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Thread: Cooling meat in water

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
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    Cooling meat in water

    I'm going to experiment with cooling meat in water for the same reason I cook meat in water (i.e. sous vide).

    My thought is basically that if I get an animal down and the air temps are high enough, the fastest way to cool that meat is to get the animal quartered (or boned out), get the meat into appropriately sized plastic bags (durable garbage bags or the like) and get the bags into water (in such a way as to have no water ingress), the meat will drop temp much more quickly than by hanging in a treat or similar until it can be put on ice. In fact, it may even be faster to get the temps down on the meat more quickly than they would before you put it on ice (so as to avoid melting as much ice and getting the meat cooled off even more quickly).

    This is due to convection (i.e. air flow) being less efficient at heat transfer than conduction (which is the same reason that cooking via water bath is so effective of the age old trick of thawing meat in a sink full of water, etc).

    I think the possible cons to this process are just to do with bacteria...both by keeping the meat in a bag too long (as it likely won't reach cool enough temperatures via this process to actually prevent bacterial growth...but the idea is more to shed the main heat so that it will get much colder more quickly once it's on ice) and or by having water that may have bacteria in it get into the bag. Those are both pretty preventable issues.

    Any flaws in my logic?

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
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    63

    Re: Cooling meat in water

    Don't worry about the bags. Just throw the meat in the water, hide on. Have done it this way with many animals, some for days at a time. Never had a problem with the meat afterwards. Great way to store for long time and not worry about grizz or flies. Pull out, hang to drip dry, skin hide and trim leading edges and you will have perfect meat
    "You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks." - Winston Churchill

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
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    5,002

    Re: Cooling meat in water

    I try and rinse them out after gutting with whatever water is around. I've been told not to do this by other people but it cools the meat down pretty fast
    If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
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    Peace Country
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    Re: Cooling meat in water

    Sounds smart. Using simple physics I like it.

    I would be concerned of the type of bag being used. Food safe bags can be hard to find. But that’s totally up to the person consuming the meat.

  6. #5
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    Jun 2010
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    williams lake
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    Re: Cooling meat in water

    Quote Originally Posted by Bchunt View Post
    Don't worry about the bags. Just throw the meat in the water, hide on. Have done it this way with many animals, some for days at a time. Never had a problem with the meat afterwards. Great way to store for long time and not worry about grizz or flies. Pull out, hang to drip dry, skin hide and trim leading edges and you will have perfect meat
    I had a goat stolen from the water within a 10 hour period...

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
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    Kootenays, BC
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    Re: Cooling meat in water

    You miss out on crust to trap in moisture, which will still come out of the meat in a bag, but otherwise it's a sound plan for running water. Not sure if it would be great for a still body of water, without convection you may get a mini insulating layer of warm water surrounding the bag and actually slow down the cooling process, but might not be an issue in a ice cold lake.

    Dunno, try it and report back!

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
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    63

    Re: Cooling meat in water

    Quote Originally Posted by warnniklz View Post
    I had a goat stolen from the water within a 10 hour period...

    That sucks. Probably would have been gone hanging in a tree too. I usually try to find a good cut bank with a deep hole and let them sink. Just a rope tied off to a tree. Load with boat when ready to go.
    "You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks." - Winston Churchill

  9. #8
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    Re: Cooling meat in water

    Quote Originally Posted by kootenaihunter View Post
    You miss out on crust to trap in moisture, which will still come out of the meat in a bag, but otherwise it's a sound plan for running water. Not sure if it would be great for a still body of water, without convection you may get a mini insulating layer of warm water surrounding the bag and actually slow down the cooling process, but might not be an issue in a ice cold lake.

    Dunno, try it and report back!
    Good point re still water - so best resolved if slight disturbance of the water is viable so as to prevent that mini layer that can happen. Doesn't take much so would have to be a super still pond/lake to be in that situation, I'd think.

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Posts
    1,791

    Re: Cooling meat in water

    Some of the jet boaters I know use 10 Liter buckets with lids placed in the water to cool , they say it works good.

  11. #10
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    May 2017
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    Re: Cooling meat in water

    As long as the water is moving. Wouldn't attempt in standing water

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