43 Day Dry Aged Ribeye

[meyerbbq]

Hello all, 

Recently my Grandpa and I purchased a 5 bone Rib roast that we decided to dry age in a mini fridge. If anyone is more interested in this he has more info. The plan was to age the piece of meat for 45 days, but I got to anxious and cut it at 43 days. 

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• meyerbbq
• Aug 4, 2016

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• meyerbbq
• Aug 4, 2016

Here's the 3 steaks that I took home for some final trimming

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• meyerbbq
• Aug 4, 2016

Once I got them home, I trimmed 2 of them for supper. 

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• meyerbbq
• Aug 4, 2016

 

 

[meyerbbq]

Now I trimmed them tomahawk style because there was a good bit of fat on the ends, and some of the molded hard shell was still visible. 

For this cook I did the reverse sear method. Cooking at 225* until the steaks are 125* in the center (rotating them when the IT is 90*). The steaks were seasoned with only Course Salt, and Fresh Cracked Black Pepper. Really wanted the flavor of the dry aged beef to shine through!

My Indirect setup, lower rack holds two firebricks.

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• meyerbbq
• Aug 4, 2016

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• meyerbbq
• Aug 4, 2016

I know I didn't fill the firebox very full, but I had just cleaned it all out and threw a couple hand fulls of large pieces in a new bag for this cook. I will be filling it up next weekend when I cook two Boston Butts. But this was enough charcoal to get me thru this cook. 

First part of the cook is done 

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• meyerbbq
• Aug 4, 2016

Steaks resting while the cooker gets up to 500* 

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• meyerbbq
• Aug 4, 2016

Finally all seared off, I put a little squeeze butter on them to add some richness (not that ribeye needs it) at the end while they're resting and tented them with foil for about 5 mins while I got the plates and other stuff ready. 

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• meyerbbq
• Aug 4, 2016

And last but not least, The final product (Insert drumroll here..........)

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• meyerbbq
• Aug 4, 2016

I wanna say a big Thank You to my Grandpa for dry aging this at his home and driving my love for BBQ and meat :cheers:

 

[pit 4 brains]

That looks soooooooooo good!

Can you post some info on your (his) dry aging process and equipment?

 

[meyerbbq]

 
That looks soooooooooo good!

Can you post some info on your (his) dry aging process and equipment?

Sure thing, 

It's a pretty easy setup, We're just using a mini fridge for like pop/beer. In the bottom of the fridge there is a tiny fan that is USB driven. Just enough to get some air flow circulating throughout the fridge. The meat is placed on a cooling rack, and underneath the cooling rack is a small pan of Course grind Kosher Salt. The fridge door was taped shut to ensure a tight seal, and the temp inside the fridge was maintained at 35* for 43 days. 

If you're looking to do something like this, you can use just kosher salt or there is a company www.golbsalt.com that sells a dry aging salt kit with a rack and other accessories. My recommendation is to use something other than your normal fridge because the dry aging smell of beef can fill a fridge/house pretty quickly. It's not a bad odor, but it does permeate  

 

[meyerbbq]

I still have this beast that I will probably cook for my Step Dad for his Birthday 

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• meyerbbq
• Aug 4, 2016

 

[rybro]

If you are able too, how would you compare the flavor and texture of the 43 day dry aged vs a fresh steak? I'm a rookie on this sort of stuff. What is the advantage? 

 

[meyerbbq]

 
If you are able too, how would you compare the flavor and texture of the 43 day dry aged vs a fresh steak? I'm a rookie on this sort of stuff. What is the advantage? 

Hey fellow Iowan! 

First thing you notice about the dry age meat is the sort of nutty aroma that comes from the meat after the aging process. This intensifies the beef flavor IMO, Dry aging also helps with making the meat more tender. This was one of if not the most tender steak I've ever had. The biggest thing I noticed though was the fat, the fat literally melted in your mouth with a strong buttery taste that went well with the meat. 

Here is a great article on dry aging. http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/01/the-food-lab-dry-age-beef-at-home.html

 

[atomicsmoke]

That's some handsome beef. What was the yield?

 

[meyerbbq]

Sadly we forgot to write down the before aging weight. 

My grandpa just did this with a whole sirloin too. Originally it was just over 5lbs, after dry aging it was 4.14lbs. After trimming it weighed in at 3.3lbs of good edible meat. 

 

[SmokinAl]

As you can see from this thread there is really no special equipment needed to dry age beef.

Here are several members processes for dry ageing.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...ustrations-comments-from-multiple-smf-members

By the way your steaks look delicious!

Al

 

[meyerbbq]

 
As you can see from this thread there is really no special equipment needed to dry age beef.

Here are several members processes for dry ageing.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...ustrations-comments-from-multiple-smf-members

By the way your steaks look delicious!

Al

Thanks Al, yeah we didn't use anything fancy on ours, just a tiny fan some salt and a mini fridge 

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Tasty looking "Old Beef" as my in laws call it.

I have to say though, putting squeeze butter on anything, especially a fine aged hunk of beef, one that your grand father tended to, deserves a few licks with a willow stick! Teo days too early would add a few lashes!

 

[pit 4 brains]

 
Sure thing, 

It's a pretty easy setup, We're just using a mini fridge for like pop/beer. In the bottom of the fridge there is a tiny fan that is USB driven. Just enough to get some air flow circulating throughout the fridge. The meat is placed on a cooling rack, and underneath the cooling rack is a small pan of Course grind Kosher Salt. The fridge door was taped shut to ensure a tight seal, and the temp inside the fridge was maintained at 35* for 43 days. 

If you're looking to do something like this, you can use just kosher salt or there is a company www.golbsalt.com that sells a dry aging salt kit with a rack and other accessories. My recommendation is to use something other than your normal fridge because the dry aging smell of beef can fill a fridge/house pretty quickly. It's not a bad odor, but it does permeate  

Thanks for the info. I found some threads on here including the one Al posted in #10 that are packed with good instructions.

I am definitely going to give this a go

 

[atomicsmoke]

Tasty looking "Old Beef" as my in laws call it.

I have to say though, putting squeeze butter on anything, especially a fine aged hunk of beef, one that your grand father tended to, deserves a few licks with a willow stick! Teo days too early would add a few lashes!

Lol , I was going to comment on that too but to each....

 

[b-one]

Tasty looking steak!

 

[mike w]

Yet another project to add to the list! Looks amazing!

 

[mrsmoklestein]

I WISH I had the patience to age my beef, but If you put a prime, black angus rib loin in the fridge at my house there is a 95% chance it's going to turn into a medium-rare prime rib....

Looks AWESOME. 

 

[redheelerdog]

Wonderful process and final product Meyer, thanks for sharing.

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• redheelerdog
• Jul 31, 2016

 

[disco]

Stunning steaks. Points for Dad!

Disco