Make Your Own Dry Age Beef Fridge

Paul is a barbecue enthusiast. He is currently grilling and smoking on a Komodo Kamado Ultimate 23.

Two whole primal cuts of beef aging. — Two whole central cuts of beef crumbling.

Why Dry out-Age Beef?

I'g a big fan of the rich smell and flavor of dry-aged beef. Information technology has a distinct, about-cheese-like flavor; a funky, deep scent; and is tender like no other steak. The problem is that information technology's so damn expensive. I picked up two USDA Prime bone-in rib optics that were anile over 40 days, and it price $26 per pound. Without the os, information technology's $32 per pound, and the leaner New York strips are $24 per pound. For my family of five, it easily tops $100 to buy dry-aged steaks for a bbq dinner. And so, I came home and told my married woman that I honey dry-anile beefiness, but we can't beget it, then I need to figure out how to make information technology myself.

After 40 Hours of Inquiry Here Is What You Demand to Dry-Historic period at Home

First, I went to my butcher and asked how to do it. I got some pretty basic instructions.

Go a mini fridge with racks big enough to hold a very big cut of beef—upward to xx lbs.
Put a fan it information technology and prepare it on low.
Become a UV-C light to impale bacteria in the fridge.
Become a gunny sack and fill with fibroid salt to identify in the bottom of the fridge.
Go a Hydrometer to measure the humidity. Add together a tray of water to get the humidity to 60-eighty%.
Place a large cut of rib center or New York strip on wire racks.
Wait at least 40 days.

These guys are experts, and I'm aiming for beef that tastes like theirs. But it seemed a bit intimidating to become information technology all setup to produce a dry-aging environment similar this.

This led me to the adjacent stride in my inquiry process. Should I buy a fridge designed to dry-age meat? I looked extensively at The Steakager. The Steakager does a fine job by all accounts, but information technology has ii major limitations:

It cost $250 for the device.
Information technology won't hold an unabridged sub-fundamental cut of beef.

I too looked at a German language-made Steak Locker. This $1,500 device is the total Cadillac of dry-aging fridges. It has all the equipment congenital-in, and every review I establish touted it for producing great steak, controlling pungent smells, and cleaning. The ii issues for me are the price tag and fourth dimension it takes to go delivered.

So, I was back to researching options and thinking through if I wanted to invest the time and money to do dry aging at home.

Here is the basic and minimal list of equipment to dry-age at habitation

Refrigerator
Wire-raised racks
Fan

Humidity and Leaner

I had two major questions. How important is controlling the humidity and the leaner to the process? As my research connected, I constitute folks had gone to great lengths to command the humidity in a fridge that is virtually impossible to do without the feature congenital-in, which is usually only bachelor in commercial refrigerators. The second thing I learned about the touch of humidity is that during the dry-crumbling process, the outer layer of the meat dries and seals. This procedure traps the remaining moisture inside the meat. So, the humidity doesn't play a meaning part in developing the flavor or preserving the meat. Numerous forums report outstanding results with dry out-aging at abode with Hygrometer readings of thirty% to over 80%. Some people report fantastic results when they constantly open and shut the frig and humidity varies wildly. Net internet, I decided humidity doesn't matter for dry-aging.

I struggled more with the effect of bacteria and if I needed a UV-C light. Once over again I went to numerous forums and blogs and I constitute people reporting great results with and without, so I kept asking if information technology actually mattered. I decided it couldn't hurt, and then I went to Amazon to become one shipped overnight, but I couldn't detect exactly what I was looking for. I went to my local hardware store and one time again I couldn't discover what I wanted, so I decided the steak gods were telling me I didn't need information technology. And then, I decided to go on without a lite.

My Very Simple Dry Aging Setup

Then, I decided to head to Costco to buy a $150 mini frig. When I establish the fridge, it was on a loftier shelf, and so I couldn't get it downwards. That's when I decided to employ my actress fridge in the garage. Here'southward my setup.

Medium-sized frig with grated racks (utilize raised racks if your refrigerator has solid shelves)
Ii aluminum pans with optional table salt placed on the bottom to grab drippings (Optional)
Firm fan

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What to Dry-Age First

Since I was at Costco, I decided to purchase a large New York strip and a big prime rib. Both were USDA Selection that cost $5.99 and $half-dozen.99 per pound. I went with Choice because information technology's less expensive than Prime and I'chiliad not certain that there is a huge difference in quality between the ii.

I placed both pieces on the rack, switched the fan on low, and started the process.

How Long Should Beef Historic period?

The entire indicate of dry out-aging is to create the virtually tender and flavorful steak. The fan circulates air around the beef, the outer layer seals in the juices, then the enzymes in the beef go to work slowly breaking down the meat to make it tender and producing the robust smell and flavor.

One time once again, I poured over blogs, taste tested several steaks, plus relied on my experience.

