Angry freezer

[rclouse79]

I shot a spike with my bow this weekend and was able to get it all processed and in the standup freezer yesterday. My freezer alarm has been chirping at me ever since. I am guessing it is going to take two to three days for all of it to freeze and then drop back down to normal temps.

 

[ColPenguin]

I just had a compressor die in our big chest freezer, a few weeks ago. I hope your freezer catches up, and isn't actually dying.

 

[rclouse79]

I just had a compressor die in our big chest freezer, a few weeks ago. I hope your freezer catches up, and isn't actually dying.

Me too. I have a sensor in both freezers that connects to my cell phone and sends alerts if it gets above a set temperature. The contents are much more valuable to me than the freezer.

 

[cnelk]

When was the last time you pulled out the freezer and cleaned out the compressor area?

 

[taxidermybycam]

I wouldn't have stacked the meat like that ,id spread it out as much as you can and let it cool and freeze independently and properly. when you got meat all clumped up like that ,the heat from the meat isn't escaping . The outside portions might be frozen ,but when you get to the middle pieces they might be going bad by the time you get to it .

 

[taskswap]

Bear in mind your sensor measures the air temp in the freezer. If you put something warm in with enough mass, this is more or less guaranteed to happen. Normally the freezer will cycle on and off in small increments to maintain the inside temp, but when "freezing" something well above 32F it will cycle on, cool the AIR, then sense that the air is cool... and cycle off. But since air doesn't have much mass, the air will pull heat out of the meat but quickly get heated itself in the process, causing it to cycle back on quickly. Just give it time to freeze.

 

[rclouse79]

I wouldn't have stacked the meat like that ,id spread it out as much as you can and let it cool and freeze independently and properly. when you got meat all clumped up like that ,the heat from the meat isn't escaping . The outside portions might be frozen ,but when you get to the middle pieces they might be going bad by the time you get to it .

I find it hard to believe the meat would go bad, since it was cool when I put it in the freezer. I agree the meat on the outside will freeze first, but the meat in the center will slowly cool down from its initial temperature. Considering people leave meat hanging in trees for days at a time on backpacking hunts without spoilage, I can't imagine this meat will go back when it was in the freezer less than 30 hours after being killed. I also had it on ice in coolers within 6 hours of the shot and the second load was kept in the shade.
I am not saying your idea is bad, but I don't have any extra freezer space at this point.

 

[rclouse79]

When was the last time you pulled out the freezer and cleaned out the compressor area?

I have never done this on any of my freezers, but perhaps I should. I just bought this standup freezer last year.

 

[cnelk]

I have never done this on any of my freezers, but perhaps I should. I just bought this standup freezer last year.

It’s always a good idea to clean/vacuum out the compressor area on freezers and refrigerators.
Lots of crap gets pulled in there

I do maintenance on rentals and this is something I do yearly.

 

[S-3 ranch]

It usually takes a while for a freezer to cool back down to its normal temperature after stuffing unfrozen meat in it

I quartered up a giant hog and put it in a negative 15* freezer overnight and next day everything in the middle layer wasn’t frozen,

My last elk went to the processing center and was wrapped and frozen
Same freezer never skipped a beat
Like mentioned a yearly cleaning really helps ( so mark a date for a annual cleaning)

 

[EATELK]

I shot a spike with my bow this weekend and was able to get it all processed and in the standup freezer yesterday. My freezer alarm has been chirping at me ever since. I am guessing it is going to take two to three days for all of it to freeze and then drop back down to normal temps.


View attachment 929868View attachment 929869

Which freezer alarm is this? I've been wanting to replace the cheap ones I currently have..do you like it?

 

[rclouse79]

Which freezer alarm is this? I've been wanting to replace the cheap ones I currently have..do you like it?

The standup freezer has a built in alarm, which is the one that is beeping. I added a Mocreo sensor. There is a hub in my house that connects to the temperature sensor in each freezer. You can set the temperature you want alerts sent to your phone or emails. I did have three sensors hooked up to three freezers in my garage. I found that three freezers plugged in at the same time started tripping the breaker in the summer time, so I consolidated to two.
I am not a tech guy, so setting everything up isn’t that hard. I bought this after a buddy lost a freezer full of elk. It definitely gives peace of mind. Even if you are on vacation you will get an alert if they get above the temperature you set so you can have someone take care of it for you.

 

[taxidermybycam]

I find it hard to believe the meat would go bad, since it was cool when I put it in the freezer. I agree the meat on the outside will freeze first, but the meat in the center will slowly cool down from its initial temperature. Considering people leave meat hanging in trees for days at a time on backpacking hunts without spoilage, I can't imagine this meat will go back when it was in the freezer less than 30 hours after being killed. I also had it on ice in coolers within 6 hours of the shot and the second load was kept in the shade.
I am not saying your idea is bad, but I don't have any extra freezer space at this point.

My brother thought the same ,until he was in same exact situation you were in . He bought a quarter cow ,I killed and cut the same day, when he stuck it in the freezer he thought he was good until he thawed out meat a few weeks later ,the warmth of all the meat stuck around too long and he had some spoiled meat in the middle .

 

[rclouse79]

My brother thought the same ,until he was in same exact situation you were in . He bought a quarter cow ,I killed and cut the same day, when he stuck it in the freezer he thought he was good until he thawed out meat a few weeks later ,the warmth of all the meat stuck around too long and he had some spoiled meat in the middle .

Dang, I am not saying that didn’t happen but it still doesn’t make sense to me. Guys hang a quarter in a cooler for weeks at a time to age the meat. The meat in the middle of the quarter doesn’t go bad, and the cooler is at a higher temp than my freezer.
Even though it doesn’t make sense to me, I may rotate the packages to be safe. Then I have to ask myself, is it better to rotate, or keep the freezer closed so it will cool down faster?

 

[rclouse79]

My brother thought the same ,until he was in same exact situation you were in . He bought a quarter cow ,I killed and cut the same day, when he stuck it in the freezer he thought he was good until he thawed out meat a few weeks later ,the warmth of all the meat stuck around too long and he had some spoiled meat in the middle .

Curiosity got the better of me. I opened the freezer and all of the meat is starting to freeze and get hard, even in the middle so I think it should be ok.