# DIY deer cooler



## fcee (Oct 9, 2009)

I fill gallon milk jugs with water and keep them in the freezer. Tie the handles together with string and hang them inside the body cavity.


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## superbuckeye (Dec 31, 2007)

which kind of coolers, portable or the kind you hang deer in. I've been thinking of framing up a small 6x6 corner of the garage and putting a small window a/c unit in the wall for hanging and butchering deer.


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## Cole_TX (Dec 10, 2008)

I would be interested in a plan myself.


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## Archeroni (Oct 3, 2008)

Less than $100 invested in this one. Used it once so far this season.

Still need to get a new thermostat too keep it from getting too cold and running the compressor too long.

I threw some jugs of ice in the bottom and it chilled down to 34 degrees in about an hour. I have trouble getting it down to temp though without the ice. Only goes to 44 degrees if the barn temp is 70+ and the floor slab is same temp. Ice on the floor solves the warm slab problem. I have been saving milk jugs and freezing them. The stat I need to buy is about $60 and will keep it between 35 and 40 or whatever I set it for. I have done some more sealing since these pics were taken. I have hooks in the ceiling to hang from and a couple small fans I picked up on clearance from Lowes for $4 each sitting on the freezer shelves to circulate the air a bit, also not shown in the pics.


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## Huaco (Jul 7, 2006)

That is FREAKIN' Awesome! Good job man. How much extra energy is this thing sucking out of the power lines when you have it on?


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## Archeroni (Oct 3, 2008)

Huaco said:


> That is FREAKIN' Awesome! Good job man. How much extra energy is this thing sucking out of the power lines when you have it on?


It is "free", sort of.

I have a separate service to my barn. That meter has a minimum charge whether or not I use any power. Using this cooler for a few days one month won't get me over the minimum charge so it is essentially free. I leave it off when not in use of course.


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## Mr10ss (Jun 2, 2005)

the kind you hang them in for a few days.


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## Mr10ss (Jun 2, 2005)

I like those 2 ideas. thanks.


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## kzz1king (Jan 21, 2007)

If you are losing to the floor have you thought of laying some insulation down? Looks great.


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## araz2114 (Jan 13, 2003)

You have to check this out...

http://www.storeitcold.com/story.php

I don't have one of these but it looks great. Read the whole story and see if it fits your needs. I thought it was a great read.


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## Maxtor (Jan 7, 2007)

That CoolBot looks pretty good. 

A friend of mine has a pretty awesome walk in fridge that is cooled by a regular A/C unit. He controls it all with the same digital thermostat system that they use on the arena floors to keep the ice rink froze. Works really slick!!


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## 1trackmind (Apr 6, 2008)

Were do you get one of those?


Maxtor said:


> That CoolBot looks pretty good.
> 
> A friend of mine has a pretty awesome walk in fridge that is cooled by a regular A/C unit. He controls it all with the same digital thermostat system that they use on the arena floors to keep the ice rink froze. Works really slick!!


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## Archeroni (Oct 3, 2008)

kzz1king said:


> If you are losing to the floor have you thought of laying some insulation down? Looks great.


Yes. Just need to get me a piece of the 2" thick stuff. I ran out of scraps making the cooler. When I come across a scrap or some other material that the floor is where it will go.


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## Maxtor (Jan 7, 2007)

1trackmind said:


> Were do you get one of those?


 I'll have to ask him where he got it but I have to warn you, I know it was very pricey for what he has


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## 48down (Jan 9, 2007)

Wow, I' like the cooler ideas!

I'm just thinking about how much beer I could store in a 6X8 cooler and still have room to hang a couple of deer.:darkbeer:


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## WNYBuckHunter (Sep 13, 2009)

I was thinking of just sticking a window AC in my garage and doing it that way. I have it all insulated and it stays pretty cool normally, I would just use the window unit to keep it a tad cooler when deer are hanging in there. Its a pretty small 1 car garage BTW.

Maybe Ill get an old fridge and build something temporary to keep cooling costs down some though.


