Ageing vs. wastage

Is there a way to reduce how much meat you trim to waste after ageing?

I age my meat in an old fridge, ideally around 7 days, but I’ll pull it when it starts growing white fuzz. I’m losing an awful lot when I trim, around 30 - 50%. It’s particularly galling on thinner cuts like backstraps of smaller animals.

Yeah, I’m fairly fussy but need to be for the wife & three daughters to appreciate it.

I try to carry hindquarters out & age them whole because I definitely lose less meat that way, but it depends how far I have to walk. I’ve heard about wet ageing but don’t have a vacuum sealer and we try to minimise our plastic use anyway.

Do you guys have any tips, or is that just to be expected?

You can get reusable vacuum sealer bags and containers
If that helps

wipe with vinegar before aging can help

https://zeropak.co.nz/zeropak-handyv...vacuum-sealer/
https://zeropak.co.nz/handyvac-vacuu...ealer-bag-zip/

I age with real heavy duty plastic rubbish bags and a vacuum cleaner - a fallow I will bone it all out - leave the hind quarters as a whole - put into the plastic bag and suck all the air out with the vacuum cleaner- twist the top and knot it of- in fridge for around 5 days- seems to work -

I break down and vac pac all my meat as soon as it gets home. It then sits in the fridge for a week or so before freezing. Next to no waste

I use a vacuum sealer and straight into the fridge to age before freezing.
I seal the bags oversize and then after use clean and dry them well, reuse them maybe 2-3 times then into the soft recycling.

Really cut down on the wasted meat from aging and keeps far better.

Something is WRONG if your loosing meat after 7 days. My double bucket method in fridge we loose none at all. By stirring it around each day( every 2nd at least) the blood drops out into 2nd collection bucket and meat stays fresh. Possible you need to turn fridge down more till just above freezing,something definitely not right if need to trim to any extent,silver skin yes but nothing else should need removed.

Try using more venison mince. Then everything can go through the mincer. They won't notice the difference;)

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Originally Posted by Deanohit

I use a vacuum sealer and straight into the fridge to age before freezing.
I seal the bags oversize and then after use clean and dry them well, reuse them maybe 2-3 times then into the soft recycling.

Really cut down on the wasted meat from aging and keeps far better.

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+1 this is my method also, works really well and no waste.

Amateur here but this is what I do.
Hanging whole : Take tenderloins out and age with skin on. Result = bugger all wastage.
Legs and backstraps : Vacuum pack backstraps immediately and hang legs with skin on = only waste is a thin layer of exposed meat on the legs.
Boned out : Vacuum pack backstraps & tenderloins immediately. Micky Duck's double bucket method or mince immediately(if turning it into mince anyway).

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Originally Posted by mopheadrob

Is there a way to reduce how much meat you trim to waste after ageing?

I age my meat in an old fridge, ideally around 7 days, but I’ll pull it when it starts growing white fuzz. I’m losing an awful lot when I trim, around 30 - 50%. It’s particularly galling on thinner cuts like backstraps of smaller animals.

Yeah, I’m fairly fussy but need to be for the wife & three daughters to appreciate it.

I try to carry hindquarters out & age them whole because I definitely lose less meat that way, but it depends how far I have to walk. I’ve heard about wet ageing but don’t have a vacuum sealer and we try to minimise our plastic use anyway.

Do you guys have any tips, or is that just to be expected?

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With regards to the sealing the bags and reduced wastage, many years ago in another job we sold little hand held pumps that sucked the aitr out of freezer bags. These were popular for freezing everything from fruit to meat to fish.. I was looking for one recently and cannot find one but they were a simple thing like a bike pump made from cardboard with the valve the other way around....

7 Days is really a minimum time for aging. at 7 days you should be wasting nothing, the outer surface will only just have started to create a skin. Having said that, the longer you age for, the more waste you will have to trim off. Wet aging does work well and there is no waste, however you are not removing moisture from the meat like a dry age, this lack of moisture becomes important when you get to the cooking part, it is much easier to get a good sear on dry aged meat vs wet aged. One way to reduce the amount of wastage on dry aged meat is to use dry aging bags which create a permeable membrane on the surface of the meat, this has the added bonus of reducing the risk of contamination of the meat and can be done in the family fridge, you wont get funny looks from the Mrs about the smelly fuzz growing chunk of venison.

Great info, guys.

We have a little pump that the mrs got with the fancy KitchenAid storage containers that New World was giving away a while back... I'll try that with a plastic bag. Would those reuseable bags work with that, @zeropak?

Your point re dry vs. wet is why I hadn't really looked into it, but if I do that for the cuts I'm going to mince at least, it would save a lot of waste.

No dramas re. smelly / fuzzy meat, I have an old Kelvinator in the garage purely for ageing :)

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Originally Posted by mopheadrob

Great info, guys.

We have a little pump that the mrs got with the fancy KitchenAid storage containers that New World was giving away a while back... I'll try that with a plastic bag. Would those reuseable bags work with that, @zeropak?

Your point re dry vs. wet is why I hadn't really looked into it, but if I do that for the cuts I'm going to mince at least, it would save a lot of waste.

No dramas re. smelly / fuzzy meat, I have an old Kelvinator in the garage purely for ageing :)

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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.

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

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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Originally Posted by kiwijames

Shoot more deer.

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I like your plan, James. Working on it ;)

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Originally Posted by robhughes-games

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

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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!