# Home Dry aged Ribeyes



## rahimlee54 (Apr 25, 2013)

I have been dry aging a couple of Ribeye roasts to test out my technique and see what day aging I prefer. Today was the 30th day so I plan on pulling some tomorrow night for dinner. I didn't have access to bone-in rib eyes so if this goes well, I'll get a membership to costco where I can get whole bone in. I took pictures weekly to share, but neglected to take initial weights so I can't give water loss and total loss numbers. Each shot was around 7-8 days apart at the start of each week. The first steaks will be at 30 days and the second set will be 45 days.





Week one




Week two




Week three




Week 4




Day 30

I originally had a humidifier in there but that was messing up how the fridge functioned, so I'll need to play around with that a little more but they look fine and mold free so I am pretty pleased. Hopefully they taste ok as well.


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## Mrmnms (Apr 25, 2013)

Looking forward to seeing the end results.


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## Deckhand (Apr 25, 2013)

Really interested to hear your opinions on how it turned out.


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## ThEoRy (Apr 25, 2013)

Looks good. Done right, you lose about 1% moisture per day almost.


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## AFKitchenknivesguy (Apr 25, 2013)

Please post results as soon as you take your first bite!


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## knyfeknerd (Apr 26, 2013)

Since you don't have the humidifier, what are you using to control the relative humidity?
What temp is the fridge set at?
You live close to me and didn't come to my get-together, so I think you should make amends by bringing me steakies!
I have a Costco AND Restaurant Depot membership as well, if you like......................


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## wellminded1 (Apr 26, 2013)

Just a word of caution, the costco by me( I live in canada) needle their ribeye to "tenderize" and recommend a higher cooking temp. I do not understand why they do this as it is only pushing the surface bacteria into and through out the meat. Just a thought.


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## apicius9 (Apr 26, 2013)

I can just see my Mom throwing away that 'rotten' meat... Looking forward to hearing how they turn out!

Stefan


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## rahimlee54 (Apr 26, 2013)

knyfeknerd said:


> Since you don't have the humidifier, what are you using to control the relative humidity?
> What temp is the fridge set at?
> You live close to me and didn't come to my get-together, so I think you should make amends by bringing me steakies!
> I have a Costco AND Restaurant Depot membership as well, if you like......................



I could be inclined to swing that way. 

The temp for the fridge initially was around 34, I ran the cool mist humidifier for about 7-10 days. On the last day I used it my fridge temp began to get hotter from 40 to 50 to 60. I removed the steak around 50 and put them in the house fridge while I figured out what was wrong with it. It turns out that the dehumidifier for my particular model was in the freezer and there was a passage to the refrigerator to the freezer that cycled the air and controlled the temp. Condensation had frozen in the passage and stopped the flow of air making the refrigerator think it was cold. I defrosted this and put the steak back in and adjust the temp up to 36-40. I think the fridge got to cold when the compressor kicked in and the humidity was to much for the refrigerator to handle. I am going to put it back in and play around with it once the steak is done and see if I can get it to all run together or maybe just cycle the humidifier when I am home. The initial crust had formed so I just decided to go without the humidifier after that to avoid wasting the steak and the time I already had invested. I am sure the humidity was at 100% when I ran it, but I am going to try the lowest setting and see if I can get everything working. If you guys do try this be aware of how your dehumidifier works but based on what I could find online from a couple of places humidity isn't the biggest factor but air flow. I checked the temp with the thermapen that is accurate to plus or minus 0.7, and then used an old meat thermometer which was very close to the thermapen reading. 

I didnt grab a hygrometer as I just wanted to give this a go and figured I could just punt and hope. The fridge I use is dedicated at the moment to meat but I put drinks and stuff in the door and it works fine but it doesn't get opened but around twice a day.


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## Duckfat (Apr 26, 2013)

Opening a dry aging chamber this size twice a day will have an enormous impact on your humidity. If you want to use this unit as an aging chamber stop putting drinks in it. The last thing you want is to consume beverages with bacteria on the containers especially at those humidity levels. I'd suggest next time around you do not cut your loin in half. This is counter productive for a few reasons; one you increase your loss due to the extra surface you will need to cut away and your protein will dry excessively fast this way. I'd suggest shooting for a 25% loss in 45 days. If you exceed that rate by more than double you end up dehydrating your meat more than aging it. There's no reason you can't leave the loin whole, cut off steaks and then put the loin back in your chamber for further aging.
I'd consider a smaller fan that you can place where it's not blowing directly on your protein. You can get small digital hygrometer units at tobacco shops on line for $25-35. If your humidity gets too high add salt to the chamber.
FWIW Costco only needles prime grade individual steaks in the US, Not whole loins in the cryo.


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## rahimlee54 (Apr 26, 2013)

Thanks for the info sir. I figured drinks in the door werent the best but I went with it. I cut them up to try out different days aged, one will be 30 and the second 45. Once I decide which I like the best I'll do a whole prime slab. The opening was mostly to monitor and check the temp, as I only had one way to do that.  If this is successful I'll buy the rest of the kit hygrometer and perhaps an outside temperature controller and external thermometer. 

