Ribeye 18 days In. Any comments on the ongoing process?? Comments Appreciated

[sebastian gutierrez]

Hi,

This are pictures of my boneless Ribeye 18 days in the process. Any suggestions of how the process is going?

THanks,

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[Ron Pratt]

Looks super to me! How long will you be aging it? BTW my advice is to quit handling it as you risk puncturing the bag! Ron

[sebastian gutierrez]

Hi Ron thanks for your quick response.i was thinking 28-30 days, any better suggestions?

Sebastian

[Ron Pratt]

I personally am a big fan of 45 days for a thick sub-primal like a rib eye to achieve a noticeable effect, but it’s your meat! Ron

[Thea]

Most chefs tell us the “sweet spot” is 35-45 days, but we have had commercial customers go as long as 100. First try, I’d not go any longer than Ron suggests.

Should be getting to the “knock-knock” hardness level by now, eh?

[russell quesenberry]

Ron and BagLady are right. 45 day’s is the way to go! Also put it in to age and leave it. no need to move it around. you will love your steaks when they are done,

[Jon]

I’m getting ready to eat some steaks from my 45 day bone-in rib eye. I wouldn’t go any less than 45 days and personally after doing this one I’m going 60 next time. I have a large bone-in strip loin in now that’s going to go 50 days, Hope you go at least 45 on yours.. enjoy!

[Frank]

OK… so I followed this thread and tried to learn from other people’s experiences. I was a little concerned because I was at the 15-18 day mark and wasn’t nearly as “mahogany” colored at that point in my aging. My ribeye was still fairly red, but I definitely had good contact and seal, so I stuck with it (without touching it). So I finally crossed the 45 day mark (on my way to 60) and now the color appears appropriate, but it is still slightly soft to the touch. I was expecting it to be significantly more dehydrated (hard like most beef jerky). I’m confident I’ll enjoy the product, but do the experts on here recommend monitoring the humidity in the fridge to minimize moisture? I live in NW Florida and my garage fridge is exposed to 70-90% humidity on most days. Would adding a tray of Rock Salt help improve moisture loss?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Jim]

From the photo the meat looks good. As you recognized yourself, you do have a humidity issue because your fridge is in a very humid environment and most likely has trouble getting rid of all that moisture that the meat is giving off. My suggestion would be to move this meat into your house fridge. We advise people against aging in their garage fridges. There is a thread on this forum that took a nasty turn due to a problem with a fridge located in a cold garage. Of course that is a bit different problem than the one you describe. Adding salt to the fridge is probably not going to be a very effective solution, because salt may not absorb that much moisture.
That ribeye will give off almost a gallon of water throughout the aging process.

[Frank]

Thanks for the reply. I’m stuck with the garage fridge for cuts this size. So would you recommend adding a fan to help with dehydration?
Since this was my first try with Umai, I used a choice cut. Should I just butcher it at 45 days and try again, or push ahead?
I have quite a bit of experience with store bought dry aged beef, so I know what it should taste like. I just don’t want to ruin 15lbs of beef if I can avoid it. I was hoping this version would come out well and then try something prime (or better).

[Jim]

Here is the thing, the flavor of the meat depends on a lot of factors: the quality (i.e. prime, choice, etc.), what the condition of the animal was during slaughter, how long it was aged before you picked it up, what was the temp of the truck it was transported in, the temp and humidity in your fridge, how long you age it, etc. etc.
So if it were me I would cut this at 45 days and try it. You can adjust on your next go around. There is nothing that says this has to go 35, 45, 60 or 100 days. There is a point at which aging does not benefit the flavor and that point a matter of personal taste.

[Frank]

Well, I followed Jim’s advice and went ahead and butchered this at the 44 day mark (rather than the original 60 days I had originally intended). The meat was less pliable than I had originally anticipated and drier on the underside than the topside I was looking at. Here are the results:

I liked the results and now have the confidence to try this with a much higher grade of beef. What do most people do with the shavings? I am likely going to throw them on the smoker and use them as dog treats.

[Ron Pratt]

About your pictures – you need to select the PhotoBucket one that starts with IMG.

As for the trimmings – that is a matter of personal choice. Personally I trim very VERY little – just enough to get the outer most hard leather like layer off. I even know guys who don’t trim at all. The sad thing to me is for people to go to all the effort to dry age and then whack down so deep getting back to “grocery store red” as I call it. I mean if you are trimming that deep you are defeating the benefit of dry aged beef in the first place. Once flames start to tickle that aged beef it becomes mellow and quite tasty.

As for saving your trimmings for Fido I know people do – it depends on your dog’s ability to process it – though neither of my Westies could and I had to clean up the mess after it came back up!

Ron

[Ed Falis]

Thanks Ron – good to know!

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