Please be aware that, if you store anything in the freezer compartment of a garage refrigerator in the winter, there is a possibility that it will thaw. It seems counterintuitive, but during prolonged periods of chilly weather, 40 degF and below, your refrigerator will not cycle on and off, and therefore the freezer compartment may NOT remain frozen, but instead thaw and heat up to something approaching 40 degrees. A couple of weeks there and your beloved sausage is the only thing worse than dead meat- - it's alive (with bacteria) meat.
As long as the refrigerator is not cycling, the freezer compartment can heat up to outside (ambient) conditions. If this condition lasts long enough, the contents of the freezer will spoil.
This happened to me last year and I didn't realize it- - some frozen meat that I had hidden away for later sausage manufacture became "stinky." I threw it out, and assumed that somehow I had contaminated it. I had at first suspected a tripped breaker or a refrigerator breakdown, but neither had occurred.
I went out to check my refrigerator/freezer this morning after an ice storm and found that the freezer, which normally runs 15 to 20 degF, was at 30. Once I realized what was happening, I quickly loaded out everything and moved it to the freezer compartment in the house, where it's safe. I now theorize that the previous problem was due to the freezer compartment remaining above freezing, possibly for weeks, when the outside temperature hovered below 40 degF, allowing the freezer contents to spoil.
Stay safe! ...and consider using a thermocouple-type meat thermometer in your freezer compartment.
Duk
Daily inventing new ways to screw up, since 1945