1-21 days. Why bother. There is niggling to no alter in flavor. If the steak is aged 21 days, it only has a small hint of actress flavor.
22-28 days. Mild to medium increases in flavor. I'd still consider it hardly worth the fourth dimension and trouble.
29-45 days. Robust flavour profile develops. In that location is a significant difference between day 29 and 45. Each day it gets more robust.
46-xc. Yep, information technology keeps getting richer and funkier. My female parent said it tasted rotten. I disagreed, only it was funkier than I liked at 65 days.

Depending on personal preference, I'd suggest crumbling 35-60 days. This volition cover most preferences and for most people that savour a very rich slice of red meat, target 45 days.

Employ Whole Untrimmed Sections of Beef

When information technology comes to selecting meat to dry out age, ownership a big piece that is untrimmed (all the fatty withal on) is preferred. For a Prime rib, I'd become information technology bone in if available.

Pieces of meat with big fat layers are typically less expensive and they will preserve the yields. Many butchers say they accuse more because dry out-crumbling wastes upwardly to xxx%, but the folks at SeriousEats dispute this. They say that in that location is little meat loss because the fat is trimmed off at the end and that since meat seals, information technology stops losing moisture. This may be ane of the biggest price gouging misnomers of beefiness eating carnivores to ever hit their wallets.

My experience and research supports this for Prime ribs with the fat layer and the basic, there is actually niggling waist. Every bit an experiment, I smoked beefiness ribs low and slow that started at the approximate same size. I set of beef ribs is aged 45 days and i is vacuum packed. Smoked, and braised both sets for iv hours. Although in that location is shrinking during the dry-crumbling process, the end event is but most the same amount of meat, but they do have different flavor profiles. The difference is the dry out-aged beef shrinks less during the actual cooking considering it starts with less water weight. The net is the amount of meat is about the same after grilling.

Dry-Anile Rib Center

The end cut off to see the drying pattern. Pro Tip: Rotate the meat every week. This dries the meat more evenly — The cease cut off to run across the drying pattern. Pro Tip: Rotate the meat every calendar week. This dries the meat more than evenly

Fully trimmed rib eye dry aged at home ready to grill! — Fully trimmed rib heart dry aged at home prepare to grill!

Dry-Aged Rib Eye

When I pulled the rib eye at 43 days, I jumped the gun by ii days because I actually wanted a bang-up steak dinner and I had the time to set it.

The first thing I noticed that the meat develops a tough rhine with some spots. I wasn't certain if it was a fatty eolith or mold, but information technology was just on the surface. I've seen dry-aged meat done by professionals with these aforementioned types of spots, so I wasn't concerned. It takes a really sharp knife to trim it. So, I sharpened my butchers knife and trimmed all the portions that were extra dark or appeared to be dried out from the circulating air.

I didnt break the ribeye down to private steaks, only instead chose to grill it equally 2 roasts at a depression temperature of 250-300 degrees seasoned with common salt and pepper until it reached an internal temp of 125 degrees.

Dry-aged meat cooks more quickly than regular steaks considering more of the moisture has been removed through the crumbling process. Information technology took about ii hours and my prime number rib roast was ready.

Would my roast taste similar the expensive butcher? Aye! It had the funky notes and it was very tender and extremely rich. The only bad news is it was so rich, I simply ate two 1 inch sliced steaks. We invited friends over that are well versed in the flavor of dry-anile beefiness and they agreed, information technology had the same characteristics of professionally aged beef.

My married woman was still a scrap nervous and she asked me if I thought nosotros could get ill from it. I had trimmed off the parts that looked bad, but the steak was still a very nighttime red. I told her we would know the next day. The next day came and people wanted to eat more, and then I figured information technology was a nifty success!

Dry-Aged, Trimmed NY Steak

After 45 days of aging, there is still a small amount of blood in a trimmed steak. — After 45 days of aging, there is nonetheless a small corporeality of claret in a trimmed steak.

Dry-Anile New York Strip

My wife prefers the leaner New York Strip steak to the fattier ribeye. Just her luck, I dry-aged a whole strip steak. I pulled information technology at 45 days of aging.

Over again, I sharpened my large butchers knife. Starting at one end I sliced off the end to get rid of the part that had been dried out to get the deep carmine portion exposed. And so I sliced information technology into almost twelve 1 inch steaks. And then I trimmed off the edges of the steaks. There was quite a bit more waiste with the New York strips because the bottom of the cutting was all lean beef. I cut off about three/8 of an inch to get to the good part of the beef. The other side was almost all fat, so trimming that off didn't waste any meat. Note to self. Research large cuts of beefiness that are surrounded by fat for aging. This way there will be little to no waste.

On to the flavour. Information technology'due south incredible. Amend than I expected. Perhaps the actress 2 days mattered or possibly there is a difference in the cuts of meat. It has a hint of blue cheese and a nice musky flavour in each tender bite! So skillful.

I'yard off to Costco tomorrow to get two more big cuts of beef. Hopefully, a large bone in Prime Rib and some other side of New York strip to stock the freezer!