How long can chicken age in Salt brine- please answer ASAP!

[CowgirlMama]

Ok- So I have a question... We butchered/processed 18-19 chickens yesterday late afternoon/early evening. I have 8 of them in buckets of salt water brine- do I need to pull them out tonight and rinse and dry them and repackage for aging in the fridge for another 24 hrs? Thanks!

 

[fresheggs4u]

I used 1/2 cup to gallon of water and soaked them in ice brine for three days. At least until the legs and wings moved freely. I them tookI replaced the brined daily. On the third day i took them out and rinsed them and placed them on a towel to dry for about 30 minutes and then vaccum packed them. Either whole or cut up. They all turned out great. Tender as can be. I do the same process for older birds too. I always age in ice brine. It soak out some of the remaining blood and I don't have refrigerator space for that many birds. I usually do 20 -30 at a time. I now have a sustainable flock - so its on going

 

[Oregon Blues]

I hope you don't mean you've had them sitting outside, unrefrigerated all day.

 

[galanie]

I age them in salt brine until their legs move freely, in the refrigerator. But then I don't do very many at a time so I have space to do that. They will be fine in salt brine up to 3 days as long as the temp is below about 45 degrees F and never gets higher. Some of my older ones have taken that long before getting over rigor mortis.

 

[CowgirlMama]

Quote:
No- they were in a fridge. We happen to have an extra one that was empty.

 

[CowgirlMama]

Thanks for all the advice! We wrapped (vacuum sealed!) all the chickens and the ducks on Monday afternoon. They probably could have aged a little longer (they were in there for around 40hrs), but scheduling was such that we needed to get them done. I can't wait to taste test!

I am very happy to have my OWN meat in our freezer now!! And now, the planning for next year begins!!!

haha....