Walk in

[Double R Ranch]

Does anyone have a walk in cooler for hanging carcasses for cooling/aging? If so how do you have it set up? I've seen them online where they are set up with an window AC and a coolbot unit. I'm wondering how well that could work? Also wondering how people hang their carcasses in them. I've seen rail systems for sale for relatively cheap. Thinking that would be a good option for larger things like beef 1/4s.
Looking for ideas. It's getting extremely expensive to rent a cooler or have stock hung then cut n wrapped. Looking at other options for the future.
Thanks!

 

[mwj]

I have an old commercial unit that came from a closed grocery store. The cool-bot units made from air-conditioners have a tough time. A beef carcass has a lot of heat and moisture to remove in the first few hours.

If you have it slaughtered and chilled before bringing it home to age and cut, it is much easier. The most important thing is equipment to process the quarters and access to enough freezer space to quick freeze the meat as you cut and wrap.

Also go help cut a couple. The first time you take a front quarter off of the hook and run it thru the saw, it may make there cost a little easier to understand.

 

[Double R Ranch]

@mwj That makes a lot of sense. Very good to know on the coolbot. They aren't cheap.
Our goal is slaughter and hang here on the ranch. This is only for our own consumption. We are paying near $1.50 per pound now for cut n wrap on hogs n beef. We do all our own smoking so we really are just paying for the hanging and cut. We will for sure have a learning curve on the cut n wrap but we're going to start with hogs before jumping into beef. We've done deer but not the detailed cuts. We have a friend who does an elk yearly that we are going to trade for a cut n wrap lesson so we're hoping that will help a bit.
Thank you so much for the information and advice!

 

[Dave]

My son built a cooler in his shop. Not overly big. Just big enough to hold one critter. I don't know how he made the cooler unit but I know an AC unit was somehow involved. We cut and wrap our elk nearly every year. Bone all the meat off the bone. And all the cuts end up boneless. That does away with the need for a meat saw. We also don't try to cut and wrap the entire animal in a single day. Do one half one day, the other half the next day.

 

[Double R Ranch]

My son built a cooler in his shop. Not overly big. Just big enough to hold one critter. I don't know how he made the cooler unit but I know an AC unit was somehow involved. We cut and wrap our elk nearly every year. Bone all the meat off the bone. And all the cuts end up boneless. That does away with the need for a meat saw. We also don't try to cut and wrap the entire animal in a single day. Do one half one day, the other half the next day.

That's the plan to start I think. Debone everything until we get a decent saw. I've seen actual bone saws online for sale a time or two. Maybe someday we'll get one. Or maybe we'll be happy with everything deboned. I believe deboning everything is how our friend does his elk also. We definitely wouldn't be able to do a whole animal in a day. Part of why we want to have a cooler. Less rush to get it done in one shot. We asked how much the locker would charge to rent a cooler space and it wasn't much less than the whole hang/cut n wrap cost. Plus they are an hour away from us. This could save us quite a bit of cost long term and process when we want to not when the locker has an opening which is still fairly hard to come by in a timely manner. Hogs get quite expensive taking them to the locker. I think we can manage that to start.

 

[mwj]

The hogs are much easier. Our family and friends would do 10-12 a year before we had a cooler. Now we do not need to worry about the weather warming up.

Get enough table space and containers before you start cutting and it makes it better.Warm or hot water is always welcome. There will also be a lot of scrap and bone to get rid of.

Start with a working cooler and a couple of sharp knives and you are on your way. The cooler means you can take your time and learn to do it properly. If you change your mind I am sure there are hunters in the area to buy the cooler.

 

[Double R Ranch]

The good Lord provides! I jumped on craigslist after not being on for quite a while and maybe 5 posts in someone was selling a 6 x 6 walk in. It doesn't have the cooling unit but that's ok. We honestly didn't want a industrial unit that needs a tech to maintain. We wanted to have an AC unit that is easily replaced and can be off for months at a time with no problems. Something easy to replace if needed. Contacted the gentleman and he had a bunch of interest in it. I'm honestly not surprised. It's ridiculous around here now to get animals into the locker. Not to mention as I've already said the price is getting very high. He said it was first to come with cash took it so I loaded the trailer and went to check it out. Came home with it. He had it set up with a window AC and put a board in where the window of the unit went and installed the AC in that. So we have the option of the window or the board for the AC. My hope is we can insulate the board area to help keep in the cool air better. We need to pour a slab before we can put it up but I'm very happy to have it and as @mwj said hunters in the area would buy it if we need it gone so we decided to jump on it. The seller said it takes less than an hour for two people to put it together and it certainly looks easy enough to put together and take apart so it can move with us when that time comes. Will need to put some sort of rail system or something in it as it doesn't have anything to hang in it yet. The seller used it for produce but he said he has another one that he does use for hanging meat and it works great.

The hogs are much easier. Our family and friends would do 10-12 a year before we had a cooler. Now we do not need to worry about the weather warming up.

Get enough table space and containers before you start cutting and it makes it better.Warm or hot water is always welcome. There will also be a lot of scrap and bone to get rid of.

Start with a working cooler and a couple of sharp knives and you are on your way. The cooler means you can take your time and learn to do it properly. If you change your mind I am sure there are hunters in the area to buy the cooler.

