Thread: Ageing vs. wastage

Shoot more deer.

Look at dry aging purpose build fridges. They do fish for a month and meat for like 60 days
They have UV light, control humidity and airflow.
Wouldn't be hard to put some UV lights in it to kill the growth

Originally Posted by zeropak

Yeah pretty sure that pump will work with the reuseable bag but I do have a few stray hand pumps sitting around the warehouse which will work and i can give you to do the job. If you go ahead with that let me know so I can chuck one in the package. I am away hunting for 10 days as of early tomorrow with not much cell or internet.

Thanks! I’ll take you up on that and grab a couple of packs of bags when you get back. All the best for your trip.

I don’t believe there is any value in aging venison more than a couple of days in the fridge before cutting it up and freezing.

Tried several times with half a deer either way and no longer age in the fridge for long periods unless I’m too busy to process it due to work travel etc.


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The white fuzz is fungus from moister and warmth. I'd be checking my fridge to make sure it is running between 0 and 4 degrees, giving it a wipe out with a little bleach now and then to kill the spores in the fridge should help

I age all my venison for 10 to 14 day with skin on it stops it turning manky but I have the joys of a walk in chiller but I would b looking at the temp of ur fridge put a thermometer in it cos a lot of fridges have a dial saying 4 degrees but actually run more like 6 chiller is running at 1 degree but skin off it will still go furry around that week mark

Originally Posted by country cuts

The white fuzz is fungus from moister and warmth. I'd be checking my fridge to make sure it is running between 0 and 4 degrees, giving it a wipe out with a little bleach now and then to kill the spores in the fridge should help

yes agree country cuts if cutting white fuzz off that meat is going mouldy - to much moisture and not cold enough perhaps -

Back in my days at a freezing works boner cow (which would have similar age and characteristics to venison) when hot boned the better cuts as in loins was vacuum packed within 45 minutes of slaughter and chilled for two weeks at +2 degrees C and then blast freeze...trials were done on ageing for 6 weeks at +2 vacuum packed, one could smear the meat between thumb and finger and considering it was just boner cow was very nice to eat.

Originally Posted by kiwijames

Shoot more deer.

I like your plan, James. Working on it

Originally Posted by robhughes-games

Wouldn't be hard to put some UV lights in it to kill the growth

Not a bad idea... will investigate. There's a 15W bulb linked to the door, it would probably be pretty easy to change it out for a UV bulb and override the switch...

Noted, @Padox & @country cuts. It's turned to 1° which is as low as she goes, but she's pretty old so may just not be getting down there. Chucked my watch inside to see what it says. Thoroughly cleaned between uses and left off with the door wedged open. I'm also thinking a little desktop fan could help.

I find this topic interesting and would like to learn more. I'm sold on dry ageing fish and do this routinely. If nothing else, filleting is a far cleaner and more pleasant process. As for game meat, I hang it for 24 hours, mainly to dry it out a bit, then vacuum pack and freeze. I don't want to carry out a whole animal and have nowhere to hang it anyway. I find that skinned meat dries out too much if left to hang much longer than 24 hours. I'm intrigued, by wet ageing, but it gives me the willies. A wet environment without oxygen is just right for the wrong kind of bacterial growth. Admittedly, not much of anything will grow at just above freezing temperatures though.

The big difference between us and the professionals is that our animals are killed in the bush and it's not always easy to keep everything clean and then there's the storage issue. Some meat will wait sometime until it reaches a fridge or chilly bin. Not ideal on warmer days. For this reason, I want it processed and frozen sooner rather than later.

So it turns out that turning the thermostat dial to the left/1 is the warmest setting. Fridge was about 8 degrees. Turned it to the right/7 and down she goes to -2!