DRY AGER™ forming ice? Time to defrost!

For meat to age properly it needs to breathe – and to breathe, meat requires space and proper ventilation.

The DRY AGER™ cabinet is purposefully designed to give the meat inside plenty of room to breathe, with a regulated airflow being crucial to the proper aging of the protein. Sufficient airflow helps the meat to dry out faster and keeps moisture of the protein’s surface, allowing for even and professional aging. It also prevents the build-up of harmful bacteria, which would spoil the meat inside.

As a rule of thumb, always remember, you are spending money on quality meat; respect it and give every surface of the meat plenty of air.

This will provide your DRY AGER™ Cabinet with the optimal conditions to perfectly dry age the meat inside.

The DX500 can hold up to approx. 20kg of meat, and the DX1000 can hold up to approx. 100kg.

However, all the meat in the cabinet should have enough room to allow an open space around each item, with none of the cuts touching each other.

When the cabinets are overloaded – as a result, ice will form at the back of the cabinet due to the insufficient airflow inside the cabinet – this will also result in a poor quality dry aging of meat.

The above image illustrates incorrect loading of the cabinet as the meat is touching while sitting on the shelf. Please ensure meat has sufficient spacing between pieces – allow up to two inches between each piece of meat.

Don’t stress, that doesn’t mean that you’ve broken your cabinet, it does mean that you will have to defrost the cabinet to ‘reset’ the internal conditions.

Defrost cycle is fairly simple to follow:

1. Unplug the cabinet to ensure it is completely OFF

2. Remove all product from the cabinet – including accessories e.g. shelves, himalayan salt blocks.
   

3. Clean out the inside of the cabinet – remove the ice, empty the drip tray, wipe out any moisture

4. Leave the cabinet completely OFF and the door open for 48-60 hours

5. Once complete, switch it back on, allow the cabinet to come to temperature and humidity and reload the cabinet – allowing for sufficient airflow throughout the unit
   

If you are completing the defrost cycle and the meat has not finished its aging period, you may safely remove it from the cabinet, vacuum seal the meat and place in the fridge until the defrost cycle is completed.

Once the defrost cycle has been completed, then the meat can be placed back into the cabinet to finish its aging period.

If you have completed the defrost cycle, and still find ice is forming, contact our helpful team for support.

Contact Us