40 day dry aged boneless ribeye with a fridge, fan and sensor push...nothing fancy.

[meatsweats86]

I've been wanting to try dry aged meat, but couldn't bring myself to pay the prices in restaurant or supermarket. I needed more fridge room anyways so I picked up an almost new full size fridge on craigslist for $150. I bought the sensor push to monitor my temps and a battery operated fan to get some air flow.

17.5lb boneless choice ribeye was purchased from Sams club for $8.88/lb. I cut half into 1.5" thick steaks and froze them which left me with about 9.5lbs to dry age.

I sanitized the fridge and placed the meat inside on a cooling rack for air flow. Sensor push on one side and fan on the other. My average temp was 36.5° and average humidity was 34.9%.

You could smell the beefy aroma after 40 days and it created a nice pellicle. I had no brown or funky mold. I would guess it weighed 1.5lbs less after 40 days.

I kept one of the original steaks for comparison. Salt and pepper on both and cooked to 130° and let them rest. I took a think layer off the pellicle, but left most on as I wanted to taste the umami beefiness.

I was a little disappointed in the results. The regular steak was more tender and juicy and the dry aged steak had a little more beefier flavor, but I was expecting some funk and melt in my mouth.

Any suggestions for the next round? I think I will go 45 days doing the exact same method and maybe try a boneless Prime ribeye this time.

 

[atomicsmoke]

It's probably a typo: you can't end up with a 1.5lb dry aged beef when you start with 9.5lb


Pellicle? You should have a thick crust after 40 days, not just a pellicle. And that has to come off, as is dry, chewy and unappetizing.

You are overthinking the process. You don't need sensors, just a working fridge and space around the roast.

I learnt here that the meat gets more tender in the first 30 days, but only starts developing the typical flavour after that. Since you aged 40 days it should have been tasty. But the fact that you did not have the characteristic dark thick crust tells me somethig went sideways.
In my experience dry aged steak can be cooked rarer than regular steak. So if you like medium cook dry aged steak medium rare.

Also, when you buy the roast look for one with thick fat cap and bone in (trim less meat).

Here is mine
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/prime-rib-aging.255918/page-3#post-1772106

 

[meatsweats86]

It's probably a typo: you can't end up with a 1.5lb dry aged beef when you start with 9.5lb


Pellicle? You should have a thick crust after 40 days, not just a pellicle. And that has to come off, as is dry, chewy and unappetizing.

You are overthinking the process. You don't need sensors, just a working fridge and space around the roast.

I learnt here that the meat gets more tender in the first 30 days, but only starts developing the typical flavour after that. Since you aged 40 days it should have been tasty. But the fact that you did not have the characteristic dark thick crust tells me somethig went sideways.
In my experience dry aged steak can be cooked rarer than regular steak. So if you like medium cook dry aged steak medium rare.

Also, when you buy the roast look for one with thick fat cap and bone in (trim less meat).

Here is mine
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/prime-rib-aging.255918/page-3#post-1772106

The side caps had about 1/4" hard crust and bottom and top had about 1/8" crust that I removed. I have the sensor in the fridge to make sure it doesn't go above 40°. I am gone most weekends and want to know if my power goes out and fridge goes above temp causing the meat to spoil....Cheap insurance! I was also told some moderate air flow will help with the drying so I threw a $10 fan inside.

Next time I'll be doing a prime boneless or bone in if I can find it and going for 50 days.

 

[Scott Eisenbraun]

That ribeye had beautiful fine marbling throughout. Had to be tender. I know one of the famous steak houses uses salt blocks in their aging room to enhance flavor. Could try a Himalayan salt block in the refrigerator as an experiment.