Pro 40 Steakager vs Steak Locker?
I’m on my third go around dry aging with Umai bags in the home fridge. Today was the mail in the coffin on me pulling the trigger to buy a home unit of some kind.
I’m 5 days into doing a NY strip loin. I open to fridge to find a mess! Somebody knocked over a jar of some sauce stuff my wife made. It went all over the fridge. Thank goodness it did not get all over the Umai bag. When I started cleaning it I realized ugh the fridge was kinda on the nasty side. Needed a deep cleaning.
To prevent from getting anything on the meat I pulled it out and cleaned the heck outta the fridge. However I did not use any chemicals other than mild dish detergent. I just wiped everything out really well.
By the time I was done the surface temp of the meat was about 58 degrees. Caused me to feel a bit stressed. I used a choice grade loin. I decided I was not ready to go premium with these bags. I I’m sure noting was damaged. Made me realize I need a dedicated unit.
I usually do a complete deep cleaning on the fridge before I try these dry aging bags. First two go arounds turned out perty darn good. I’ve eaten meat that was professionally dry aged. This was not 100% as good probably 95% as much.
Anyway this experience made me realize I’m going to continue to dry age and butcher my own meat and I need a dedicated unit.
I’m going to purchase one of these listed above. If I had the money I’d buy the smaller Dryager but that’s like 4K. Maybe one day. I’ve read many many reviews about the two units I’m looking at. The pro Steakager is basically an upgrade to an existing fridge cost about 1000 bucks. The other one is a purpose built unit. Cost about 1600-1800 bucks. I’m not concerned with the price difference. I’ve read a lot of good things about both units. However I’ve read that the Steak Locker unit has horrible customer service I’ve read horror stories of the machines breaking and loosing a lot of money worth of meat. Then getting the go around from the company.
If I noticed a problem I’d probably immediately remove the meat cut it up trim it and freeze it. If your dry aging got cut short it’s not going to hurt anything. However if I spent almost 2k on a fridge and it broke I’d be pissed. So I don’t know if these customer service complaints are real or just pissed off people.
Anyway do any of you have either of these units? Which one would you go with?
I’m on my third go around dry aging with Umai bags in the home fridge. Today was the mail in the coffin on me pulling the trigger to buy a home unit of some kind.
I’m 5 days into doing a NY strip loin. I open to fridge to find a mess! Somebody knocked over a jar of some sauce stuff my wife made. It went all over the fridge. Thank goodness it did not get all over the Umai bag. When I started cleaning it I realized ugh the fridge was kinda on the nasty side. Needed a deep cleaning.
To prevent from getting anything on the meat I pulled it out and cleaned the heck outta the fridge. However I did not use any chemicals other than mild dish detergent. I just wiped everything out really well.
By the time I was done the surface temp of the meat was about 58 degrees. Caused me to feel a bit stressed. I used a choice grade loin. I decided I was not ready to go premium with these bags. I I’m sure noting was damaged. Made me realize I need a dedicated unit.
I usually do a complete deep cleaning on the fridge before I try these dry aging bags. First two go arounds turned out perty darn good. I’ve eaten meat that was professionally dry aged. This was not 100% as good probably 95% as much.
Anyway this experience made me realize I’m going to continue to dry age and butcher my own meat and I need a dedicated unit.
I’m going to purchase one of these listed above. If I had the money I’d buy the smaller Dryager but that’s like 4K. Maybe one day. I’ve read many many reviews about the two units I’m looking at. The pro Steakager is basically an upgrade to an existing fridge cost about 1000 bucks. The other one is a purpose built unit. Cost about 1600-1800 bucks. I’m not concerned with the price difference. I’ve read a lot of good things about both units. However I’ve read that the Steak Locker unit has horrible customer service I’ve read horror stories of the machines breaking and loosing a lot of money worth of meat. Then getting the go around from the company.
If I noticed a problem I’d probably immediately remove the meat cut it up trim it and freeze it. If your dry aging got cut short it’s not going to hurt anything. However if I spent almost 2k on a fridge and it broke I’d be pissed. So I don’t know if these customer service complaints are real or just pissed off people.
Anyway do any of you have either of these units? Which one would you go with?