This is an initial trial so I am just experimenting here, thanks for the feedback I will apply this info.


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## Duckfat (Apr 26, 2013)

It takes a while to get a system worked out but IMO it's time and $$$ well spent. Don't overlook wet aging beef as an option as well. You can get excellent results aging a whole loin in the fridge for 3-4 weeks and then letting it air dry for a week or so. This is much simpler with a lot less loss but the flavor profile is also much different.


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## wenus2 (Apr 26, 2013)

You might check this out, just a display, no control function.
Saves you from opening the door though.
http://www.thermoworks.com/products/humidity/rt817e.html

For control also Auber Ins makes a unit. I think it will control temp and humidity for around $130, iirc


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## wenus2 (Apr 26, 2013)

Here it is, $110. not too bad.
http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=37&products_id=265

Pretty slick looking unit.


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## wenus2 (Apr 26, 2013)

Anybody try UMAi dry bags?
Smokingpit.com gave them a good review a while back. Been considering giving thema try.


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## rahimlee54 (Apr 26, 2013)

Duckfat said:


> It takes a while to get a system worked out but IMO it's time and $$$ well spent. Don't overlook wet aging beef as an option as well. You can get excellent results aging a whole loin in the fridge for 3-4 weeks and then letting it air dry for a week or so. This is much simpler with a lot less loss but the flavor profile is also much different.



A local butcher who sells pretty high end stuff told me to put the fan right on the meat, that is how his commercial chamber was set up and to turn it as high as possible. I was thinking about adding a second fan to this as well.


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## rahimlee54 (Apr 28, 2013)

Here is the roast before





First cut





What is left and waste pile





Yield was four steaks about this size


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## AFKitchenknivesguy (Apr 28, 2013)

Looks good...need some results!


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## wenus2 (Apr 29, 2013)

Yeah, looks good. How did it taste?


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## wilburh (Apr 29, 2013)

I've got a humidity controller here somewhere that I bought and didn't need. I'll try to find it and send it to you if you like. Would maybe save you a few bucks ($30 I think) if you were designing a "make do" system.


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## rahimlee54 (Apr 30, 2013)

Sorry about the delay on the thoughts. I prepared the steaks sous vide and finished in a hot cast iron skillet with the stove top and simultaneous MAPP. The steak was about as good as any I have had recently and probably top ten. The texture was ultra tender but the flavor hadn't developed as much as I had anticipated. These steaks did cook differently so I'll have to adjust that for my next batch but still a really delicious steak none the less. I'll pull the 45 days next Friday and put some finished pictures up of the cooked steaks, we were in such a hurry it slipped my mind this go. 

I'll end up buying the rest of the equipment I need and doing a whole rib this time, I hope I am able to get a bone in prime from costco for the next go, although the choice here was very good as well.


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## Duckfat (Apr 30, 2013)

I haven't been seeing very many Prime grade sub-primals in cryo @ Costco lately. They always seem to slow down on the prime meat program in the summer here but as it gets later in the season and closer to the Holidays they often have Prime grade bone in rib eye. I did score a couple of CAB choice strip loins at rock bottom price last week. One is wet aging now and I ground one for burger.


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## AFKitchenknivesguy (May 1, 2013)

Interesting, I would not have went sous vide on those. Do you think that might have affected the final product? After all, you did dry age them, then introduced them to a wet preparation (and of course the sear after).


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## rahimlee54 (May 4, 2013)

AFKitchenknivesguy said:


> Interesting, I would not have went sous vide on those. Do you think that might have affected the final product? After all, you did dry age them, then introduced them to a wet preparation (and of course the sear after).



I have been doing alot of steaks like that lately just messing around and trying different temps so I wanted to see how they compared. I am going to do the next either grill or cast iron and evaluate. The prep could have had an effect but I'll have to try at least back to back days of eating to be sure. I'll probably be eating the 45 day samples next weekend so I'll add a few pics of that and cut the steaks to my normal size just to be sure. The roasts are so small though that means like 2 steaks .


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## Bill13 (May 7, 2013)

I usually just dry them for 3 weeks, my wife wants her shelf space back after that. Even so they are always great, unless I over cook them:O.


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## El Pescador (May 7, 2013)

AFKitchenknivesguy said:


> Interesting, I would not have went sous vide on those. Do you think that might have affected the final product? After all, you did dry age them, then introduced them to a wet preparation (and of course the sear after).



Feeling the same way. I hate sous vide steaks as they lack depth. They end up tasting kinda potroast-y.


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## cnochef (May 7, 2013)

I buy 90-day aged strip loins from my excellent local butcher and I always do them in my cast iron skillet, 4 minutes per side. The flavor is mind-blowing. I don't know if any sous-vide steak could ever compare although I agree it's great for cuts like short ribs.


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