Personally I ‘ve wondered if the small amount of “air” inside a bag after it has been aging for a while is actually trapped gas from the enzymes in the meat breaking down the tissue. After all that really is what the aging is doing.
Here are the only pictures I have kept before slitting the bag open. This was a NY after 21 days:
This was a ribeye after 28 days:
Another ribeye at 35 days which appears to have the most air of any to date, but it wasn’t a bother:
Sorry but I didn’t take any similar shots of my 45 day or this last 35 day while still in the bag like those above, but here are pictures before cutting and there certainly was no off smell or little green fingers waving howdy to me! Also I do recall there was very little air(gas?).
My 45 day rib eye:
and my 35 day NY just finished:
Two things do come to mind which may be the reason I don’t have a problem:
First after I have worked hard to coax the air out during the sealing process and I’m satisfied with the seal then I go back and do a second seal about 1/2″ further out – not further in.
The other thing is once I place that sub-primal on the rack in the bottom of the refrigerator I never touch it or move it until I’m ready to cut it open. Could it be that during your inspection that breaks the bond being formed between the bag and the meat? It’s just a thought.
Every time though when I peel off the bag it has the tug like peeling the back off of contact paper so I know it skinned well.