Meat storage until butchering AFTER getting it off the mountain?

[amp713]

Where I live is in that 90-100 range right now, as such most meat during the utah archery hunt is rushed to a butcher. I want to get back to doing it all myself, hell I'd like to build a walk in freezer when i build a shop but until then I have a question.


I have an indoor fridge freezer combo, an outdoor combo and a deep freeze. How long would I be safe to toss some quarters into the outdoor fridge for if it was cranked down all the way??

I'm currently up hunting (failing) but have 3 tags so I'm trying to decide if I could dump off something and head back up without worry.....

Any experience you can share would be nice!!!

And has anyone built their own walk in????

 

[Ross]

Can't comment on the fridge but routinely use my chest freezer to cool down meat routinely in sept..sometimes freezing it for a day or two until I can take care of it.

 

[NVCHUKAR]

If your fridge gets in the 34-38 range and you can keep the meat elevated on racks or hung up inside so it has air flow. You should have no problem keeping it for two weeks.

 

[G Posik]

If your fridge gets in the 34-38 range and you can keep the meat elevated on racks or hung up inside so it has air flow. You should have no problem keeping it for two weeks.

This will work nicely. Used to do this all the time. Pulled all the racks out. Put a big I bolt through the top and then made a hanger that attached to the I bolt. Could hang about 3 whitetail deer in there at one time.

Glenn

 

[Brendan]

This guy is a home brewer, and refers to it as a "walk in beer cooler", no reason it wouldn't work as a "walk in deer cooler"

http://deepsixbrewing.com/misc/article.pdf

If I ever move into a place with the space for it, I'll be building something like this....

 

[Jason Snyder]

If your fridge gets in the 34-38 range and you can keep the meat elevated on racks or hung up inside so it has air flow. You should have no problem keeping it for two weeks.

X2.

 

[bbrown]

I use this guy with my upright freezer to keep it around 38*. The quarters can be hung from the same brackets that hold the shelves.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002...thermostat&dpPl=1&dpID=21m4rDi75PL&ref=plSrch

i have also used 2x12s between the lid and bottom portion of a chest freezers to make it taller/deeper then hang the quarters off some 2x4s attached between the 2x12s. Using the same controller to keep the temps just above freezing and as long as you keep air flowing and exchanging every day or so it can be hung for a while.

 

[ChrisS]

Yeah, I'm a home brewer and converted a chest freezer to a kegerator with a PID and a computer fan. The fan kicks on every time the compressor does to keep air moving. There are plenty of tutorials on the Internet. You can often find huge chest freezers on Craigslist for pretty cheap. Add the 2x12's like bbrown posted and you should be able hang any quarters no problem.