2nd try: Dry Aging with the SteakAger

30 Day Dry Age Start

I got a new ribeye roast to start part 2 of the experiment, the 30 day dry age. Trimmed 3.5 pounds of steaks off it to get it to fit.

All I can do now is wait. And have steak for dinner tonight. :mrgreen:

Here's the 14 day picture of the future 30 day dry aged rib eye:

This one seems to have less fat on the outside. I wonder if that will effect the taste.

30 day dry age completed

I pulled the ribeye roast out of the SteakAger tonight after it's 30 day dry age and then cut it up. I forgot to take pictures until I had finished trimming.


Here are numbers for those of you that like that kind of stuff:

Whole roast weight: 16.66 lbs
Roast weight after trimming to fit in SteakAger: 13.16 lbs
Weight after 43 days in the SteakAger: 10.14 lbs
Total weight loss from dry aging: 3.02 lbs
Weight of final 7 steaks: 5.52 lbs

And the numbers that really matters:
Roast price: $144.61
Dry aged steaks cost per pound: $26.20

Happy Hapgood said:

Do you think rotating the cut in the ager would cut down/eliminate the ice build up? That ice looks like a moisture moved by a circulating fan.

Click to expand...

I rotated the 30 day roast so that the larger part of the roast was towards the back of the SteakAger and it had a chunk of ice on it just like the 45 day roast. The 45 day roast had the larger part towards the front of the Steakager. I think I'm going to rotate the next roast every 7 days and see if that helps with reducing the ice build up.

If my plans work out this weekend, I should have the 21 day test starting on Saturday.

21 day dry age start

In goes the next rib eye roast for 21 days:

This one started at 20 lbs, but after cutting it down to fit, it was at 13 lbs. The trimmings produced 4 steaks at 1.5" thick.

1 week in:

14 of 21 days

Forgot to post this on Monday. 14 days in on the final rib eye.

The 21 day dry aged rib eye came out of the SteakAger tonight. I snapped pictures of the steaks before and after trimming:


I still need to work on getting the thickness to be consistant, but I think these are better than the first set.

Here are numbers for those of you that like that kind of stuff:

Whole roast weight: 20.52 lbs
Roast weight after trimming to fit in SteakAger: 13.55 lbs
Weight after 21 days in the SteakAger: 11.59 lbs
Total weight loss from dry aging: 1.96 lbs
Weight of final 7 steaks: 7.125 lbs

And the numbers that really matters:
Roast price: $178.11
Dry aged steaks cost per pound: $25.00

I did notice that my cost calculations are based on the whole roast instead of the trimmed preaging weight. So, using the trimmed preaging weights, this how the cost works out:

45 day: $128.55 for the trimmed roast, $21.43 per dry aged pound.
30 day: $114.23 for the trimmed roast, $20.69 per dry aged pound.
21 day: $117.61 for the trimmed roast, $16.51 per dry aged pound.

All the steaks are in the freezer and will be coming out on Thursday night for a Saturday dinner cook. My brother and mom will help me decide which length of time we prefer. I think I'm already hungry. :becky:

The results are in.

So last night I got one of each of the steaks and a non dry aged rib eye and headed over to my brother's house for the taste test. I labeled the steaks 1, 2, 3, and 4. 1 was the non dry aged, 2 was the 21 day dry aged, 3 was the 30 day dry aged, and 4 was the 43 day dry aged.
Here are some pics. On the grill:


After the first flip:


Plated:


And sliced:


These were all cooked to 145 degrees since that's what my brother and Mom like and how they cook their steaks. I would have cooked them to 135 degrees if I was cooking for myself.

My brother's response was that he preferred the non dry aged steak and that he didn't notice any difference in the taste of the 4 steaks. He felt that the non dry aged steak was more tender than any of the others with the 21 day being next tender, 30 day being next in tenderness, and 43 day being least tender.

My mom also liked the non dry aged steak the most. She felt it was most tender and preferred it over all the others. She said the 21 day dry aged steak was OK, but not as tender as the non dry aged steak. She didn't like the 30 day dry aged steak at all and actually spit out the 43 day dry aged steak saying she absolutely did not like the flavor.

I didn't find a noticeable difference between the flavor in the non dry aged steak, the 21 day dry aged steak, and the 30 day dry aged steak. I tasted a hint of something different in the 43 day dry aged steak, but not enough to say exactly what that flavor was. I enjoyed all 4 steaks and agreed that the non dry aged steak was the most tender, but not by much. Part of me thinks it may have been a dryness due to the steaks being cook to a higher temperature than what I normally would do. If I had to rank them, I would have #1, #2, and #3 tied for first, and #4 last.

Since I have a lot of steaks left in the freezer, I'm going to cook them at a lower temp and keep track of what I think and see if it's any different than what I experienced last night.