How long do you ice age?

[Stalker69]

I’m curious to see something that states that 72 hours is the the maximum time where the aging process has been completed.

I’m not saying I’m right, mine is bro science, but if you have something more concrete I’d love to see it.

Oh, and wet aging is a thing…lots of articles.

An Introduction to the Process of Wet-Aged Beef | Make Your Reservation

At Yo Ranch Steakhouse we’ve discussed dry-aged steak, now we think it’s time to examine the wet-aged process for steak.

www.yoranchsteakhouse.com

This is not the 72 hours, but found this. And that wet aging article is Beef, and they don’t want to give away their secrets, but I assure you it’s not soaking in a cooler full of ice.
Our rule of thumb is that if you are hanging your deer you want to keep an eye on the temperature. A temperature in the middle 40’s is good. For most hunters, you should be able to safely allow your deer to hang for roughly 24 hours or so to allow for the rigor mortis process to take place. Once this time has passed you can then go ahead with your actions of processing and butchering of the deer meat to prepare it for the freezing, and long-term storage.

Important Note – We should make sure that everyone is on the same page here. When we are talking about temperature. We are referring to meat temperature. Not just the outside air temperatures of where the deer meat is hanging to age.

The best way to check the temperature of your deer meat while it's hanging to age is by using a meat thermometer. We opt for using a digital meat thermometer, as the readings are accurate and easy to read. If you're planning on hanging your deer meat for an extended period of time, then a meat thermometer (preferably a digital meat thermometer) will prove to be an invaluable tool in monitoring the process of your deer meat's temperature while it hangs to age.

 

[horniac]

A good podcast taking about ice aging;

‎Backcountry Hunting Podcast: Wild Meat Addiction: How to make venison delicious on Apple Podcasts

‎Show Backcountry Hunting Podcast, Ep Wild Meat Addiction: How to make venison delicious - Nov 8, 2019

podcasts.apple.com

Much like Ucsdryder, the ice aging system seems to work out the best for me as a western states hunter who drives to and from hunts and who also processes my own game. This system also takes into account CWD transport regulations as I’m usually traveling across state lines.

My system has evolved over the years;

1. Upon harvest, gutless method into good game bags hung in shade.
2. Take out of game bags at night - quarters are hung in tree.
3. Once the quarters are cooled and before the sun hits them the next day, I take my camp food ice chest and use that for the game meat with the frozen ice jugs that were keeping the food cold. I move the camp food over to the drink ice chest. Usually by that time I have consumed enough of the food and beverages that this consolidation works. Depending on the hunt and species and anticipated temperatures I might bring an extra ice chest.
4. I place the cooled back straps, tenderloins, and any other misc boneless cuts like neck meat into 2 or 3 gallon ziplocks along with the quarters.
5. As soon as I hit the road, I stop at the first store with ice and fill the cooler with crushed ice to the top and crack the drain plug. I check the ice when I stop for gas and add ice as needed to keep it full until I get home.
6. Once I get home, I put the ice chest on a piano dolly with one end elevated and the plug still cracked so I can wheel it around as needed.
7. I check ice as required and keep adding until I have the appropriate time window to process the entire animal or I can just pull a quarter at a time if my time window is limited and do it over several days or nights.

Lots of ways to do it, but I don’t have a walk-in to hang it and freezing it first until I have time to process it presents other issues.

The podcast host claims the wet aging method yields superior results…

Horniac

 

[KsRancher]

I learned a few things this year and thought I’d share.

I ice aged 10 animals total.

2 elk
3 mule deer
5 antelope

I had issues with 1 mule deer and 1 antelope.

About a week into both I noticed an “off” smell coming from the somewhere around the cooler. I didn’t realize it was coming from the cooler until about day 10. The MD neck roasts were rancid and I ended up trimming quite a bit of meat off the quarters to make sure none of the spoiled meat got processed.

The antelope had a slight smell but I never found the culprit and after trimming the exterior layer everything else appeared fine.

The mule deer was killed in the snow and cold immediately. When I got home I left it in game bags for a couple of days as the high temps were right at freezing. When I put it in the ice chest it was almost frozen. I put a layer of ice in gallon zip locks in the bottom of the ice chest but nothing on top.

The antelope I also left for a couple of days in game bag and put ON ice but not covered in ice.

The other 8 animals turned out great. All were put on ice with ice on top, completely filling the ice chest with ice.

I was able to isolate the issue to 2 possible causes. It was either leaving the meat in game bags for too long, creating an opportunity for bacteria growth, or not having the meat completely covered in ice. I am not sure which one caused the spoilage. The ice chest stayed cold with ice throughout the 10 days but without any air movement, it’s possible that it wasn’t as cold as one would think an ice chest half filled with ice would be.

Going forward, getting the meat out of game bags asap and completely filling the ice chest with ice will hopefully be the ticket for quality aged meat!

I don't think leaving it in the game bags was the issue. Both of the elk we done this year we used the antimicrobial game bags. We put them in the cooler in bags. Were your coolers in the sun by chance? I make sure they are in the shade. We initially put in at least 60lbs of ice in the cooler with the 2 rears and the same in the cooler with the fronts and loose. Put a thermometer in one of the rears and left it. I opened the cooler every other day and checked it. The thermometer stayed right at 37° the whole time. If I had a guess I would say not enough put in to begin with

 

[S.Clancy]

I started doing it when living in apartments, really no other choice. It worked so well I still do it.

I use frozen water bottles, cycling them out as they melt. Two 120 QT Coleman coolers, rachet strapped closed. Usually at least a week. I will cycle the game bags out as needed.

 

[Rich M]

Op asked how i handled the water - the meat sits in it for up to 6-8 hrs, then drained. I cant leave the coolers outside w drain open down here cause it is usually 80s or more during deer season. If i could i would.

The meat will lose blood in the water but only the cut stuff, water does not pull the blood out thru the membranes. (Put backstraps on top so they dont sit in the water). The first draining or two will get rid of whatever blood comes out of the meat.

The meat does not turn to goo in the water. It just isnt red.

This is from a pool of about 30-40 deer and 3 beef cows handled this way. I started wet aging w vac sealer couple yrs ago and really like it.

 

[Stalker69]

It just ain’t red because you just washed the “ nutrients “ out of the meat that has been in contact with the water, and It’s grey and somewhat slimy. I see it every year. They cut the grey meat off and cook it. Nothing wrong with it, just waste more meat. We call it tofu.

 

[roosterdown]

Never done it in a cooler but have aged deer in the cold up to 22 days. Just finished processing twenty-some pheasants & sharpies that aged about 9 days.