Getting a little nervous

[Steven Almas]

I have a prime ribeye that will hit the 35 day mark on Christmas Eve, and I was hoping to have some over my Christmas break.

Here’s why I’m nervous, the primal doesn’t really appear to be darkening all that much…not to the degree of what I’ve seen on this forum. The seal looks fantasic, the fridge cycles between 32-38F and seems to hold temp for hours inbetween cycles, I have a small battery operated fan in the fridge to move the air, the primal is on a wire rack.

I’ve poked at the primal in various spots and it feels hard/dense in most areas and the fat cap looks waxy, but the meat side still looks (through the bag) almost fresh. After losing the seal on my strip and not getting the flavor results I was hoping for, now I’m worried that my ribeye won’t be where I want it either.

The only thing I’m having trouble with in my setup is my humidity is running kind of hig for a fridge, it’s probably averaging around 70-75%. I’ve dried the inside of the fridge a few times now with a paper towel and it will slowly eek its way back to 75% humidity. The door seal looks good and the fridge is holding temp well so I assumed the moisture was coming from the meat, but it doesn’t really look any drier.

Am I worring to much? Should I let it go another week? I have $150 tied into this thing so I want to at least eat the darn thing.

Personally, I’m thinking the little fan I have isn’t moving enough air around, so after I pull this primal out and before I start another, I’m hardwiring a real fan and better temp controller into my now dedicated dry-aging fridge.

[Ron Pratt]

Steven, based on all you said I believe the sole problem is the high humidity. While the flesh part is not darkening to your expectations I believe the tenderizing has still been taking place. By chance did you weigh the the bag and primal after sealing it? If so why not weigh it again today to see how much weigh has been lost? My experience has been 19.0% at 28 days and 19.2% at 35 days. My longest rib eye was 60 days and the loss was only slightly more at 21.1%
Ron

[Steven Almas]

Sometimes the obvious escapes me, yeah I have those weights, and I’ll do that tonight. I’ve been really good on keeping my hands off this one, and didn’t plan on disturbing it until I was ready to cut into it.

My strip only lost about 10% of its weight in 33 days, but I figured it was because I had lost my good seal on the bag…maybe the high humidity was the problem with that one too. The steak was very tender, but didn’t have the beefiness I know a dry-aged steak has.

[Ron Pratt]

Your strip experience confirms my suspicions. My shortest aging of a New York was 21 days and that had an 18% loss and a more comparable one to yours was my 35 days with a 21.4% weigh loss. Maybe clam digger will jump in here as he’s a professional in the refrigeration field, but my assessment isn’t that your fan isn’t working but the dehumidification isn’t right.

[Steven Almas]

I have basically an over-sized dorm fridge, about 5 cubic ft in size. My model has no freezer (all fridge) and has a cooling plate that runs along the back wall. Basically, the condensor comes on and any moisture in the air freezes on the back plate. When the condensor turns off, all the moisture runs down the plate into a drip hole that empties into a drip pan that sits just above the condensor and should evaporate. The pan in the back of the fridge is usually wet so I have to assume the system is working to a degree. What gets me is that right now in Texas, our daily humidity is ranging from 30-40% and I have nothing in the fridge aside from the primal and some soda cans. Where oh where is this moisture coming from?

[Steven Almas]

Based on the above picture, at 31 days I’m down about 15% in weight. Not as bad as I feared, but definitely slower than yours Ron.

[Steven Almas]

Here’s an update, I was planning on butchering the rib-eye yesterday, but when I pulled it and did another weight check and it had lost another 0.4 lbs. I figured that since it was still losing that much moisture and still looked good I’d let it go another week. I also realized that my little fridge is a frost free model and goes through a “warm” cycle every so often, this is when the humidity seem to rise. I wonder if I can disable said defrost cycle.

[Ron Pratt]

That makes sense – especially down there in Texas! I’m still hoping that clam digger will show up and address your questions as he is a bonafide refrig professional.

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