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## araz2114 (Jan 13, 2003)

1trackmind said:


> Were do you get one of those?


Those coolbot controllers are available on their website. I don't have any direct involvement with them but I have read quite a bit from their site and others. Looks interesting enough to me. If I needed a deer or other cooler I would look into one of those. If you read enough these guys mainly use it to cool vegetables. They also realize that bringing hot stuff into the cooler is hard on it. They were using well water to "pre-cool" their produce so the machine could run more efficiently... Don't think that would work for deer


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## Cole_TX (Dec 10, 2008)

Here is one that I designed that I will be building soon. (8' x 8')

If anyone is interested in the plans, shoot me a pm or reply and I will get them over to you. All I ask is that if you build it or share the plans, please give me credit as this took some time for me to do.


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## petrey10 (Oct 24, 2008)

man that is nice... I would like to make a portable one at some point. 8'x8' would be a good size, might be able to fit two deer in there. The thing I am worried about is the hanging of the deer. If you get two good size bucks you could be talking about 450 lbs maybe even more if their both big deer. Are any of you concerned with this? Also I wasn't going to use cement as the floor but 3/4'' ply with a urathane coated floor with some sand thrown in for traction. For insulation do you guys think the spray insulation would be better since it would seal up the cracks?


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## pure havoc (Apr 21, 2003)

I have a insulated 8X10 shed that has R19 in the walls and 1/2" foam board lined inside I have been thinking about doing this with .I have a couple window units and it would be simple to put in and there is already outlets and lights in the shed its set up pretty good i would just need to insulate the door I will post up a pic ,my only concern is its only about 7ft tall and kinda hard to hang a deer but it would still be good for 1/4 ed out deer to keep them cool ?


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## Cole_TX (Dec 10, 2008)

petrey10 said:


> man that is nice... I would like to make a portable one at some point. 8'x8' would be a good size, might be able to fit two deer in there. The thing I am worried about is the hanging of the deer. If you get two good size bucks you could be talking about 450 lbs maybe even more if their both big deer. Are any of you concerned with this? Also I wasn't going to use cement as the floor but 3/4'' ply with a urathane coated floor with some sand thrown in for traction. For insulation do you guys think the spray insulation would be better since it would seal up the cracks?


I am still thinking about a hanging system, but I know that it will probably be an I Beam as a joist and some sort of hanging system that will connect to it inside. I will probably sit down tonight and rough sketch up something, check back for an update.


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## eflanders (Dec 8, 2007)

Guys,

I have made a couple of coolers before so here is some things to keep in mind:

* Spray-in foam is by far the most efficient. All air leaks really kill the efficiency of the cooling unit.
* A normal air conditioner will only cool the room down to about 55' F for any length of time (over 4 hours) even if it has more than enough BTU's for the room. They are not meant to cool lower than this and the built-in thermostats are part of the problem. This is the reason for the add-on thermostats and they are not cheap!
* The best thing I have found to cool down a room below 60' F for more than 4 hours is a unit made for semi-trucks that haul refrigerated and frozen items. They are often called Thermoking units but that is a trade name. These units can run on 110 AC or diesel power. You can get one fairly inexpensive at a scrap yard for trucks. I've seen used ones for as little as $50 and as much as $1000. 
* I have been told that you can adjust some window air conditioners thermostats to cool below 60' but I do not know this as fact. There is a small screw at the top of the thermostat that is painted to keep it in place. Supposedly you can turn this screw to allow the unit to cool down further. However it will still only work for about 4 hours max. before it starts to frost up and shut down.
* Commercial units designed to cool down below 60' have heaters and fans that move enough warm air over the coils to keep them frosting up.
* I have also heard of people using an old freezer unit to cool down their cooler like a previous poster did. This works because these units are designed to cool down to the tempertures needed, but they are usually not designed to cool down a room bigger than the freezer they came out of. But it may be enough to keep your deer cool enough to keep.


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## Mr10ss (Jun 2, 2005)

Some really good info. Guys.


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## araz2114 (Jan 13, 2003)

eflanders said:


> Guys,
> 
> I have made a couple of coolers before so here is some things to keep in mind:
> 
> ...


