Hey guys. Salut. This is Alex.
So today I want to give you a quick update on what's happening inside my own fridge
You know, the beef dry-aging thing.
I will also take advantage of this video to share along a few priceless and useful tips I learned the hard way.
Because, yes, something is wrong.
Just a few days after I set everything up I had to make a few modifications to the system in order to to more it more practical and more efficient.
The fan inside was running on an external USB battery because I wanted maximum insulation.
The problem, it couldn't last longer than a day, so every now and then, the fan would stop.
Then I would have to go and change the battery.
I can do better for sure.
I am now using a USB wall charger and it's taped on the side of my fridge.
It's running 24/7.
Collateral damage, I had to cut a notch in the seal of the fridge door which I think is not a big deal for the sake of science.
In terms of temperature, dry aging beef should be done between 0˚C and 4˚C.
The best would be 2˚C.
Higher, not like 5˚C, but more like 10˚C, means that there is a strong risk of product spoilage.
But then the lower temperature isn't that good as well.
If the meat is frozen, the dry aging process just stops.
Problem, 2˚C is almost impossible to reach with a domestic fridge.
Kinda of a solution I guess, I turned my fridge to its maximum cold setting.
Might get an average of 4-5˚C this way.
The side effect is that I get some really cold spot like in the very bottom of my fridge
meaning that my sourdough really struggled to proof and my fruits are frozen.
But for the sake of science, again, I think it's fine.
Because I really needed to check on the meat regularly and because I had to film it
the door was very often left open, which, problem, is nothing but bad for temperature stability.
Solution, every time I would do so, I would also add a few ice packs in there just to cool it down more rapidly.
It works great, but side effects, it also concentrate all the moisture through condensation.
Eh, for the sake of science.
When you start something new, I guess always have to overcome challenges along the way and it's part of the reason I really enjoy this.
I'm glad we solved the first three problems because, trust me, those are nothing but appetizer regarding the next one.
Once I did those modification, everything was running smoothly for a few days, but at some point I noticed a slight increase in humidity.
I thought it was normal.
It is not.
I thought it would stabilize.
It did not.
Let me give you some context.
Humidity, when you are dry aging, should stay somewhere between 80-85%.
On a scale going from 0%, where it is really, really, dry cake; to 100%, it's like the jungle.
The thing is, if you go higher than 85%, there is a risk of spoiling the meat.
And if you go lower, there is not a big risk, but you might end up losing too much meat at the end when you are going to trim your cut.
So I check the meat, it doesn't smell bad, it doesn't look bad, however it's not going the right way and I can feel it.
I have to fix this, we have to fix this.
You are in it now.
First I am plugging the ventilation holes.
I don't know.
Maybe with air circulating between the fridge and the machine I am trying to dry out the whole fridge which could rise up the humidity
Doesn't work.
Now I'm thinking the holes might be too small on the top of my box, so maybe the system doesn't get enough air flow.
So I'm cutting much bigger holes
Doesn't work
I had another idea, I found a way to increase the airflow to make it more powerful.
You know what, things went even worse.
Humidity skyrocketed to 99%.
And even weirder, if I were to stop the fan, humidity would go back to 80%.
So I thought maybe I should leave the fan off.
For many reasons that sounds wrong, so I texted my dear butcher.
I know I gotta do something and I gotta do something quick because basically this is a time bomb.
And the thing is I don't know where to start.
Okay, I say we give the box a thorough clean, maybe it will just help us out.
I removed the drippings collector, the paper towel was dry and clean.
Then I touched those f[bleep]ing silica gel packets and there it is.
The source of my problem.
They were soaking wet, like literally, there was a puddle of water underneath.
I got them out, closed the door, and put the fan back on and the humidity dropped to 70% in a matter of minutes.
So I guess we are safe now, let's just understand what the f[bleep] happened.
Silica gel is a desiccant meaning that it absorbs all the humidity from the air around it.
The thing is that it's not magical because once it gets saturated with water, it behaves like a wet sponge.
The ribeye is 2 kilos and 130 grams.
Knowing that meat is approximately 80% water, that makes it 1.7 kilograms of water to get rid of.
Luckily for us, we only have to dry out the outer layers which transform into a waterproof barrier after some time.
Let's say we need to dry out a 1 cm thick layer on each side on a 10 cm thick ribeye.
That's 20%, so that's 340 grams of water.
So I used 200 grams of silica gel packets in the first place which can only adsorb 35% of its weight in water.
Basically, with the first set up, we were able to adsorb 70 grams of water.
Which is slightly off considering we needed 340 grams.
It's not a big deal, I went back online and ordered a kilo of desiccant which is exactly what we need and I placed it in the fridge.
With that new set up, humidity has dropped drastically.
Yes, to be honest, a bit too much as we are now at 40% humidity.
I'm gonna leave it like this just to counteract the initial mistake.
But afterwards I'm getting rid of those is not a bad thing because they also produce an exothermic reaction.
Meaning that as they adsorb water there is a slight amount of heat happening in my box.
Everything is now back in line.
So I don't see why there would be any problems from now on.
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Take care guys, bye bye, salut.