Is dry-aging the way to achieve what I want? Or am I just going to be making raw beef jerky?
how thick are the slices ur trying to age? mine are thin (~3/16''/5mm), it's for snacks. i don't have any experience with anything thicker than that but i would think much thiker, one 1 for example, would form a crust and slowly dry from the outside in and be difficult to eat. proper aging requires a combination of proper temperatures and *humidity.*
sabertooth has a post on here about his meat storage fridge that looks to be more what ur looking for.
also, wet aging might work for you. there's lotsa info on the web on aging meat. one site i enjoy is the bearded butcher; truly skilled artisan butchers.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=BeardedButchers+aging i'm in the bush in the filipines and i get my beef from the slaughter house vender at the local wet market where it's hung in crudely cut up chunks or strips and displayed on hooks, nothing like the plastic wrapped products u see in a supermarket. works for me; i usually get a chunk of chuck, a heart and some liver and grind it; currently 8kilos chuck, 1 heart (~850g) and 500g liver. i sometimes add a kidney or two and or a brain. i was adding fat, which they give me for free, but i've learned that too much fat gives me diarrhea.
i recently found some of my jerky, forgotten, in the freezer, in an open bag and it's too dry but still chewable. it had been in the fridge for at least 2 months and i wasn't eating it so i moved it to the freezer. it's at least 6 months old now; it's still a good chew but i wonder about it's nutritional values. the fat on the slices gets crispy; kinda nice...