Thread: Meat safe designs

Hi all,

Am looking at building a new meat safe and hanging/ prep covered area. I would be really interested to see what people have done themselves to get the best options. Any chance of posting pics and also comments on design that you have learned and observed? I think this could be a really interesting thread.

Cheers

H

I have seen one, basic frame 4x2 lined with ply on the outside corner flashing 1.200x 1200x 2m high. fly screen door on front. on concrete slab.
If it had to be portable(renting etc) would be to frame up a floor and use a old s/s shower tray in the bottom, could line it with tin sheet or painted h3 ply to seal it

Mine is portable. We purchased a 2m length of waterproof breathable canvas type material from Spotlight. I got wifey to sew on a very long zip down one edge and acrossthe bottom. On the top we stitched heavy 2" velcro. We can hang two deer carcasses side by side on wood or steel gambrels and then by folding the canvas around them, zip up the bottom and side and then enclose the gambrel ropes in the velcro along the top. It's light, flyproof and weatherproof and washable and when dry can be folded up into quite a compact bundle. ( We also made protective car seat covers from this material and preserves seats from dog damage and dirt.)

The one we had on the farm was basic 4x2 frame covered in flymesh all around, as it was inside the woolshed so already under cover. Probably 2m high and 1m or so wide. The “door” was the whole front that came off, framed with 4x1. The bottom slotted behind some blocks nailed to the floor, and it had the simple block of wood latches at the top.’it was only used for hanging carcasses, no room for processing it.

This works good - but is not a fixed permanent safe
Shade cloth made into a 1 open ended sock with 2 stitched hoop tunnels for 1/2 alkathene - all sewn on an ordinary sewing machine
Collapses down to bugger all for storage - weights nothing

I have recently modified a medium sized chest freezer as a chiller. So far a roaring success and worked beyond expectation. Freezer has a 'step' inside the top so I made two wooden frames like footy posts but with two spaced cross bars. With aluminium 'L' shaped hangers that hang on the 'step'. No 8 wire hooks to hang joints off the wooden frames. Two plastic tubs underneath catch drips.
Tried it out a couple of weeks ago. Shot two young stags a 70kg and a 90 kg skin on carcass, the freezer took all eight legs the backsteaks and necks for 12 days. Turned it on, took the temp down to zero to pull the heat out of the meat then turned the freezer off. When the temp climbed to 4 degrees I just turned the freezer on again for a couple of hours.
Thought I had Corona virus as there was no smell at all, not even from the blood etc in the tubs when I cleaned them. Meat aged nicely.
The big secret is getting the heat out fast and the freezer worked much better than the fridge that I have used previously. No rush to cut it up when it is keeping so well, so I just cut it early in the morning before the flys get up a bit at a time.

Dad just built one in the corner of his shed put pink bats in th top to stop the head off the iron in summer then just use wind brack on the sides put plywood down bottom 1/2 to keep dogs out & just as a fan in there to stir up the air if it realy hot he will put some frozen bottles of water in front of fan & that keeps it really cold

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

I have recently modified a medium sized chest freezer as a chiller. So far a roaring success and worked beyond expectation. Freezer has a 'step' inside the top so I made two wooden frames like footy posts but with two spaced cross bars. With aluminium 'L' shaped hangers that hang on the 'step'. No 8 wire hooks to hang joints off the wooden frames. Two plastic tubs underneath catch drips.
Tried it out a couple of weeks ago. Shot two young stags a 70kg and a 90 kg skin on carcass, the freezer took all eight legs the backsteaks and necks for 12 days. Turned it on, took the temp down to zero to pull the heat out of the meat then turned the freezer off. When the temp climbed to 4 degrees I just turned the freezer on again for a couple of hours.
Thought I had Corona virus as there was no smell at all, not even from the blood etc in the tubs when I cleaned them. Meat aged nicely.
The big secret is getting the heat out fast and the freezer worked much better than the fridge that I have used previously. No rush to cut it up when it is keeping so well, so I just cut it early in the morning before the flys get up a bit at a time.

Sounds good. Can you post a pic or two of it?

Originally Posted by Hiawatha

Sounds good. Can you post a pic or two of it?

I will try, gave up on trying to post pics here a while back. It is a very good system and simple too, better than a lot of chillers or fridges that have too high a humidity level and get cold tolerant slimy mould growing on meat. Of course a proper controlled atmosphere chiller is the best if you have one.

Originally Posted by Hiawatha

Sounds good. Can you post a pic or two of it?

I will try, gave up on trying to post pics here a while back. It is a very good system and simple too, better than a lot of chillers or fridges that have too high a humidity level and get cold tolerant slimy mould growing on meat. Of course a proper controlled atmosphere chiller is the best if you have one.

Could you get a temperature wire/probe in there to trigger a thermostat plug to the power supply?

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by Ned

Could you get a temperature wire/probe in there to trigger a thermostat plug to the power supply?

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Could likely get a fridge thermostat and wire that in with the relay, but there is probably no gain to be had for the trouble. The freezer only needs to run two hours to pull the meat from +4 to 0 c and then it takes a whole day to come up to +4 again. A simple timer plug would work to do 2hrs every 24. I have a Delta Track refrigeration thermometer that I put in the freezer and just did a visual check on temp

@Hiawatha Photos of modified freezer

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

I have recently modified a medium sized chest freezer as a chiller. So far a roaring success and worked beyond expectation. Freezer has a 'step' inside the top so I made two wooden frames like footy posts but with two spaced cross bars. With aluminium 'L' shaped hangers that hang on the 'step'. No 8 wire hooks to hang joints off the wooden frames. Two plastic tubs underneath catch drips.
Tried it out a couple of weeks ago. Shot two young stags a 70kg and a 90 kg skin on carcass, the freezer took all eight legs the backsteaks and necks for 12 days. Turned it on, took the temp down to zero to pull the heat out of the meat then turned the freezer off. When the temp climbed to 4 degrees I just turned the freezer on again for a couple of hours.
Thought I had Corona virus as there was no smell at all, not even from the blood etc in the tubs when I cleaned them. Meat aged nicely.
The big secret is getting the heat out fast and the freezer worked much better than the fridge that I have used previously. No rush to cut it up when it is keeping so well, so I just cut it early in the morning before the flys get up a bit at a time.

You can get temperature controllers for freezers that does the switching on and off for you.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

I have recently modified a medium sized chest freezer as a chiller. So far a roaring success and worked beyond expectation. Freezer has a 'step' inside the top so I made two wooden frames like footy posts but with two spaced cross bars. With aluminium 'L' shaped hangers that hang on the 'step'. No 8 wire hooks to hang joints off the wooden frames. Two plastic tubs underneath catch drips.
Tried it out a couple of weeks ago. Shot two young stags a 70kg and a 90 kg skin on carcass, the freezer took all eight legs the backsteaks and necks for 12 days. Turned it on, took the temp down to zero to pull the heat out of the meat then turned the freezer off. When the temp climbed to 4 degrees I just turned the freezer on again for a couple of hours.
Thought I had Corona virus as there was no smell at all, not even from the blood etc in the tubs when I cleaned them. Meat aged nicely.
The big secret is getting the heat out fast and the freezer worked much better than the fridge that I have used previously. No rush to cut it up when it is keeping so well, so I just cut it early in the morning before the flys get up a bit at a time.

You can get temperature controllers for freezers that does the switching on and off for you.