bcoop...what do you think of this steak ager?

[AnthonyS]

theyll tell you they only eat at zagat rated restaurants?

No, but I do appreciate their rating service. I've eaten at plenty that weren't rated. I've eaten at a few Michelin starred places too, but that isn't common around here.

You can tell someone's an engineer cause they have a piece of paper to stick on the wall or two.

The reason I speculate as an engineer on this particular piece of equipment is that the purpose of refrigeration is to control temperature and humidity. I'm not sure how this device is going to reduce humidity more than the refrigeration, and how is it going to maintain near zero humidity with the door opening and closing regularly if you are using it as fridge? Never mind that I used to teach refrigeration courses in the military or that I have a degree in this shit.

But at $150 it's probably worth a try. If your steak gets moldy then you can bet it didn't maintain humidity as advertised.

[CexMashean]

Thanks, Engineer.

[dsrtuckteezy]

for the record, i think magnus is a much bigger faggot

[ceyko]

Shew, glad we got an engineer's opinion. The guy's opinion, who plays with a lot of meat... was not valid I guess.

[Ruffdaddy]

Bcoop thanks for the response. I really want to try it but had similar concerns about humidity control. Admittedly, i dont even know what the humidity must be in order to dry age...hence why i asked. I guess i better hold tight on this for awhile until someone that knows what theyre doing (such as yourself) can verify the function.

Shew, glad we got an engineer's opinion. The guy's opinion, who plays with a lot of meat... was not valid I guess.

Lol no kidding...an engineer or most other people will know the challenge is humidity control...but someone with actual food knowledge is needed to tell that engineer what the humidity, temperature...etc actually needs to be held to.

[bcoop]

Experts will argue over what the humidity should be, and it's akin to the beans/no beans argument for chili. I've heard 50%, no more than 60%. I've also heard others say no less than 85%. It really boils down to the choice of cut, equipment available, length of aging process, and preference.

You can use a UV light, and age at higher temps to speed the process up, and for that you want more humidity. Lower temps, longer times, you want less humidity. I wouldn't want it to drop below 50% on any occasion, but that is kind of my comfort threshold.

It's crazy to think that nearly all beef sold in the US was dry aged at one point in time. Heath and food safety regulations have nearly done away with it, or at least driven the cost to such astronomical levels that only those who do well can afford it. My father worked for a butcher for several years as a kid in Vernon, TX. All of their aging was done in dark humid rooms, and this was back before air conditioning was common place, so it wasn't even refrigerated back then.

As a result, the overwhelming majority of us don't even know what beef is really supposed to taste like (if you've had dry aged beef, you know).

[bcoop]

I'm going to pull the trigger on this when I get to a computer, fwiw. Now to find a small fridge it will fit in. I don't want to disrupt the environment every time I grab a beer.

[dsrtuckteezy]

I'm going to pull the trigger on this when I get to a computer, fwiw. Now to find a small fridge it will fit in. I don't want to disrupt the environment every time I grab a beer.

pshhh, you only drink whiskey!

[bcoop]

pshhh, you only drink whiskey!

Usually true, but this summer whiskey was too heavy. So I've been drinking a little beer lately.

[Baron Von Crowder]

Usually true, but this summer whiskey was too heavy. So I've been drinking a little beer lately.

you mean like the 8oz cans?

[bcoop]

you mean like the 8oz cans?

Yes.


Just ordered my ager. Should be here in December.

[Ruffdaddy]

Awesome! Cant wait to see how well this works!

[bcoop]

So, they beat their goal and have 11 days left. If they can raise $50,000 (a little under $13,000 to go), they're going to add bluetooth connectivity to the units, so you can monitor temperature and humidity from your phone. This is a feature I really, really want, so go pledge you assholes!


I don't see this going the way of the last person who launched a special aging refrigerator last year. They raised in excess of $190,000 over a year ago and I don't think anyone has received their specialty fridge yet. People are pissed.

[AnthonyS]

If the ideal humidity is 50% I'm really interested to know how this works. Refrigeration drops humidity rapidly by condensing or freezing any free water.

[bcoop]

If the ideal humidity is 50% I'm really interested to know how this works. Refrigeration drops humidity rapidly by condensing or freezing any free water.

No refrigerator is 0% humidity at any given time. If it were, it would be a freezer.