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Barry593,
I find that a whole NY strip fits in the “sub-primal” bag quite well. A whole ribeye is a slightly tighter fit, but the sub-primal is my go-to bag for those sizes.
I admit that I made a bit of a mistake, there. I stocked up on the sub-primal size, thinking that I’d be mostly aging ribeye. But at 30 days each, the feedback I’ve gotten is that the sirloin is a little more flavorful, a little more tender, and a lot less fatcap waste. (Jury is still out – we’ve got a full NY strip loin to test yet.) But I may have stocked up on the wrong size bag, because wasteful or not, sirloin needs to go into the “brisket / short loin” size.
I am continually delighted by the chamber sealer. Mine is a Vacmaster VP112 that I got through WebStaurant for under $600. I still use the Sinbo for some sizes of drybagging, but the chamber sealer is so much more predictable. I do a fair bit of correspondence with the ARY people, and I think almost every letter starts out “I’m _still_ in love with my VP112.”
The VP112 is much more designed for home use. If you’ve seen commercial units they are a big metal box with a domed lid. The VP112 is much lower-profile. I’m still concerned about the longevity of the lid, but it fits on a countertop beneath a standard cupboard. And it does liquids. AND it does compression infusion, AND bags are less than 20 cents. And it’s luggable. For Thanksgiving I took it with us and used it for packaging venison, and for packaging not only the leftover turkey, but also about 15 qts of lovely turkey stock, in bags and ready for the freezer.
I had to return mine once for repair – hairline cracks in the lid let air in and prevented a good vacuum. Manufacturer replaced the lid without complaint and mentioned that they’d had a bad batch of lids. I don’t know what I think. I’m trying to give the replacement lid a workout to confirm that it was a bad batch of lids, and not a design flaw in the lid. Good news thus far.