Design of a room just for processing meat

[cheech]

My wife is not keen on me always using her kitchen for my meat processing.

So we have a room under our porch in our basement that I will convert to a meat processing room.

I have a SS table complete with sinks on both sides.
I have all my equipment
A shelving system similiar to that of a grocery store to keep all the stuff in one spot.
I have a regular size refrigerator and an upright freezer
An electric stove

Does any one have any other ideas on what I shoudl include

 

[up in smoke]

Wall mount your Foodsaver for space.
Bolt down your meat grinder and sausage stuffer.
Hooks in ceiling for drying sausages and other meat.
One of those ceiling things for pots & pans and trays.
One of those wall systems for foil, butcher paper, wax paper, maybe.
A good knife block and a butcher block! :roll:
and one of those bobble head hula dancers! :lol:

 

[cheech]

Currently the whole room is concrete. What should I use to cover the walls? Tile or I have seen some plastic type of stuff.

 

[cajun_1]

Wall covering..I would think something that wash's easily. I have seen stuff in food prep areas that are like plastic, but glued to drywall.

 

[gunslinger]

Man, that's my dream. Except mine would be cold enough to process meat safely and have my band saw, grinder, slicer, stuffer, etc. It'd have a floor drain and disposals in the sinks. Meat hooks for drying and draining are a must. The walls would be stainless panels with welded seams. Everything would be covered when not in use so I could hose the whole room down and out the drain.
I own a building in town that used to be a grocery store. There is butcher block in there that is like 2 feet thick by 4 feet by 4 feet square, and it's on legs. All oak. I guess that too would have to be in my room.
The soundtrack from Texas Chainsaw Massacre would be piped in also.

 

[cajun_1]

Gunny.... Texas Chainsaw Massacre? What are you cutting up & smokin'? :lol:

 

[cheech]

Currently the room stays around 55-60F year round ( it is not a huge room and is just about all underground) is that a good temp?

I will need to installa drain but would have to do that anyway since the table/sink that I have need to have the water go somewhere.

Not sure I can afford the SS walls but would love the butcher block.

Other than that gunslinger I think I got your ideas as my ideas too.

Thanks for the input

 

[just learning]

You could try full sheet fiberglass for the walls - but stay away from tile - SS is of course the best. Your wood cutting block sounds great - however, it's much easier to clean a poly cutting block - you can't bleach wood. Check your resturant supply stores to see if you can order one from them to fit your cutting table (1/2" - 3/4" thick recomended - you're probably looking at between $150 - $200 depending on size). The cutting room needs to be 40 - 45 degrees for optimal usage & any hanging area needs to be max 35 degrees. (Mr. Just learning used to be a meat cutter for a big box store & now cuts all our meat at home, but we're still using our kitchen table with a cutting block laid on top). Hope this helps.

-Mrs. Just learning

 

[joed617]

Cheech, I was just pricing stainless steel. 340.00 per 4' x 8' sheet. If you tile you sould mold resistant grout or a good grout sealer. Will you be taking pics?

Good luck,
Joe

 

[gunslinger]

Cheech, what kind of meat processing are you going to do? If you are going to hang and age fresh meat, you really need your temps down. I'd say in a basement room that size, you could accomplish this with a good window ac unit and a GOOD filter.

 

[cheech]

Just Learning, Thanks for the ideas, I like them and will see about doing just that.

JoeD yes once I get done I will post pictures.
It will be a while, I have the day off from work and will be cleaning out the room tomorrow. After that it will be money and elbow grease to get it done.

Gunslinger, Most of what I plan to do is salami, sausage and prep. for stuff like pulled pork, maybe some jerky.

I really do not plan on hanging any meat but you never know.

I just need a place to keep all my equipment

 

[cheech]

Just got a load of maple wood that I can make a butcher block out of. Has anyone ever made one before?

 

[gunslinger]

I have built several. What do you want to know? I need to know what type of word working equipment you have access too, to better offer advice on how to build one. There are several different ways.

 

[cheech]

I have a friend that claims anything that I need for wood working he has. The wood I have is about a 1-2inch by 1-2 inch and around 3 feet long.

I would imagine that the finished product would be 2x2 or so. Something that I can use for the stuffer and grinder to sit on, and for cutting up the meat before it even gets to the stuffer

 

[gunslinger]

The first thing you have to do is, make sure none of them strips are bent, twisted, crooked, bowed, warped, etc. I would build it using 1 X 2 strips. If you want 24 inches wide, then you'll need 24 sticks. Run every stick through a planer until the proper thickness is achieved, then through a jointer until proper height is achieved. If the sticks are not the same length, don't worry about it, you'll cut your desired shape once all the strips are glued and and set.
Now is where the the decision making comes in. You can just glue all the joints together and clamp. Or you can drill for dowels, glue and clamp. Or you can cut slots and use biscuits, glue and clamp. My personal preference is to dowel. I have a block that I use pretty regularly that is just glued. I built it over 20 years ago. So gluing alone is not without it's merits. Just be sure, no matter what you do, to get a GOOD water proof wood glue.
There are 2 ways to use dowels. You can drill holes at different intervals and use short dowels, or you can drill all the strips in the same location and use dowels the width of the block. Either way, you need a drill press and a guide of some sort so you drill ALL the holes exactly where they need to be. This is easily achieved with a biscuit cutter, because the cutter has a built in guide, or fence if you will. Dowels and biscuits would just help prevent one or more of the strips from warping. If using dowels, long ones placed every 6 inches is more than sufficient.
Are all the strips the same shade? If not, alternate different shades. It looks cool.
Since you will be working with a lot of strips, I'd glue 6 or 10, clamp and leave them for 24 hours. Then do another 6 or 10 to the ones you've already glued, and leave for 24 hours. Go that way until all are glued and set. Then leave the whole thing clamped good and tight for a week.
Building it the way I've laid out is overkill. But you'll never have to replace it. It will last your lifetime and probably several generations more.
Once everything is dry and cured, You can trim to final shape (I would use a band saw) and decide if you want to trim, or router the edges or leave it. I would router the top edge with a cove or round over bit. Once your edge treatment is done you will need to run the whole thing through a planer again. If the planer won't accommodate a chunk this size, you have to belt sand at least the top to make sure everything is perfectly flat and the excess glue is gone. Then finish sand. I wouldn't apply anything but a food grade oil (i.e. olive, vegetable, peanut) of your liking to the board. Just rub it in with a paper towel.
If you need anymore, or I've missed something, let me know.

 

[cheech]

Wow Gunslinger thanks for the play by play on that. I have some strips in my car to show a guy from work. He has most of what I would need to do this. I have been thinking of using Gorilla glue and am told that will hold most of the wood just fine. I may not do the dowel or biscuit thing just the glue. They are different shades just by nature not that they are drastically different but will still look cool. I am considering taking an old gas grill that I have the frame for and mounting the "board" to it and use it as a table

 

[cheech]

Thanks for your help on this looks like next weekend will will have the table/butcher block started.

I'm trying to figure out what to do for lighting, and for plumbing. Do you think I need to add a garbage disposal or not

 

[gunslinger]

I don't know what to say about a garbage disposal. It would be nice, but mine has 4 legs and is ugly as homemade sin.

 

[cheech]

The sinks that I have are SS and one is built into the table. There is a drain already on it and not sure how tough it will be to find a disposal that would fit the hole or the space between the floor and the bottom of the disposal.