Opinions - How Long on Refrigerator Aged Raw Cryovac Packer Brisket???

[Bacchus2b]

OK, so I bought a 19 pound Prime Brisket from Costco intending on letting it age in my refrigerator for a week or two last month before cooking. My 10 and 13 year old kids sport activities got in the way of my smoking schedule, and I now have a 30+ day aged Prime Brisket in the fridge!

33 days beyond it's sell by date of 9/6/19 on the label right now. I've gone two weeks beyond sell by date on a cryovac whole packer before and it was definitely more tender than a fresh packed Brisket, but I've never gone thirty days or longer on a cryovac whole packer.

If it smells OK am I good to go, or do you think there might be too much bacterial growth at this point? Looks great and it's in a very cold fridge just above freezing at 34 degrees and it has been undisturbed. I hate to toss what could be 19 pounds of tender goodness!

Cook or Toss??? Opinions??? I'm leaning towards cooking as my wife and I are considering downsizing houses, and if that's the case my IVS will need to go. Get another cook in while I can!

 

[Stlsportster]

I’d say it will be fine. Wet aged in the original cryo in a cold fridge.

Let’s see the pics when you cook it!

 

[patrickd26]

If it is vacuumed sealed, you are FINE. I PURPOSEFULLY purchased two full packer briskets from Costco last month to cook last week. It was a 30 day rest/age. Perfectly fine! I flipped every two days.... Not sure you need to do that. Also, when I did cut the wrap, I KNEW what smell i wanted. I wanted just a slight "stank". NOTHING major or make you gag smell. I look for a "twang." It was perfect.

I digress.... Open it up and smell.. If it has a "twang" or no smell, then you are good! If it has a smell that "isn't right" (you'll know), then you probably need to move on!

Long story short... 30 days (vacuumed) does NOT scare me.

 

[sudsandswine]

I’ve gone longer than that many many times. I’ve had a couple that didn’t smell right and I tossed em (more than a twang...like rinsed and dried/rested and still smelled off), cost of doing business and risk vs reward. 30 days past purchase is kinda my standard wet age. In fact I have one in the fridge right now about like yours. I run my fridge a little on the cool side though. I’ve found that the ones that got a little funky that I end up pitching, there’s usually some small bubbles and the fat sticks to the cryo a little differently that I can visually tell something is off.

 

[kfdvm]

I have a friend that ranches. He is sending beef refrigerated but never frozen to Japan. It takes 60 days to ship. He claims it is fork tender and delicious. I usually buy my Christmas prime rib before Thanksgiving. If the meat has been frozen it destroys some of the enzymes that tenderize the meat. So a long age does not help if the meat has been frozen.

 

[LongTong]

A month should be no problem but the real date one should go by is the pack date and that is usually on the case label...

 

[Jason TQ]

When I was wet aging a lot I'd go 45-60 days without thinking about it. Gone over 70 multiple times. Never had one that went bad.

 

[fwdiii]

After rinsing the meat with water, go by the smell. If the smell is a bit off, then I would throw it out. But I think it will be fine!

 

[akoda]

I cooked one last weekend that had gone 30+ days and smelled a tad off. I cooked it and it tasted a tad off too. I have done others at 30 days and been fine. Make sure cryo is still tight and you should be fine.

 

[thirdeye]

You really need to know the kill date, or pack date which are usually the same day, which is shown on the case. Without this you don't know if the meat is 4 days old or 40 days old when you buy it. A case of beef can stay in a 28° walk-in for quite a while. Sometimes when buying briskets, my Sam's store will have a case in the walk-in with 2 or 3 weeks of wet aging already on them so I'll only age them a week or so. Other times I'll get one with a week of aging, and I'll age another 30 days in my beer fridge which is around 30°.

Meat in the case does not come from the processor with a label, the meatcutters print a label when it's moved to the meat case. The reason the label shows a "use by" or "sell by" date is because most home refrigerators run about 40° and have a lot of traffic. It's a food safety move by the store to make sure the product stays fresh.

PS - ignore the label description, this really is a brisket....

