Is it a bad seal or just the meat? Striploin 15 lbs

[BRYAN HARING]

Long story short i am on my last bag not sure if it is going to work or not should i just steak out this meat now? Practiced with bag # 2 and a new sealer (V2244). Bag #3 Followed instructions of doing a corner then vac mouse. and a second seal after that about 3/4″ away. Watched the bag for a little while and it started to get loose vac and visually some air in the bag after about 1 hour in the fridge. Pulled it out inspected the bag and seals could not find an issue but I repeated the vac/sealing put it back in the fridge and went to bed. This morning same thing maybe not as bad but i have not pulled it out just touched the top to see how much of the bag was touched the meat. Guessing 70-75%touching on the top. Sides are touching because the bag is folded and tight.

Should i quit and steak this meat out? I had it in bag #2 for a couple of days with the end taped up waiting on a new vacuum sealer.

Should i relax and see what happens? What should i look for to make sure it is going well? I read someone else gave advise to flip the meat after a few days to get good adhesion does this work? not enough bag left to do another vacuum and seal.

Thanks for any help i can get! Not sure how to do a picture or i would have added some.

Thanks!

[Ron Pratt]

Was your meat from a butcher’s display case? If so then you had little to any at all moisture to make the bag adhere. Best bet is a direct transfer from a cry-o-vac bag into the UMAi Dry® bag.
Ron

[BRYAN HARING]

Thanks for the quick reply…It was from a cry-o-vac bag but it was transferred three times to UMAi bags. It also rested in the second one for 2 days while waiting for a new vac sealer.

Checked it a little bit ago. Sides still have good contact but the top is probably 60-50%.

What should i do if anything? I have some more bags that should arrive tomorrow but i am concerned that it is time to cut this into steaks and freeze or cook.

thanks!

[Ron Pratt]

“transferred three times to UMAi bags” – right there explains the problem! There was no moisture left to insure a proper bonding. If I were you I would leave this alone and watch it – but without handling – for a couple weeks and see how it goes.
Ron

[Thea]

How is the dry aging going? It sounded like you were going to proceed.
As Ron said, the trick is to make sure the meat is transferred from processor packaging into UMAi Dry® gooey moist. The “seal” or “vacuum” isn’t really important. Air pockets don’t pose a risk because UMAi Dry® isn’t a vacuum bag. It’s an oxygen- and moisture-permeable membrane. It needs the sticky myoglobin coating on the meat to adhere to.
Boneless cuts are generally the best to start your UMAi Dry® journey, because they have lots of moist, sticky meat surface.
A bone-in cut will be more challenging because there is very little myoglobin-oozing meat surface. One side is bone shell and the other is fat cap. Only the book ends offer much “stick power”.
All in all, never fear. UMAi Dry® works just fine in a floppy bag as long as you are aging in a modern frost free refrigerator in regular use located within a consistently room temperature environment.

[BRYAN HARING]

Thanks for the follow up, I really appreciate the support! I am on day 17 and it looks OK to me but i am trying not to touch or move it around based on reading the forum it seems best just to leave it sit. Looks like a crust (basically just looks darker and dry) has formed on all the meat. The fat cap just kinda looks dry but doesn’t have much of a color change.

I put some Kingsford original briquettes in a bowl in the fridge and so far no smells really at all are coming from the process. If you smell the briquettes you can tell they are picking up a meat smell but nothing offensive.

I am using a modern fridge and have about an inch of clearance under the meat on the rack. It is also our main fridge in our kitchen so I think I check all those boxes.

Thanks!

[Ron Pratt]

Sounds good to me!
Ron

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