Tried wet aging a ribeye in my home fridge for 45 days

Got a primal cut from a local ranch outside Austin and decided to try wet aging it myself. After 45 days in the fridge, it had a strong sour smell and the texture got weirdly slimy. Has anyone else had wet aging go bad on them, or did I mess up the temp control?

2 comments

2 Comments

lisa_ross1614d ago

45 days is way too long for wet aging in a standard home fridge. You're basically asking for spoilage because consumer fridges don't hold steady enough temps or humidity for that kind of project. The sour smell and slime are textbook signs of bacterial growth, not some random fluke. Commercial operations have flash-freezing tech and precise climate control you can't replicate with a mini fridge. You'd have been better off just dry aging for 14 days or cooking it fresh.

ryan_flores14d ago

Did you try a different method or just stick with the standard wet aging? Honestly I've had way better luck doing a shorter wet age like 21 days tops in a home fridge. I set my fridge to the coldest setting and kept a thermometer inside to make sure it stayed around 34F. Also I wrapped the meat in cheesecloth first then vacuum sealed it to cut down on moisture pooling. That sour smell and slime you mentioned never happened for me when I did it that way. Maybe try that next time if you're set on wet aging at home.