Wet aging of a brisket
 

I watched a video on YouTube and this dude said he would wet age a brisket in it's original cryovac for about 30 days or so. With this bit of video advise, I have been aging an angus choice brisket since late October. The flat end where the cryovac is sealed is starting to turn dark.

What is the max amount of time to wet age a brisket?
Have any of you done this before?
If so, does it really impact the flavor of the meat?
Should I be worried about the changing of the color?
Should I cook it sooner rather than wait until the 15th of December when I am planning to cook it?

And advise on this will be much appreciated.

Thanks.
Grizzly

You know, right after I posted this thread I searched the site... there are some great threads available.

My question about the color of the meat does still trouble me though... Thoughts??

If it is in a sealed cryovac, all you will need to do it trim off the parts that are discolored.

In my opinion about 45 days from the package date is about the most I would go. I wet aged one for about 60 days once and the texture seemed a little off once we cooked it up.

Remember that your brisket was probably in the cryovac for 2 weeks prior to it hitting the store shelf.

there should be a packed on date, that is the date to start counting from.

Packed on date is generally on the box the briskets come in. You might ask the butcher to look.

This is weird, but I have brisket in the fridge waiting until the 15th as well. Going on the annual HEEMAN WOMEN HATERS CLUB camping trip and planning to cook it then. Now I'm worried. It has been in fridge for 14 days now. Should I leave it or freeze until then?

I did one for about 3 weeks. Maybe I didn't wait long enough but the only difference I noticed is a dark almost purplish smoke ring.

I picked up two cases of briskets today and the package date was already 28-days ago. I typically wet age mine for 45-days anyway, then freeze if I'm not ready to cook.

The meat and even the fat will get a bit darker. Almost a dull grey color. I trim all this off before cooking.

Sometimes you can also notice bubbles in the fluids trapped in the package. Other threads mention "dime size bubbles", but I've never seen anything like that. Just small bubbles.

I've cooked two briskets side-by-side before; one aged for 40ish days, and the other off the shelf with an unknown package date. The aged brisked was defiantly more tender. Now this was not really a controlled, scientific, Pepsi Challenge cook or anything, but there was a notable difference in tenderness. Flavor was about the same.

Once a wet-aged brisket comes out of the pack it will defiantly have a stench to it. You'll know it's dead. But that stench should wash off with cold water.

If you're worried, just freeze it. Just allow 3 to 4 days to unthaw, slowly, in the fridge.

Don't worry about the change in color. When it turns purple from bright red, you know you have a nice aged brisket. I love seeing that deep purple. It's a beautiful thing!

Yeeuup..I agree...watch the color change and also the package starts to puff up from the gas...which is good...just be sure the wife is not around when you open it...
big tip here is keep the light off of it and use a fridge that does not get open to much..
I have a prime rib roast in there wet aging since October and I just cut it in half and cooked er up AWESOME! doing The other half Sunday..
I used charbroils turkey infra red cooker and it works great on the prime rib....I am not a gas cooker, however that thing cooked a nice roast and the gravy drippings were the best I ever made an au-jois out of..