 

[ulc]

I've gone 70+ days and it was fine. I wouldn't even worry about 30-45 days. Rinse the meat under running water. If it still smells after the rinse, then you know it's gone bad.

 

[KevinInStL]

Holy **** you guys are cooking meat that's 30-70 days past the sell-by date?! Without ever freezing it?

I had no idea you could do that. I've always treated the sell-by date as the expiration date.

I assume this only works with solid cuts of beef? and not poultry, pork, or any ground meats?

 

[KevinInStL]

Anyone? What exactly does this do? And is it only safe with solid cuts of beef?

 

[sudsandswine]

Google “beef wet aging”. Dry aged steaks go a long time too. I don’t think other animals can be or are aged...maybe I’ve seen goat or lamb? Cows are just magical I guess.

 

[Mammoth Mountain]

I am smoking a 90 day wet aged brisket on Sunday. Prepped it today and it smells and looks fine. Did a 60 day the last cook and it turned out great.

 

[SonnyE]

I'm adventuresome. I say if it smells OK, and looks OK, cook it, OK?

The only thing I threw out without even tasting was a river carp I cooked once and it felt like a bag of diarrhea.
I just wanted to try cooking the thang.

That went into a campground trash can far, far away.
I was afraid to break the skin on it.

(Hey! If you don't want to smell what I throw away, don't drive the trash truck.)
:laugh::heh::laugh:

 

[SonnyE]

You really need to know the kill date, or pack date which are usually the same day, which is shown on the case. Without this you don't know if the meat is 4 days old or 40 days old when you buy it. A case of beef can stay in a 28° walk-in for quite a while. Sometimes when buying briskets, my Sam's store will have a case in the walk-in with 2 or 3 weeks of wet aging already on them so I'll only age them a week or so. Other times I'll get one with a week of aging, and I'll age another 30 days in my beer fridge which is around 30°.

Meat in the case does not come from the processor with a label, the meatcutters print a label when it's moved to the meat case. The reason the label shows a "use by" or "sell by" date is because most home refrigerators run about 40° and have a lot of traffic. It's a food safety move by the store to make sure the product stays fresh.

PS - ignore the label description, this really is a brisket....

Hey thirdeye, that has to be the coarsest ground beef I ever did see.
It looks like a single piece.
Did they just wave it at the grinder on the way to the label maker? :twitch:

 

[thirdeye]

Hey thirdeye, that has to be the coarsest ground beef I ever did see.
It looks like a single piece.
Did they just wave it at the grinder on the way to the label maker? :twitch:

I didn't even notice that until several days later when someone was asking about brisket prices their area. I had them bring out 3 or 4 from the back, then got into a long conversation with the meat cutter about wet aging and 15 minutes later he took the one I picked and printed a label. I'm guessing I saved about $0.30 or $0.35 per pound.

 

[stijntje113]

I've got a different question. I had/have a Wagyu Brisket.
It was quite expensive, and when I opened the vacuum (after about a month after slaughter) it smelled very bad.
I saw a black spot on the side. I'm not sure how it came there the vacuum was still intact.
After removing the black spot, I noticed that was also where the smell was coming from. I removed the black spot and put it in a new vacuum bag.
I have put that in the fridge and after opening it after a week, it didn't smell bad.
I have now frozen it but I doubt if I should eat it.. What would you do?

 

[thirdeye]

I've got a different question. I had/have a Wagyu Brisket.
It was quite expensive, and when I opened the vacuum (after about a month after slaughter) it smelled very bad.
I saw a black spot on the side. I'm not sure how it came there the vacuum was still intact.
After removing the black spot, I noticed that was also where the smell was coming from. I removed the black spot and put it in a new vacuum bag.
I have put that in the fridge and after opening it after a week, it didn't smell bad.
I have now frozen it but I doubt if I should eat it.. What would you do?

If it's a Snake River Farms brisket, I thought they were wet aged 30 days prior to freezing, but regardless this sounds questionable. Did this "spot" appear to be bruised flesh, did it appear like a tumor of sorts, or was it a bloody mass?