Thread: Refrigeration for your hard earned venison

Been meaning to put something together as Ive had a few requests over the years looking for a chiller for your average joe hunter to keep some venison in.
First, to make a little polypanel chiller its pretty costly to do it right.
If your thinking of building from scratch...
The polypanel is not too badly priced but aluminium extrusions, sealants and sweat from someones brow does not come cheap. Then theres the real big expense, the door.
Those pretty swinging doors made from fibreglass with a moulded sill etc are around $3-4K new. You can make one out of panel but they're a trade off with poor sealing and will need regular adjustment.
If you can find a used body or even one with a faulty fridge unit then you're half way home. The important bit is to make sure the panel has no holes in it. With a punctured panel outer the temperature differential will drag in moisture from the air till the nice dry panel becomes a giant sponge. The insulation will be lost and build up of mould and other nasties will make your new chiller beersies not so sweet.
The refrigeration is quite easy (well for me it is) and will constitute about half the cost of the build. One thing a lot of guys get wrong is sizing.
In order to maintain good condition in your meat (and most fresh produce) you need to maintain humidity. Refrigeration, especially undersized refrigeration will dehumidify, a lot. Ever put a slice of bread in the fridge? Know what I mean now. Most brands of equipment available in NZ is of reasonable quality. I would shy away from secondhand gear unless you have a few ideas what you're looking at or have a professional give you an appraisal. I would also suggest to stay away from anything that was running on R12, R22 or other older gases. With the phase out of ozone depleting refrigerants these once common gases are now no longer available so if you get a problem you may be left high and dry. A really tidy R22 system might be worth the effort with retrofit refrigerant but they are not going to be common.
So, a new chiller is going to set you back something around $12K for a decent one.
Fair bit of cash for the casual hunter.
My suggestion is secondhand and keep an eye on Trademe etc. There are a few cheapie there but with transport from "Wherethewhakawe" you could be in for a fair bit more than just the purchase price.
Another reasonable option is a commercial fridge. I have two and they are multi purpose deer/beer chillers. Not perfect as I suffer the reduced humidity as explained above but, to get the meat set with skin on as well as buy me a few days to process is a fine compromise. They are more than large enough for what I need and don't take up half my section. Both of mine were the best price too. Free. They both needed a bit of work but cost me around $250 to get them going.


If you're really keen on looking at a chiller or a fridge Im happy to assist. I can work out heat loads and help with equipment selection etc (when I get a chance).
You probably won't like my price to build you one (honestly, unless its a BIG one) and I don't actively seek out secondhand gear, so you will do a better job of hunting around than I will.
If you see something you like on Trademe, again Im happy to give you my opinion, so feel free ask away. Maybe keep it in the thread rather than PM so it can be of use to others?

I had 3 chillers to choose from in Haast and never gave it a second thought as to where I would hang my animals.

Had a butcher mate that did home kill around the corner from where I live now and I could put a carcass in his chiller for 10 days for a box of beer.
He's gone now so as you know I have been hunting a decent chiller for around 2 years.
My old man is a fridgey and has turned his nose up at a lot of chillers we have looked at for some of the reasons you have mentioned.
I bought a brand new 2.4x2.4 one around 10 yrs ago for 3k, no freight as it was a backlog for a mate coming to Haast.

They have at least doubled in price since then for a half decent one.
I have decided to get one built in CHCH that will hang around 4 animals of the size I take for eating.
I will be able to pick up with the farm trailer and get the old man to fit the unit.
Still, I doubt I will have much change out of 5k.



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Originally Posted by R93

I had 3 chillers to choose from in Haast and never gave it a second thought as to where I would hang my animals.

Had a butcher mate that did home kill around the corner from where I live now and I could put a carcass in his chiller for 10 days for a box of beer.
He's gone now so as you know I have been hunting a decent chiller for around 2 years.
My old man is a fridgey and has turned his nose up at a lot of chillers we have looked at for some of the reasons you have mentioned.
I bought a brand new 2.4x2.4 one around 10 yrs ago for 3k, no freight as it was a backlog for a mate coming to Haast.

They have at least doubled in price since then for a half decent one.
I have decided to get one built in CHCH that will hang around 4 animals of the size I take for eating.
I will be able to pick up with the farm trailer and get the old man to fit the unit.
Still, I doubt I will have much change out of 5k.



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Dave, theres actual not too bad a looking unit on TM now in Greymouth. $6K buy now looks reasonablish #1013793801.

Cool thanks man I will have a look.
I last checked a couple days ago and didn't see much.

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Originally Posted by R93

I had 3 chillers to choose from in Haast and never gave it a second thought as to where I would hang my animals.

