The What's & Why's on Citric Acid

[realunlucky]

Thank you for sharing your experience , I've packed some but have yet to need to use it. My understanding is it's only used to lower the ph level of the meat and not as a repellent you still need quality game bags for that. Your story reinforces my thoughts I'm going to have to look into this more

 

[Bazookas]

Curious if anyone found benefit from pre soaking their game bags in a citric acid solution?

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I’ve been doing the citric acid thing for years. It’s sort of surprising to me when I talk to other people and they don’t use it.

It really helps get a crust started to keep bugs and other bacteria out. A spray bottle and citric acid go along on every hunt pretty much.

 

[dirtshooter]

Koolabuck has a spray (haven't used it) and they have game bags soaked with a solution. I have the bags, they seem decent.

 

[realunlucky]

@Larry Bartlett tells us about the proper application process of citric acid in this episode of the Rokcast- https://www.rokslide.com/tt34-early-season-meat-care-with-larry-bartlett/

Sent from my SM-S926U using Tapatalk

 

[ganngus]

Question for those in the thread, I used Citric Acid in southeast Alaska last year and had some meat loss from spoilage. I tried to keep it circulated and had it covered but the humidity was so damn high I could not keep it dry. I am going back and contemplating bringing gear to build a better meat rack/citric acid or bringing kill bags filled with ice.

If you had chance to bring large kill bags with ice/rocksalt or building meat rack/citric acid, which would be yalls prefer choice?

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Question for those in the thread, I used Citric Acid in southeast Alaska last year and had some meat loss from spoilage. I tried to keep it circulated and had it covered but the humidity was so damn high I could not keep it dry. I am going back and contemplating bringing gear to build a better meat rack/citric acid or bringing kill bags filled with ice.

If you had chance to bring large kill bags with ice/rocksalt or building meat rack/citric acid, which would be yalls prefer choice?

I’ve never had meat spoilage. When we get a moose down, it gets a spray coat of citric acid before going into the bag.

If it take multiple days to get back, the meat is hung up every single night, I’ve been up late cutting meat poles in a downpour to get the meat hung and covered, no exceptions.

When I get home to hang it in my garage, I pulled the bag off of it, spray it again with the citric acid then put a fresh bag on it.

 

[WyoBC_99]

Can you use non filtered water?

Im guessing flitered is better

Old thread here but adding citric acid to my early-season kill kit this year and just have to chime in that I would use filtered water for this.

 

[mad_angler]

Does anyone use citric acid for elk hunts?

I've used it in Alaska but it was always raining. I figured that the meat could use all the help I could give it.

But in the mountains, it is fairly cool and very dry...

 

[Larry Bartlett]

HuntNFish referenced a blog I wrote nearly 20 years ago, and I've since learned a bit more on citric acid use. Haven't read it in a minute and I noticed some things I would have corrected in my OG article:

Citric acid should be used as tool that you rarely need, and then used sparingly and only in very specific environments/climates.

Revisiting why to use is less important than when to start, how often and when to quit use. If you use it too frequently for too long the result will be some surface spoilage (color and depth of trimming needed).

When to use: Ambient temps above 50F (bacteria starts to thrive and blow flies become active). I only recommend using IF meat is exposed to open air in sustained 50F temps. The use of citric acid is more necessary around 60F when blow flies get determined and energetic from warmth and surface bacteria become increasingly active. Blow flies may land on your treated meat surface but they won't lay eggs if the pH is < 5.5.
How often to use: Once every-other-day max and only if ambient conditions warrant and only if meat is exposed to air outside bags for hours (not minutes).

When to quit using it: After post harvest day 4 bacteria are entering death phase unless left unchecked and trimmed away, or unless new source bacteria have been introduced on the meat surface. Hunters who continue to trim surface threats daily during sensory checks should be reducing viable source threats as they present, therefore less need for citric acid follow up treatments. That means if you use it on kill site day, you might need it on Day 3 (not likely) and then discontinue.

Citric acid is a surface treatment. It's meant to shock source bacteria colonies into an unstable activity level until the hunter IDs a problem area and trims it off. Meat pH is also important to the topic of meat preservation, but citric acid has nothing to do with this factor and cannot change the acidity of muscle protein.

Soaking bags in citric acid is a total scam. Don't bother, it's the meat surface environment hunters want to manipulate not the bag it rests in. Besides, if on Day 2 you wash your bloody game bags, the citric acid will be dissolved immediately.

I'll soon drop a blog post on the Role of Muscle pH in Meat Quality: Wild Meat Preservation