From Cold Room to Controlled Dry Ageing Room
How Humiscope converted an existing cold room into a controlled dry ageing room, improving meat quality, reducing ageing time and increasing yield.
““This is by far the best set up I’ve ever seen. It has sped up our curing time and increased the quality of the meat.””
PROJECT AT A GLANCE
Client: Super Butcher Eagle Farm
Application: Commercial dry ageing of meat
Location: Eagle Farm, Brisbane, Queensland
Challenge: Moisture, condensation and inconsistent ageing conditions
Solution: Existing cold room converted into a controlled dry ageing room
Operating conditions: 3°C and 75% RH
Equipment: Air Dry 270 desiccant dehumidifier
Outcome: Faster ageing, improved meat quality and increased yield
OUR CLIENT
Super Butcher Eagle Farm
Brisbane Super Butcher dry ages meat. They have been using the traditional salt method for dry ageing within their cold room for many years.
They contracted Humiscope to convert their existing commercial cold room, into a drying room specifically designed for age drying meat because of moisture and condensation issues.
THE CHALLENGE
Super Butcher had traditionally relied on salt to absorb excess moisture within the cold room, using approximately 25 kg each week. Despite this, condensation and humidity fluctuations remained ongoing issues, with water pooling on the floor and creating additional maintenance and safety concerns.
The inconsistent conditions also affected the dry ageing process. Excessive trimming was required over the 30-60 day ageing period, reducing the final yield of saleable meat.
Issues with Cold Room
Ongoing cost and labour to replace approximately 25 kg of salt each week
Condensation and wet floors
Temperature and humidity fluctuations
Corrosion caused by salt exposure
Excessive trimming during the ageing process
Reduced yield to market
Condensation and excess moisture can undermine the dry ageing process by creating inconsistent conditions within the room. Most cuts require at least 30 days of ageing, during which the outer surface naturally dries and must be trimmed before sale. Poor humidity control can result in uneven or excessive surface drying, increasing trimming losses and reducing the final yield of saleable meat.
SOLUTION
Effective dry ageing requires a controlled balance between moisture removal at the meat’s surface and moisture migrating from within the product, helping achieve even drying while maintaining quality.
With any drying room for dry ageing, the room should remain, as the name implies, dry. However, it is storing meat, so the room also has to remain very cold - below 4° C.
The ideal conditions for the ageing process lies in creating and maintaining cold, dry air of low humidity and minimal temperature fluctuations. A temperature range between 1 to +3°C, air speed of 0.2-0.5m/s and relative humidity between 75-85% are the ideal conditions for meat during the ageing process.
Using a desiccant dehumidifier within a cold drying room removes excess moisture and maintains controlled, consistent relative humidity.
The improved conditions within the commercial drying room have significantly reduced the time required to age the meat without reducing the quality of the meat.
“The drying room conditions have improved the quality and taste of the meat and increased our yield to market, as less meat needs to be trimmed during the aging process.”
Drying Room Dehumidifier
Humiscope chose an Air Dry 270 Desiccant Dehumidifier which removes moisture and maintains a consistently low relative humidity. Humiscope designed the system to run at 3°C and 75% relative humidity (RH).
Humiscope installed the dehumidifier by retrofitting the system seamlessly with the cold room’s current HVAC equipment.
Store Manager, Danny Neilson has been in the industry for over 40 years in Brisbane, New South Wales and Victoria. He has been at the Eagle Farm site for over seven years.
“This is by far the best set up I’ve ever seen. It has sped up our curing time and increased the quality of the meat."
~Danny Neilson, Store Manager, Super Butcher
Humiscope is a group of professionals all with varied portfolios and years of industry experience. We have several clients for whom we have designed a commercial drying room.
Do You Need a Drying Room?
Whether you want to convert an existing cool room, or build a drying room from the ground up - we can help.