dry aging rib roast

[mendozer]

Going to place my order hopefully within the next week. Waiting for a few wholesalers to get back to me. I am wanting a 107 since it has the most "stuff" on it. My reasoning is that I'll have less meat wastage from dry aging. But a meat guy today said no matter what even if I use a 109 or 109A I'm going to lose 50%. That doesn't make sense to me. If the 107 has more stuff like chine bones, rib bones, fat, tiny muscles, etc then shouldn't that stuff dry out and my good rib steaks inside be safe?

And what %RH do you all prefer?

 

[mr t 59874]

 
Going to place my order hopefully within the next week. Waiting for a few wholesalers to get back to me. I am wanting a 107 since it has the most "stuff" on it. My reasoning is that I'll have less meat wastage from dry aging. But a meat guy today said no matter what even if I use a 109 or 109A I'm going to lose 50%. That doesn't make sense to me. If the 107 has more stuff like chine bones, rib bones, fat, tiny muscles, etc then shouldn't that stuff dry out and my good rib steaks inside be safe?

And what %RH do you all prefer?

Don’t understand your numbers, but obviously you do. You can figure 50% weight loss on a 45 day dry aged roast. Better that part of it is bone and fat rather than eating meat.

My roast are aged in 75% RH ± 3%. It is my feeling that this is not critical though. Insure you have good airflow.

Good luck and keep us up to date,

T

 

[mendozer]

Can i prevent excessive loss by salting it first? Just curious since this is my first time trying it and I have 60 lbs of beef coming. Don't want to waste that!

 

[mr t 59874]

 
Can i prevent excessive loss by salting it first? Just curious since this is my first time trying it and I have 60 lbs of beef coming. Don't want to waste that!

Salting it would draw even more moisture out. What do you think about freezing some of that 60 pounds until you decide if you like dry aging or not? 

Loss from trimming is part of dry aging. If you rather not take the loss, I suggest you don't do it.

You can save some trimming by aging it for a shorter time period, but keep in mind, it takes a minimum of 21 days before there is a flavor change at all, it then increases with time.

T

 

[mendozer]

I will be doing one for 45 days then the other will be left for 60 days.

 

[mr t 59874]

 
I will be doing one for 45 days then the other will be left for 60 days.

Curious as to how you came to that decision for your first attempt. I hope that you don’t wish you had gone 30 and 45 days instead. 

T

 

[mendozer]

well I didn't start yet. I get the meat tomorrow. I chose 45 day first because I want the intense flavors. the mushroom, blue cheese, funky good stuff. Why would you recommend 30 first? I've already had 30 (I think) at a restaurant.

 

[mr t 59874]

 
well I didn't start yet. I get the meat tomorrow. I chose 45 day first because I want the intense flavors. the mushroom, blue cheese, funky good stuff. Why would you recommend 30 first? I've already had 30 (I think) at a restaurant.

 Just trying to help insure you enjoy your first undertaking and not be disappointed. Not being aware of what you think you may have had in the past, you can always sample and age further, but you cannot go back.

 If you feel confident in your plan, by all means, go ahead. Hopefully everyone you share it with enjoys the same flavor profile as you. This is the reason that many restaurants that do serve dry aged beef age it for 30 days; it helps in eliminating the shock factor.

The last thing you want to do is to turn someone off dry aged meat because his or her first experience with it was not a favorable one.

Good luck and keep us up to date,

T

 

[atomicsmoke]

I don't want to discourage you but I didn't find mushroom/blue cheese flavours in my 45day aged beef. Maybe my palate is not that sensitive.

It does have an extra umami level than fresh beef (umami being also found in cheese and mushrooms) though.

 

[SmokinAl]

I did 40 days & I think the next time I will go 45.

To me the flavor was just intense beefy flavor.

Al

 

[browneyesvictim]

It seems 45 days is the standard. 30 days is for commercial, yes. I imagine there are certain marketing reasons for that- such as  diminishing returns the longer it ages...

I am just in the infant stage of experimenting with dry aging beef, so I cant really give you any solid advise on anything other than what I have read or regurgitating other members experience.

Mr T has a lot of documentation on this subject and his experience with it here on the forum. I definitely found good insight on what you are asking about.

I am reading into this a bit, but if you are asking about how to minimize loss, I have drawn a couple of conclusions so far.

- First you need to accept a significant amount of loss simply in water weight. You want this as this is part of the "intensifying" effect you are after

- Two- Trimming is inevitable and a fact of dry aging. How much of it will depend on the depth of surface mold and your choice of what you consider "icky". Really, you could just shave the very outer skin off.

