Hanging time

[Victoria]

Sorry if this has been asked before but a question on hanging time. I've done 21 days in the past. This year however, the guy who wants the other half is in a hurry to get it earlier so we were looking at a 14 day hanging time. The steer that we are doing is 16 months old. He's been on alfalfa and grain for the last three weeks or so. I'll be putting more grain to him this last month. What kind of difference can I expect taste wise between the 14 and 21 day hanging times?

 

[dun]

Taste probably not any, tenderness maybe.

 

[bigbull338]

as far as i know the hanging time affects the tenderness.not the taste of the meat.the meat gets its taste from the marbling in the meat.

 

[dieselbeef]

tell em if he dont care not to hang it at all if hes in such a hurry. itll be fine..then tell em when hes gotta boil it to eat it that the hangin time is what makes good or great

 

[Victoria]

Thanks for confirming my thoughts.

 

[MrBilly]

We often will hang one half for 17 days (our preference), and a customer wants his half hung for 28, that can be done as long as each has one half of the carcass - works fine for both parties.

Billy

 

[Johnny]

I belive hangtime will affect flavor as well as tenderness. We try to hang ours 21 days.

Our butcher says you will need a good fat cover if you go over 14 days to keep meet from drying out too much.

This is why it changes the flavor. As the meet dries it concentrates the flavors and gives the meet a more robust flavor. Some like this others don't.

Johnny

 

[dieselbeef]

as i understand it also the hang time allows the meat to ''rot'' and soften due to its own juice and chemical breakdown..to put it in laymans terms

 

[bandit80]

Our butcher hangs meat for 14 days and that is all. I know at 14 days, the meat is always tender. Really don't even need a knife to cut it most of the time.

 

[MikeC]

as far as i know the hanging time affects the tenderness.not the taste of the meat.the meat gets its taste from the marbling in the meat.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. To allow meat to hang too long will put a taste in meat many don't like. If left hanging excessively, the outside will spoil, get a green tint, and taste horrible if the "green stuff" is not all trimmed off. Which is almost impossible.

This untrimmed stuff will give the ground beef a certain "Whang".

Depends on cooler temp too. "Hot" aging for 48 hours works as well as 2-3 weeks in a cooler.

You want the enzymes to work but too long will allow bacteria to grow.

At 33-36 degrees, 21 days is the top limit for me. I really prefer 14. Anything more than that does not tenderize the meat more...........

But then again rotten meat IS very tender. :lol:

 

[ALX.]

Read in a study that tenderness is not much affected past 15 days.

We hang ours 21 as do almost all around here.

What is the name of that Italian "delicasey" that is rotten pork? Salted, smells like a 2 week dead groundhog in July. I couldn't stomach it even after a few beverages. :lol:

 

[hillsdown]

Also the younger the animal the hanging time is decreased, a fat 16 month old should really only need 14 days. You need a lot of fat on an animal if you plan on hanging for 21 days because they will definitely dry out.

 

[hayray]

Read in a study that tenderness is not much affected past 15 days.

We hang ours 21 as do almost all around here.

What is the name of that Italian "delicasey" that is rotten pork? Salted, smells like a 2 week dead groundhog in July. I couldn't stomach it even after a few beverages. :lol:

I think I read that same study where shear force analysis was used to measure tenderness at different hanging times. I found the research just by typing in search terms on google. My processor hangs mine for 14 days at 37 degrees.

 

[deenranch]

Tell your butcher to hang your half as long as you would like and let the other guy cut his up when he wants. It shouldn't be that hard to hang your half longer since the animal will be cut in half to hang anyway.