Hope I Can Find Some Answers Here?

[DryCzar]

Howdy fellow carnivores,
Being new to drying meat, I have been slowly trying to get some answers I did not know I would need answered until I bagged up my Prime Cut 18lb boneless rib roast yesterday. I thought the information I got from seeing several videos and reading instructions from Umai would be enough, but I still have concerns.

– Using my original 40yr old Foodsaver I still use to pull the air out of the Umai bag work rather well. My problem was lifing it up an placing it on the dry rack in the refrigerator. As the meat moved in the bag, the contact to the meat changed. It went from fully contacted (nearly no visible air pockets) to a lot of air pockets. My question is, is this scenario common? I probably have near the 75% contact now. What if it is below?

– I noticed the meat did not have much liquid at all when transferring to the Umai bag. Could that be a problem?

– While I was investigating the what happened in the scenario above, I saw a Umai video about the problems of using a refrigerator in the garage and the fridge should be in a room above 68 degrees. The fridge I`m using is in my basement where the temp is a steady dry 52 degrees. Is this a issue?

– Is there ever tell tail signs that the dry age process is not working (maybe from one of the above reasons or others?) and the process should be aborted to save the meat?

Any thoughts to ease my mind would be of great help. I`m sure everyone here has the same concern to not waste a very valuable piece of meat.

[Ron Pratt]

Well, let’s start with the fact your Food Saver is 40 years old…Mine is 19 and I actually like this older “dumber” model and have pitched one newer model and gave away another as I want to control the sealing process timing…but anyway…

The 75% you mention really isn’t an issue, but I’m in the camp that believes is sealing the meat and then just leaving it alone until I’m really to cut my UMAi Dry® bag open.

That 18 pound boneless rib eye is a NICE size “chunk-o-cow” and honestly being that big and that thick it really needs at least 42 to 48 days to produce a nice, recognizable dry aged effort.

Now the bad news.. that refrigerator down in your basement – regardless of the temperature being 52º – already tells me that is not a “regularly used modern frost free kitchen refrigerator located in a room temperature environment.”

The frost free feature assures a refrigerator will wick off the moisture as a piece of sub-primal dry ages. Otherwise the meat will just lay there and rot.
Ron

[DryCzar]

Thank you for your reply Ron.

59 years of age, I gotta laugh at myself a bit, what is `Modern`? I bragged about my original Tilia Foodsaver and now I have to think about if my refrigerator is Modern? Looks modern, bought it used 8 yrs ago and still looks new, has no markings on it of `Frost Free` but has duct work on either side of the frig ceiling and hear a fan blow from time to time. Most importantly, zero frost in the freezer. It is used a few times every day. I could use it more. I even have a big professional dehumidifier in the basement.
But even with all that said, it sounds like because the outside temp of the frig is cooler, the cycling of the fans will not activate as often/ keeping the frig`s humidity higher/ not allowing proper humidity levels for the meat?

Is this correct? Too much chance of failure/spoiled meat?

I appreciate your experience with all this.

[Ron Pratt]

No frost in the freezer answers the question! The point about the ambient temperature of the location is more about guys who put their old refrigerator in their un-insulated, un-heated garage or damp basement. Sounds to me like you will be just fine! Proceed “youngster”! LOL
Ron

[DryCzar]

Between the few avenues of information I get off the internet, Umai and this forum, along with the Umai`s claim of the frig needing to be in room type environment for it to cycle properly and keep the meat drying, I had my lawyers call my wife`s lawyers and strike an agreement to move the subject to the upstairs kitchen refrigerator. I hope to now maybe sleep a bit better. If this goes well, I know I will next time trying it.

Now for the bad news.. My lawyer wants your contact information. LOL

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