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Little Problem with my Dry Aging

chocdoc
chocdoc Posts: 461
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Got myself a nice rib primal and put it on a rack over a baking sheet in the fridge downstairs in my chocolate room. Knew it would have the advantage there of not being interrupted too much over it's 30 days or so.

Got home from Saskatoon very late on Sunday night, house didn't smell so good. Figured a good clean to the litter box would fix the problem. Next morning I'm down in my chocolate room when hubby picks up the bitter end of the extension cord and says "oh ****, I must have unplugged this on Friday when I was doing the wiring and forgot to plug it in again".

Inside of the fridge contained a large lump of putrifying meat. Smelled like a dead body!

So it's now Wednesday - a day with baking soda and charcoal in the fridge, a second day washing all the racks and shelves, then washing the inside with dilute vinegar and spraying down all the racks etc with the same. Then fridge left open to air - it seems to smell like a fridge again.

I noticed the same unpleasant odour when I came in through the garage this afternoon - but it was coming from the tray of lump charcoal that I had put in on the shelf on day one. Interesting how much of the odour had transferred itself to the charcoal. Needless to say - I won't be using that in the egg!

Next dry aging experiment will be carried out in the more frequently used, but less likely to become unplugged extra fridge in the basement that holds the extra milk, butter and cheese.
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Comments

  • Grillin & Chillin
    Grillin & Chillin Posts: 733
    What a shame. Hope your next try is better. Hope to see some photos of your cook with it and some good choc creation pic's!
    BGE'er since 1996 Large BGE 1996, Small BGE 1996, Mini BGE 1997
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    Day 1 charcoal?
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Ripnem
    Ripnem Posts: 5,511
    Day 1 following the findings and stench! :ermm: not (day 1) of aging
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  • chocdoc
    chocdoc Posts: 461
    stike wrote:
    Day 1 charcoal?

    Yup - charcoal - actually when I opened up the fridge again this am - it stunk - so it's now day 4 charcoal!
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  • Weekend Warrior
    Weekend Warrior Posts: 1,702
    Wow, that's really a shame Kerry. I have two ribs on day 19. I'd be sick if my fridge croaked and ruined them. Hopefully the hubby has made amends. :whistle: :laugh:
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  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    Go by a pet store (or even wal-mart) and get some activated charcoal in the fish department. Much better at absorbing odors.

    And I would call this a big problem with your dry aging, not a little one. ;)
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  • Ripnem
    Ripnem Posts: 5,511
    Those nasty smells can get 'into' plastic and never come out.

    I used to work on fire damaged homes and many a times some little plastic parts would hold those smells and stink up the house until they were sniffed out and removed. One house had cabinet hinges with tiny little pieces of plastic in them and took quite some time to figure them as the culprit, but once we did they became fun and games for us field guys. :P they were used in desk drawers and under car seats of the unsuspecting. :whistle:
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  • chocdoc
    chocdoc Posts: 461
    Weekend Warrior wrote:
    Wow, that's really a shame Kerry. I have two ribs on day 19. I'd be sick if my fridge croaked and ruined them. Hopefully the hubby has made amends. :whistle: :laugh:

    Hubby was feeling pretty bad about it - but I didn't tell him the meat was in there - and I knew he was working on the wiring in the basement. I thought about mentioning it a couple of times before I left for Saskatoon - but forgot - so I do feel that I am ultimately responsible for this little foul up!
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  • chocdoc
    chocdoc Posts: 461
    Fidel wrote:
    Go by a pet store (or even wal-mart) and get some activated charcoal in the fish department. Much better at absorbing odors.

    And I would call this a big problem with your dry aging, not a little one. ;)

    Better than plain old lump do you think? My mom kept a lump of lump in the fridge when I was a kid instead of baking soda.
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  • chocdoc
    chocdoc Posts: 461
    Ripnem wrote:
    Those nasty smells can get 'into' plastic and never come out.

    I used to work on fire damaged homes and many a times some little plastic parts would hold those smells and stink up the house until they were sniffed out and removed. One house had cabinet hinges with tiny little pieces of plastic in them and took quite some time to figure them as the culprit, but once we did they became fun and games for us field guys. :P they were used in desk drawers and under car seats of the unsuspecting. :whistle:

    Yeah, I'm going to see if I can find an enzymatic cleaner (perhaps an undertaker will have some) that might just eliminate what is in the plastic. There was never any liquid in contact with the plastic just the miasma - so I'm hoping this can be fixed. I love this fridge (well not right at this moment!)
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    ah. i thought you meant charcoal from day 1 of aging.

    FWIW, lump charcoal is very very different from activated charcoal. i know the whiz tried using charcoal to clean out the fridge, but i don't know...

    it seems more hopeful than truly practical. at any rate, i certainly wouldn't throw out the lump. if it does actually absorb any odor, that odor will burn off just as sure as the VOCs do
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    lump is nothing like activated charcoal, despite their being 100% carbon.

    and the baking soda thing was a sales ploy. it doesn't significantly achieve anything.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    good idea. not to be totally disgusting, but it was literally rotting flesh. nothing smells like that, and i believe the crime scene folks use enzyme cleaners as part of the arsenal. good luck.

    bummer about the beef. worst part is the time you had invested.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,733
    i would try equal parts hydrogen peroxide, liquid dish soap, and baking soda, works for a skunk sprayed dog, might work in the fridge. i used it on the yard where he got hit with a little vinegar added which fizzed it up and took the smell away from the side of the house and shrubs, that may be messy in the fridge though :laugh:
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • Primeggister1
    Primeggister1 Posts: 379
    What a shame!
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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Kerry,

    I hope you got it at Sobeys when it was on sale. Mine is just about a month now.

    Steve

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

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  • chocdoc
    chocdoc Posts: 461
    Little Steven wrote:
    Kerry,

    I hope you got it at Sobeys when it was on sale. Mine is just about a month now.

    Steve

    Indeed - $3.99/lb.
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  • chocdoc
    chocdoc Posts: 461
    So a little spritz with enzymatic cleaner used to neutralize cat pee - and the fridge smells like - enzymatic cleaner! Not getting any putrid smell though. Just waiting now for the cleaner smell to dissipate.
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  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    OH NO! What a BUMMER! Loosing that beautiful primal was bad enough.Cleaning up the putrid mess had to be insult to injury! :( That charcoal is amazing ain't it? ;)
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