I know a lot of guys who process their own stuff let their deer hang in the cooler before they break it down and package it, which I do when I can. But for the times when you don't have time or are away from home and have to break it down and pack it in a cooler do you guys dry age in the fridge? I read an article on it the other day where the writer stated that they did it on a piece by piece basis on racks in a cookie sheet and for up to 20-25 days. I've got a decent sized roast thawing out now and I'm gonna try to age it like that for a couple weeks to see how it does. Anyone have any input on it?

I don't think you can dry age in a normal fridge that has not been modified for that specific purpose. Too much moisture. I have seen some videos on modifying small fridges for dry aging but seems people had mixed results. I would be interested if you have modified one and had success.

I'm pretty sure the article I read was talking about using a normal fridge, I'll see if I can find it. Not saying you're wrong, I just want to double check.

Ok so upon further review it seems I have my articles and podcasts mixed up. The article I was thinking of was on wet aging for up to 20-25 days in vacuum bags. It was actually on the MeatEater podcast where I was getting the dry aging in the fridge from. Rinella was saying that he does it the way I originally described for up to two weeks.

One of the best back straps, that I've ever eaten, was "dry aged" on a wine rack, in a refrigerator. He just always puts a cookie sheet, or something underneath, for the drippings.

They do make some special bags you can use that are designed for the fridge, I've heard good reviews for them, never used myself:

https://umaidry.com/collections/steak

Good find there. I might have to give those a try.

I have use a regular frig for years with good results. I have old wire shelves raised on wood stripesblocks. Age between 7 to 14 days. Try to keep temp around 38 degrees.

I have done it this way several times, it works good....

I set a backstrap on a spare grill grate in a cooler over ice for 10 days it was awesome, just trim the colored edges and cook. Have aged in a paper stack in the fridge as well worked just fine too!