That is what the Coolbot is supposed to do. Keep it from freezing up.


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## Cole_TX (Dec 10, 2008)

I will be buying and using the coolbot, so I will let you guys know how it goes.


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## DEC (Dec 10, 2004)

Craig's List guys ... 

I have a friend who built his own walk in cooler with the A/C unit. By the time he got done buying materials, the A/C unit, paying a guy to hack the A/C to keep it from freezing, he had over $500 invested.

I seriously was going to build a DIY unit. I watched Craig's List though for a couple weeks, running many many searches and I scored a commercial walk in cooler for $500 and only an hour drive from my house. In one evening, I picked it up, put the thing together and had it down to 35 degrees.

I personally would not mess around with a hacked A/C unit. You can find good used ones for not a lot of money and less headaches if you put in a little leg work.

Here is what I bought. It has already allowed two deer this year to hang at a cool 35 deg. F. while outside temps were in the 60's.


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## letsgobowhuntin (Aug 4, 2009)

What temp do you think the inside needs to be? When guys hunt out west and shoot elk they quarter and pack out. It may take days even when it is warm out. How do they keep meat from going bad?


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## petrey10 (Oct 24, 2008)

that walk in cooler is very nice dec!! Wish I could find one near me but its very hard... If the coolbot works for others I may give it a try. I only need it to work for maybe 2 weeks of the year


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## petrey10 (Oct 24, 2008)

ttt


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## georgiabuckdan (Dec 17, 2007)

I have a fridge that i put a dowel rod across the top and let meat hang for 5 days at 35 degrees of course quartered and skinned, i use stainless wire to hang meat and when im done butchering the meat it goes in the freezer on top, works awesome for me we aged 3 does last week in it. oh for a drip pan we use a tupperware lid and clean it out daily. in the off season we put all the shelving back in after taking the dowell rod down. works perfect!! thanks to some guys her on at I have an awesome aging cooler!!


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## steyrsdad (Nov 30, 2008)

*i love this post*

this is a good post


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## petrey10 (Oct 24, 2008)

Updates??????


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## Maxtor (Jan 7, 2007)

Cole_TX said:


> I am still thinking about a hanging system, but I know that it will probably be an I Beam as a joist and some sort of hanging system that will connect to it inside. I will probably sit down tonight and rough sketch up something, check back for an update.


 Friend of mine got the track from a sliding barn door, like the one pictured here:








He then bought a "roller" set for that track and double nutted hanging hooks into the rollers. He's got one roller on each side of the ceiling which allows us to hang the deer by the back legs, with one leg on each track. Works pretty slick. If you have a deer hanging and get a second one, just slide the first deer towards the back of the fridge and hang the second one on the next set of hooks


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## FAL guy (Oct 17, 2009)

You could use an upright freezer and this type of controller to cool down a decent sized room. On of the neat features is the adjustable differential so your cooling unit isn't running constantly. 










This unit is available at brewing supply shops for right at $100. There are also cheaper non digital units. 

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/CONTROLLER_II_P183C100.cfm


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## MysticFlight (Feb 8, 2006)

*Found this online*

Here is a great article and step by step pics on how to build a walk in cooler. The Controller they talk about can be found at rancoetc.com and is alot cheaper than the coolbot
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Walk-in_Cooler

Think Im gona try this one myself


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## Liviu (Oct 20, 2009)

Maxtor said:


> A friend of mine has a pretty awesome walk in fridge


We up here have a pretty awesome _walk out fridge_... for lack of better term, we call it... Canada


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## RdstrRod (Sep 21, 2014)

*home made deer cooler!*



Cole_TX said:


> I would be interested in a plan myself.[/QUOTE
> I have pictures of a cooler my son and I made for fall Archery to keep the deer cold and using a 15000 (110-V) BTU window A/C unit.
> We have hung deer over night and they were firm and ready to cut when ever! If you would like to see it I would be more than happy to share it with you!
> Just ask!! THEIR IS NO CHARGE!!!


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