Need some advice

[noob52]

Looking to buy a freezer chest, and was curious what size would be best.  Figure it would hold 2-3 deer at the most.

Anybody have any advice for a noob ?

[turkeyfeathers]

Bought this one years ago for the sole purpose of putting venison in it. Had 3 good sized deer in it from last year. It is just about maxed at 3. Sadly it's pretty empty and calling to get filled up again. Don't remember spending a crazy amount on it either. Get yourself an alarm for it. You can set parameters for highs and low temps. Sensor goes in freezer via a cord with temp gauge external and larger monitor sits on our coffee table  

[biggamefish]

We have a med sized one. It hold two deer with no problem and alot of other stuff. I think ours is a 15 cu ft freezer.

[fasteddie]

Definitely have a warning device for the freezer you buy . I bought a 7 1/2 cu ft freezer a few years ago and it crapped out after 13 months . It had a 1 year warranty . My venison was ruined . I bought another one and put a Thermometer sending unit in the new one and have the receiver next to me . It is 8.1 degrees in the freezer . My wife freezes a lot of stuff so I bought a 2nd one . We have an old 15 cu ft Gibson upright that we bought around 1970 and it still runs ( hope I didn't jinx it ) . 

I wanted a small 10 cu ft fridge for the garage . I stopped at Orvilles in Webster and saw one for around $400 and was thinking of buying it . When I told the sales person where I wanted to put it , he told me that would be a bad idea for a new fridge . He said that the new ones are computerized and if the temperature in the garage dropped to around 50 - 55 degrees , the computerized unit would shut off and not turn back on . He suggested buying a used one so I found one on Craigs List and bought it . 

So , figure out what size you want and where you are going to put it . If there is any thought about putting it in the garage , make sure a temperature drop won't cause it to fail . Also , have some sort of warning device to let you know if it has a temperature failure .

[chas0218]

I currently have 2 freezers one I think is  around 16 cu.ft. and the other is 7 cu. ft. We had 3 deer in the 16 cu.ft. freezer. There is no way that they could have fit in the 7cu.ft. freezer. I highly suggest getting 2 freezers instead of just one. I like having the ability to move everything into one freezer if needed because one craps out on us. Also I would recommend an upright before a chest they make better use of the space and allows for 2 uprights in the 15-20 cu/ft range in the space of 1 20cu.ft. chest freezer. Just something to think about.

One advantage I have found with the chest freezer is that the lid will stay shut where our upright has a tendency to pop back open if shut hard and not paying attention.

 

Actually I think our one is 7 cu. ft.

Edited September 26, 2016 by chas0218

[Jeremy K]

I could use a dedicated game freezer myself . The freezer upstairs is full of frozen baby food and the freezer downstairs is full of frozen breast milk . It even makes it hard to shop for food for the week when the freezer is always filled. 

[chas0218]

Just upgraded today, I picked up another 15cu.ft. For $75 on craigslist to replace the 7 cu.ft. I now have room for my next deer.

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[nyslowhand]

If you can... get an upright freezer. Chest type freezers can be a PITA finding specific things, unless you have a method of  storing frozen items in crates, etc. The bigger the chest freezer, the more disorganized this situation can become.

[chas0218]

I made some dividers for my small chest freezer out of 1/4" plywood and taped a piece of paper with what is in each section. Definitely worth doing in my opinion, my wife can go out and grab what she needs quickly and minimizes the amount of time the freezer is open.