it sit a couple days for deer, and I think I did a week for the elk, just don't let the antler touch. I use rag shreds up around the bases to wick the peroxide up to the spots that don't sit in the bath.