Dry Age Setup

[benfeng]

See pics below of an attempted dry age setup in my garage.
Dedicated fridge with temperature and humidity controllers and fan for air flow.
Humidity controller is wired to a cool mist humidifier.
According to my research, desired parameters are 1-3 degrees C, 75-85% relative humidity, with reasonable airflow.
(temp is a bit high on the pic - taken after I'd just open the door)

Have 4 pieces of striploin (not as quality as I would have liked, but good enough for a trial on the maiden voyage). Hoping to dry one to 21 days, another 30, another 45 and the other 60 days. Trim them, cut into steaks, vacuum seal and freeze (while waiting for the others to finish), then get some peoples in for some taste tests of all.

Question - wondering whether I should be adding a UV lamp (standard aquarium supplies) to help kill any airborne bacteria.
Any comments anyone on what they've done, or similar setups, or any criticisms of this method or comments on home dry aging in general?

[dtassinari]

No advice to offer, sadly, but I'll be following this very closely

[Pirate Scott]

Interesting setup, did you put that together? They look like Dixell controls.

[benfeng]

Yep, basically followed instructions here: http://benstarr.com/blog/how-to-conv...-aging-cheese/

[Pirate Scott]

Good Stuff, thanks.

[Oakgrovebacon]

That should work very well, I have aged several pcs of beef ( ribeye and strip loin) in just a regular fridge for up to 28 days and was very pleased with results. 21-28 days is great IMO. I will be watching for more posts to see your results.

[HorseDoctor]

That setup should work very well. I can't imagine that a UV light would be necessary or beneficial. I'm betting the 30 day will win out unless you have tasters that are really used to the "funkyness" of longer dry aged process. Enjoy!

[benfeng]

27 days later (couldn't wait the extra day!), I've got the first piece out to trial (decided to skip the 21 day one - no one online seemed to recommend)
Bit disappointed to be honest - reverse seared a couple of pieces on my primo: I probably put it on a bit early (hardly up to temp), so steaks took a fair while to come up to temperature ready to sear, which possibly dried it too much.
Taste was reasonably bland: definitely not strong meaty flavour, although fairly tender. Not juicy all all. It ran away on me and I overcooked a bit cause i left too long to sear - probably around medium and didn't have a good a sear as I would have liked.
Sorry no pic of it cooked - forgot.

When it came out of the fridge, it had shrunk quite a bit, and i trimmed off a reasonable amount of fat and crust on the outside.
It smelt pretty neutral: definitely not funky or strong meaty or anything.
I also found that the meat was almost frozen in some spots - you could see tiny icicles here and there - wondering if this was the problem? Too cold to age properly?
Fridge has averaged around 0.3-0.7C, but maybe it was colder than that in reality?
Original meat was not as quality as I would have liked - got my sister in law to pick up a piece cause i was out of town and it was on special, but it turned out to be budget cut that was on special.

I'll leave the rest in there for another week and try another piece.

Anyone got any tips or comments on where I might have gone wrong?

[Lion]

I just joined the club - mainly because I am about to start my own dry aging project. New mini fridge arriving next week, about to order the new Fireboard thermometer. Have been reading all there is to read past few weeks.
Sad to read you were disappointed with your first trials, the clue has to be the icicles you found. All the articles list +1 to +4 °C (34 to 38 °F).
Cold temperatures will influence chemical reactions. Did you calibrate your thermocouples? See what readings you get when placing them in melting ice... check out "ice point calibration" for the exact method.
I am planning to use a 3" diameter computer fan as I worry that anything larger is likely to generate heat. Also I wonder whether your humidifier was necessary, although you appear to have succeeded the drying process very well with no mould. My plan is to follow suggestions to use a pan with salt (course sea salt, not the pink Himalayan variety).
Like you I'm also considering a small 3w UV-C light. The SteakAger (https://www.thesteakager.com/how-it-works/) comes with a UV light. Even if not 100% necessary, it can't hurt and the cost is negligable.
Somewhere on this site I read that Meathead advises against doing your own dry aging... I'm pleased to see there is much interest in the subject anyway!
Good luck with the next batch!!

[DeusDingo]

since it is a normal fridge i would imagine that you would get swings to under 0 degrees C in order for it to work back up to your target. i would think it works like an oven where the appliance works on averages and not precise, constant temps.

[HorseDoctor]

Agree with your suspicion that your fridge may have been too cold to get as much "aging" accomplished as you maybe wanted. Probably more importantly, I suspect you probably started with "select" grade meat. Even dry aging can't "make a silk purse out of a sow's ear". System looks like it's working well though.

[BriggsBBQ]

Interesting. I have thought about doing this myself but never made time but I was going to do pork leg. I did a tenderloin a long time ago in umai bag and it turned out good. But do not remember the days and such. Really I am writing because when you make a post I want to see what the results will be. Experiments like this always get me interested.

[Sephon]

I also did this with a dedicated fridge and computer fan. I didn't add any humidifier.

My meat also froze and it was the exact same, bland, but tender.

I increased the temperature and found that changed everything. Also, I found that the flavor didn't really start to change until 28 days. Tenderness absolutely improved before that mark, but the flavor of 14 and 25 day was almost identical. The only difference was tenderness.

I've been doing this now for about a year with great success. I have found the best cut is a bone-in, fat cap intact Ribeye roast. Much more of the meat is protected so there is less waste.

[GadjetGriller]

I stupidly bought a Steakager didn't fit in the mini fridge (it was wide enough and actually deep enough until you factor in the doors protrusions then it did fit, So had to go buy a bigger mini fridge. The steakager has a UV light, 3 fans 1 to pull excess moisture out of the unit and 2 to circulate the air constantly inside the unit. (it has been determined that the 2 fans are overkill and actually dry out the meat faster (21 days is as far as you really want to take it) it also had a bag of salt ti put in the bottom to absorb any moisture that didnt get pulled out the top fan. Anyway the 21 day aged stuff I did was good but the shrinkage was not. It was half the size it was before. Since buying it the cover just a piece of lexan (which is not attached) fell off and broke into 4 pieces. The company quickly sent me a replacement which was for the new smaller version (IE didn't fit mine, they dont carry the ones for mine anymore??) Anywho since wasting that money a few people on here have just done like you ( a couple with even less add ons) and come out with great results. your pictures look fine so I don't know?? A UV light is Cheap and cant hurt keeps the smell down and will kill a lot of bad bacteria keep us informed I may just turn my old fridge into one!!

[GadjetGriller]

Here is a Youtuber I came across while doing my research. He has gone though about 5 versions each one getting bigger and more elaborate. Makes me wish I lived in a big city where the stuff he has is available on Craigs list. here is the very 1st video he did (there are like 6 or 8 more) https://youtu.be/3UaNDaZLSIg

[EdF]

35 days. W ill do 45 next time. It was good, better than not having been done, but I want more umami flavor.

[benfeng]

Thanks guys, very helpful.
Sounds like it was too cold - I've set the temperature up a couple of degrees from last week, and see if that saves any of it.
I also added a UVC light a couple of weeks ago just for good luck.

Friend of mine commented that he's never been enthralled with dry-aged sirloin, even from a great butcher - reckons dry-aged rib-eye is significantly better flavour?

System seems to work ok - i just need to get the settings right and probably get a decent hunk of meat in there.
Sephon what temperature setting did you find best?

[Sephon]

I shoot for an average of 36.