Had a butcher mate that did home kill around the corner from where I live now and I could put a carcass in his chiller for 10 days for a box of beer.
He's gone now so as you know I have been hunting a decent chiller for around 2 years.
My old man is a fridgey and has turned his nose up at a lot of chillers we have looked at for some of the reasons you have mentioned.
I bought a brand new 2.4x2.4 one around 10 yrs ago for 3k, no freight as it was a backlog for a mate coming to Haast.

They have at least doubled in price since then for a half decent one.
I have decided to get one built in CHCH that will hang around 4 animals of the size I take for eating.
I will be able to pick up with the farm trailer and get the old man to fit the unit.
Still, I doubt I will have much change out of 5k

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I know of one thats not used anymore , can ask on your behalf if you want ( Canterbury)

Please do mate. Let me know how you get on.

I fly back to work in the morning and will be back on the 8th of Feb.

Thanks for the heads up on the Greymouth one KJ.
I have put it on my watch list and if it is still there when I get home I will go for a look.
Perfect size as well.

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So I have a hiace type truck that has a chiller box on the back, so I just need to make sure the outside skin is in good condition ?
Had it sitting for ages waiting for the motivation to get it turned in to a little chiller
Plus being a rookie I don't get much so havnt needed the space

Originally Posted by longrange308

So I have a hiace type truck that has a chiller box on the back, so I just need to make sure the outside skin is in good condition ?
Had it sitting for ages waiting for the motivation to get it turned in to a little chiller
Plus being a rookie I don't get much so havnt needed the space

Pretty much I guess. I'm assuming it's a urethane core with an ali cladding which is good stuff.

@kiwijames

At the moment I am lucky enough to have the use of a very, very large Humidity and temperature controlled chiller, however this may not always be available to me.

I had a thought that I could build a reasonably cheap chiller for at home using an upright Fridge freezer along these lines.

This chiller need only hold one carcass at a time.

Take one second hand working fridge freezer like this.


Disable the freezer coils leaving only the fridge coils operational.

Cut the panel out between the Fridge and freezer compartments full size, leaving just the front facer for the doors to seal against.

Install an eye bolt in the top and jobs done.

Carcasses can be loaded in from the fridge compartment and hung on the eye bolt.

Can you see any real problems with this design?

Cheers
Pete

Originally Posted by P38

@kiwijames

At the moment I am lucky enough to have the use of a very, very large Humidity and temperature controlled chiller, however this may not always be available to me.

I had a thought that I could build a reasonably cheap chiller for at home using an upright Fridge freezer along these lines.

This chiller need only hold one carcass at a time.

Take one second hand working fridge freezer like this.
Attachment 44595

Disable the freezer coils leaving only the fridge coils operational.

Cut the panel out between the Fridge and freezer compartments full size, leaving just the front facer for the doors to seal against.

Install an eye bolt in the top and jobs done.

Carcasses can be loaded in from the fridge compartment and hung on the eye bolt.

Can you see any real problems with this design?

Cheers
Pete

Unfortunately there's quite a few problems with that idea Pete.
Most modern fridges will only have one refrigeration circuit with either the freezer pumping a small amount of cool air to the fridge to maintain the higher temperature in the fridge portion or, the circuit has two evaporator sections with the fridge section being in series with the freezer not an independant circuit that can be isolated.
Also across the front edge where you want to cut the divider out there may be a gas circuit. Often to stop the freezer door seal from freezing up the hot gas pipes are run around the edge of the door gasket. Cut those and it's game over.
The insulation will also be exposed once you cut the divider if you're lucky and there are no gas pipes. This will need to be sealed up and lined with something hygienic.
I'd try to find a vertical fridge only and go from there. The domestic ones though are the worst for dehumidification as to keep the evaporator size nice and compact they run very cold coil temperatures. Big thermal TD = dehumidification ☹️

Can a mod please change the header too. Car earned venison? Was supposed to be HARD earned venison.

Done brother

Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

Done brother

Thanks

Hi KJ - my beer fridge in the garage occasionally 'hosts' venison. It works great keeping the beer cold but as soon as I hang venison, it just about freezes it even though the thermostat is turned down to 1 - 2. Any suggestions as to why this is happening would be greatly appreciated.

Originally Posted by Pauli

Hi KJ - my beer fridge in the garage occasionally 'hosts' venison. It works great keeping the beer cold but as soon as I hang venison, it just about freezes it even though the thermostat is turned down to 1 - 2. Any suggestions as to why this is happening would be greatly appreciated.

Bit of a curly one that. Is it a tight fit putting veni in the fridge? Im guessing the thermostat is either contacting the meat or is being insulated another way. This will give you the run on you are seeing. The thermostat thinks its warm when its not.

Tried turning the stat up a bit?

When you say turned down to 1-2 where was it before? Those thermostats often are too coarse to take as being accurate, its more graduations of scale. You may actually be setting it to freeze.