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Ok folks, I’m going into my second try at this. The first went well, at 60 days. I did a top sirloin roast. This time I’m going with the same cut, but I think I’ll go 90 days. This time I picked up a roast twice the size of the last, about 14 lbs. I have a mini fridge I made into a dryer by simply drilling two holes through the side to run in a small fan for circulation and another hole for a remote humidity/temp sensor. I’ve cleaned up the fridge and it’s drying right now. I will plug it in for a day and dial in the temp for a solid 37 deg. Then, I will wipe down the interior with alcohol for a sterile environment, place the roast, and monitor until finished. Planing on nice top sirloin steaks for the grill this summer. Otherwise, this is my beer fridge, so I’ve made room in the main fridge for the cold ones. Any thoughts?

Ok folks, I’m going into my second try at this. The first went well, at 60 days. I did a top sirloin roast. This time I’m going with the same cut, but I think I’ll go 90 days. This time I picked up a roast twice the size of the last, about 14 lbs. I have a mini fridge I made into a dryer by simply drilling two holes through the side to run in a small fan for circulation and another hole for a remote humidity/temp sensor. I’ve cleaned up the fridge and it’s drying right now. I will plug it in for a day and dial in the temp for a solid 37 deg. Then, I will wipe down the interior with alcohol for a sterile environment, place the roast, and monitor until finished. Planing on nice top sirloin steaks for the grill this summer. Otherwise, this is my beer fridge, so I’ve made room in the main fridge for the cold ones. Any thoughts?

(post is archived)

[–] • 1 pt

the only way to improve the setup i can think of would be inoculating the meat with aspergillus(maybe go with Aspergillus oryzae, the same stuff used for koji)

while dry ages is one thing and can brake down the connective tissue on its own a lot of the flavour comes from the bacteria and fungus that is growing in/on the meat so in theory at least you can change the flavour/texture profile of the meat by changing which microbes you add in to the aging chamber

the skin off a fermented sausage or a little of the skin off brie should work too

[–] • 0 pt

I read a bit about this topic of introducing a bacteria. It seems a bit above my pay grade though. I’d hate to do something that messes everything up. All that time to end up with spoiled product. I’m only $75 into the roast. It’s more about the time loss if it went wrong. Maybe sometime down the road on this trip😁

[–] • 0 pt

Interesting. It doesn't become a big chunk of beef jerky?

[–] • 0 pt

If done correctly, no. The outside half-inch or so will be dry and will taste strongly of the dry aged funk, but you trim that off after the aging is complete and you're ready to cook the remaining meat. If you do it wrong, you will end up with beef jerky flavored with mold and bacteria.

[–] • 0 pt

They sell plastic bags specifically made for dry aging safely. You can also dry age by a number of methods that involve completely coating the meat in things like butter and seaweed. Check out the Guga foods or Sous Vide Everything channels on YouTube for more info on how to dry age using a lot of different methods. Also be sure to trim the dried outside portions of the roast since they will be tough and very strong tasting.