That's great! Sounds like a cooler is beneficial. That's our hope also. We really don't seem to ever get cool enough temps to cool carcasses.
We do have an outdoor sink that has hot and cold water. I can process by it. That's a great point. I'll need to look into more table space. I don't really know how many bins/containers I'll need but I'll research that a bit more. We have 6 of the grey meat tubs that we use when we grind meat or process chickens, rabbits and deer. Might need more for processing a beef.
We won't have much scraps to dispose of as we use all the bones for bone broth and render fat for tallow or lard. The chickens take care of most of the remaining scraps.
Already have the knives I think as we usually do the slaughter here anyways and do break down smaller game. Although I should probably see what knives would be best for deboning.
Thanks for the great tips and things to continue researching. Much appreciated.

 

[mwj]

6x6 is not enough room. If you are planning to do more than 1 hog I would keep looking for a bigger cooler. Is it tall enough to hang sides and will the roof and walls support the weight? Do not rush in and set yourself up to fail.

 

[Double R Ranch]

6x6 is not enough room. If you are planning to do more than 1 hog I would keep looking for a bigger cooler. Is it tall enough to hang sides and will the roof and walls support the weight? Do not rush in and set yourself up to fail.

He said he hangs 2 quartered beefs in his the same size. The most we'd do is 1 beef or maybe 2 hogs at a time so I figured it would be enough space. It's 8 foot tall inside. He drilled holes in his and put eyelets to hand his beef quarters from and said it works great. It's pretty thick. Don't see why it wouldn't hold but worst case I guess we can anchor some steel pipe into the concrete and build a support to hang from. Thank you for the heads up.

 

[mwj]

He said he hangs 2 quartered beefs in his the same size. The most we'd do is 1 beef or maybe 2 hogs at a time so I figured it would be enough space. It's 8 foot tall inside. He drilled holes in his and put eyelets to hand his beef quarters from and said it works great. It's pretty thick. Don't see why it wouldn't hold but worst case I guess we can anchor some steel pipe into the concrete and build a support to hang from. Thank you for the heads up.

If he can put 2 beefs in a 6x6 cooler he is a magician.Go look at beef hanging in a locker and take your tape measure. He flat out lied to you.

 

[BRYANT]

If he can put 2 beefs in a 6x6 cooler he is a magician.Go look at beef hanging in a locker and take your tape measure. He flat out lied to you.

If tall enough and strong enough I think I can put two in a 6x6. They would be packed and take a little to cool down. For sure not the best set up for two but could be made work. Will need to be tall enough to double hang

 

[mwj]

If you jam them in anything is possible. At today s beef prices I sure would not want them touching and no or very poor air circulation.

Now is the time to do things the best that you can. Once you commit to something that is not practical ,you are going to learn the hard way. Now is the time to plan it out and not have a disaster at the finish line.

I would rather build a free standing ''room'' than use what he is looking at. Using an ac unit is up to them, but the amount of moisture will freeze the coil with the limited amount of air movement.

 

[GoWyo]

If you jam them in anything is possible. At today s beef prices I sure would not want them touching and no or very poor air circulation.

Now is the time to do things the best that you can. Once you commit to something that is not practical ,you are going to learn the hard way. Now is the time to plan it out and not have a disaster at the finish line.

I would rather build a free standing ''room'' than use what he is looking at. Using an ac unit is up to them, but the amount of moisture will freeze the coil with the limited amount of air movement.

We used to keep show steers in an insulated room with a 24,000 BTU AC unit and a Cool Bot. If we tried to get much below 60* the AC fins would ice up.

 

[coachg]

No expert but I've seen folks get an old refrigerated box truck ( ice cream and or milk ) or a well insulated room with a window unit air conditioner. That's the way folks in south Alabama do at their deer camps .

 

[mwj]

The cooling unit is the key to making it work. Building a cooler is not that cheap but it can easily be done.

 

[texoman]

We built a 6' x 10' walkin in the corner of a shop here in sw ok. 2x6 walls and ceiling with a reinforced center top "rail." We put hooks up for hanging. Used one of those inside AC units in the wall with a coldbot. We never had any issues with keeping it cold enough.

 

[Rancher]

Up here I use my above ground root cellar to hang 4 beefers at a time. It's 12 ft by 30ft and 11ft high. 10in insulation in ceiling and walls. Electric winch host up on meat hooks to eye bolts screwed into the 3x10 rafters. Keeps cool with 3 26cu freezers, 2 cheest and one upright leave open doors overnight to cool down to 38f. A 20in osculating fan and 6in vent. After 24 hour cool down the upright freezer with door open, keeps it cool.

 

[GoWyo]

Up here I use my above ground root cellar to hang 4 beefers at a time. It's 12 ft by 30ft and 11ft high. 10in insulation in ceiling and walls. Electric winch host up on meat hooks to eye bolts screwed into the 3x10 rafters. Keeps cool with 3 26cu freezers, 2 cheest and one upright leave open doors overnight to cool down to 38f. A 20in osculating fan and 6in vent. After 24 hour cool down the upright freezer with door open, keeps it cool.

How does that work when the freezer puts the hot air back into the same room it is cooling?

 

[Rancher]

6" ent w/inline fan

 

[Stonewall Joe]

Does anyone have a walk in cooler for hanging carcasses for cooling/aging? If so how do you have it set up? I've seen them online where they are set up with an window AC and a coolbot unit. I'm wondering how well that could work? Also wondering how people hang their carcasses in them. I've seen rail systems for sale for relatively cheap. Thinking that would be a good option for larger things like beef 1/4s.
Looking for ideas. It's getting extremely expensive to rent a cooler or have stock hung then cut n wrapped. Looking at other options for the future.
Thanks!

there are a bunch of asian made minisplit ac systems in various sizes that should make the job of cooling easier. The lines are precharged and sp is the head and condenser. the electrical hook up is pretty staraight forward and easy and would give you more cooling power for not much price difference