Three- Yes, if you start with a bone-in roast and it is untrimmed, you could technically end up with more of a final yield than a boneless pre-trimmed roast. However, you would be starting and paying for more (by weight) to begin with that you must count that you will dispose of anyway and the percentage of loss is naturally going to be more with a bone in roast. Do they offset each other? Maybe... You are definitely gong to have more total waste with a bone in.

Incidentally, there was a post in my FB feed yesterday about a restaurant (from Eater NY) that included a video of a 200 day dry aged bone in rib roast!

 It is cooked in a giant vat of beef fat Sous Vide style then reverse seared in an oven, then sliced and served bone-in.

 

[mendozer]

I know there's loss of product. I've heard 30%, but up to 50%. I wanted to know how I could keep it at 30%. If I age it for 30, then cut half of it (to save the other half for 45) won't I jeopardize more meat of the 45 day cut (since there will be a new fresh face)?

I saw a video of a guy that did almost 400 days dry aged of wagyu beef. Some experimental guy who runs a sushi restaurant. It looked mindblowing.

 

[mr t 59874]

Well, I’m totally confused. First you say you are going to age 60 pounds, then you are going to age two roast, now you are going to do one and cut it in half at 30 days in order to age one half for 45 days.

Why not cut a roast in half now and age both halves properly? You would then be able to measure the loss of one of them at 30 days and then decide if you want to go further.

T

 

[mendozer]

 
Well, I’m totally confused. First you say you are going to age 60 pounds, then you are going to age two roast, now you are going to do one and cut it in half at 30 days in order to age one half for 45 days.

Why not cut a roast in half now and age both halves properly? You would then be able to measure the loss of one of them at 30 days and then decide if you want to go further.

T

my bad. I have 60 lbs of beef. So 30 lbs per rib roast. I don't want to cut one in half at the 30 day mark since it'll expose a fresh face. But if major flavor changes don't take effect until after 30, then why stop at 30? My original plan was 45 for one, 60 for the other. You were inferring that 45 days may be too much of a shock for some people. However, going with a 30 day will still be very tasty. I could even go 30 for one, 60 for the other.

And the reason I don't want to cut them in half now is because that middle cut will become two new edges = more loss.

 

[mendozer]

Day 1.jpg

• mendozer
• Mar 18, 2017

Day 1.

 

[mr t 59874]

Thanks for the picture, looks like you are on your way. Please explain your thoughts on the purpose of the humidifier. You will find that the humidity will be high on it's own in the beginning and decreases as it ages and dries out, that is normal and just fine.

Hopefully your refrigerator has good airflow. You may want to consider replacing the humidifier with a small fan. Also consider removing the drip pans so the air can circulate more freely, there will be no dripping.

Nice fat caps on the meat. That will save trimming some of the good meat. What did you end up getting 109 or 109A?

Later,

T

 

[mendozer]

The humidifier is in there because this is my overall "meat fridge" for salami and stuff too. I don't think it's been turned on at all since. But I left it in there in the event it drops below 50%. But like you said by then perhaps the outer crust is already dried out. 

Plugged into that outlet in the corner is a DC blower angled up. Although that is the humidification outlet (timed to come on only when RH drops below 50%. The thought there was that when the humidifer runs, the blower circulates air more. I also open the fridge daily to check on things. Is that not enough airflow? I thought it wasn't a big deal as long as it's not stale in there

 

[simplyput]

Just ate a 35 day aged New York, that was really pretty incredible. But the beef was also high quality from the start and not commodity garbage.
Bone in rib eyes are better eating than boneless, so for this reason I recommend buying a bone-in roast. That being said, regarding waste, you pay for the bone and (hopefully) don't eat it, so adding that number into your loss equation for a non commercial operation is moot. 
Depending on how your roast was originally cut, with a decent band saw, you can face a bone-in roast and only lose an 1/8 of an inch (which may not even be the totality of the dried out meat you want to remove) or, again depending on how the roast was cut, with a decent knife you can achieve the same result. 

Edit to add: I like to put a wire rack on a sheet pan and place the meat on there, this allows for airflow and catches the drips which do sometimes - albeit rarely, and usually early in the process - occur.

Also, out shops aging chamber (a conventional glass-doored retail fridge) has no additional fan, but does get opened periodically to add and remove product.

 

[mendozer]

some industry guidelines are as follows:

Temp : 32-39 F

RH: 80-85%

Airflow: 1.6-6.6ft/s ( 6.6 ft/sec is .11 CFM. Seems low)

oh and the cut is 107. Painted Hills Sourced

 

[mendozer]

more cool reading 

http://www.beefissuesquarterly.com/CMDocs/BeefResearch/PE_Executive_Summaries/Dry_Aging_of_Beef.pdf