Dry Curing Cabinet - In Development.

[anderson5420]

So, HS, where do you live?  These are pretty heroic measures!  You must live in the Arizona desert or something!  Here on the Upper Left Coast, granted, we live under a perpetual rain cloud, but usually we do not have to resort to such extreme measures! But very cool all the same!

[Habanero Smoker]

Habs

Man... that last photo is killing me!  :P

Somehow I have to find the time to build mine.  ;)

Great job Habs!  8)

Mike

Hi Mike;

The humidity is coming down. It's now averaging around 82%, and drops to around 64% when the refrigerator turns on. I decided to use the fanning with a magazine to help exchange the air. Either Sunday or Monday, the humidity will be increased again when I put the bresaola in.

anderson5420;

Over the past couple of years, I have tried ways similar to what you are doing and each attempt ended in disaster. If I had an unheated basement, I could do without refrigerator. This time of year the house is averaging 35% - 45% relative humidity, and in the summer the house is at least 74°F the majority of the time.

Oh I almost forgot; I live in New York.

[deb415611]

Habs

Man... that last photo is killing me!  :P

Somehow I have to find the time to build mine.  ;)

Great job Habs!  8)

Mike

Hi Mike;

The humidity is coming down. It's now averaging around 82%, and drops to around 64% when the refrigerator turns on. I decided to use the fanning with a magazine to help exchange the air. Either Sunday or Monday, the humidity will be increased again when I put the bresaola in.

anderson5420;

Over the past couple of years, I have tried ways similar to what you are doing and each attempt ended in disaster. If I had an unheated basement, I could do without refrigerator. This time of year the house is averaging 35% - 45% relative humidity, and in the summer the house is at least 74°F the majority of the time.

Oh I almost forgot; I live in New York.

I'm with Mike!  I'm also looking at another forum and seeing this picture    http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2572.0.html

Time, I need more time for my food obsession!   

[Mr Walleye]

Habs

I'm just thinking out loud...

It seems during the first phase (first few days to a week) the sausage is giving off a lot of moisture. This would indicate that during this period the cabinet requires a method of dehumidifying it. I know you don't really want to cut holes in your cabinet as you want to have the ability to also use it as a fridge.

The Green Air THC-1 has the ability to switch between dehumidify and humidify. You could put a mini dehumidifier in your cabinet similar to this one. They are fairly inexpensiveand also fairly small, although I'm never used one. This way you could control the initial phase by reducing the humidity and once you see begin to drop, switch it over to humidify.

Again... just thinking out loud, scary I know!  ;D

Mike

[Habanero Smoker]

Mike;

That's a nice find. I'll take a closer look at it. As long as it doesn't produce too much heat I don't see why it shouldn't work.

[Mr Walleye]

Habs

According to 1 of the reviews it does produce a little heat but the way it was written would appear to relatively minor. There are a number of other "mini" models out there as well.

Mike

[Habanero Smoker]

I thought I would provide an update on how things are going. Humidity still remains high. The humidity now fluctuates between 75% - 84%; dropping in the high 50's for a short period when the refrigerator cycles on. The humidifier would bring the humidity up in a very short time. I'm going to give that dehumidifier a much closer look.

Bad mold problems began to occur around day 7, and at first I had to wash the sausage down every other day until day 11. This was likely caused by the high humidity inside the cabinet. I haven't washed them since, but a white powdery mold is now growing, so I decided to let that grow. I weighed the sausage today (day 13), and no signs of any other mold growing other then the white powdery mold. Oh! I believe I mentioned in one post that white mold is good. That is not exactly correct. White powdery mold is good, white fuzzy mold is not. In general fuzzy mold is not good.

The pepperoni should have been ready in 6 – 8 days, but because of the high humidity, they are still not finished. The pepperoni has lost an average of 30%, but I want to take it to a 35% loss; hopefully that will be a couple of days. The chorizo seems to be about on schedule, it has lost an average of 27% weight loss. I plan to take that to 30% loss. The salami has lost an average of 16%, and that appears to be behind schedule. It should take 3 weeks to get to a 30% weight loss, and today makes 2 weeks. The Bresaola is at day 7 and it has lost 6% in weight. That is expected to be done in another 2 weeks.

[Mr Walleye]

Habs

Thanks for the update. It certainly looks like a guy has to not only figure out a method of supplying humidity but also a method of dehumidifying the cabinet in order to take all scenarios into account. I did see mention of a controller that supposedly would do both at the same time but I haven't been able to confirm it. I'll let you know if I come up with anything.

Mike

[Habanero Smoker]

Thanks! I will look also, and let you know if I find anything on my end. The only thing I've seem was the one that Green Air makes, which is a multifunctional and cost over $800.

I believe if I just hook up just the dehumidifier and set it to 70% RH, I don't believe the RH would drop below 60% while the refrigerator is on; and the refrigerator does not come on often. I would just have to be careful to monitor if the moisture in the sausage is still capable of replenishing the RH in a relatively short period. This is a large load, and adding the Bresaola a week ago compounded the problems. I'll see what happens when I make a smaller batch.

[sodak]

Habs,

Rytek talks about a flat pan with salt spread out - just barely cover salt with water - and put in box (fridge).  Have you or any one else ever tried that?  I'm curious, because I have my eye on a "drying fridge" just like you.  Seems like you'd have to keep pretty close tabs on the water and salt, but the book claims it adds good humidity.

[Tenpoint5]

Glad to see back around and posting Sodak. Haven't heard from you in awhile.

[Habanero Smoker]

Habs,

Rytek talks about a flat pan with salt spread out - just barely cover salt with water - and put in box (fridge).  Have you or any one else ever tried that?  I'm curious, because I have my eye on a "drying fridge" just like you.  Seems like you'd have to keep pretty close tabs on the water and salt, but the book claims it adds good humidity.

Hi Sodak;

I tried that in my small beverage refrigerator, and I couldn't get the humidity up over 35%, and that was when I also had about 6 pounds of Lonzino in the small refrigerator. That method works better if you have a refrigerator that does not have a self-defrosting feature. Prior to purchasing my humidifier I trial tested the refrigerator to see if the pan of salt water would maintain the humidity. It would to a point, but the first time the refrigerator cycle on the humidity would drop in the low 40's and it would not recover fast enough before the refrigerator would cycle on again, so the humidity would not get over 50% RH. But that test was done in the summer, and the refrigeration cycled on frequently,  during this time of year does not cycle on as much.

The problem I am having is too high of a humidity. Granted the salt water is suppose to stabilize the humidity at 75%,  but with a load of sausage and meat drying I don't have to much confidence that I will see any improvement using this method. But I may give that a try next time; seeing that the refrigeration does not cycle on that often, and to test if it will stabilize the humidity. Today I removed the pepperoni and now see an improvement in humidity, and now maxes out in the low 70's.

[Habanero Smoker]

Another update:

I thought it was time to provide another update. The pepperoni and chorizo have been taken out of the dry curing cabinet. This leaves the 4 salamis and the bresaola to go. Yet! The humidity can still get as high as 80%, and drop in the high 40% when the refrigerator cycles on. So the RH still have to be monitored. The salami has lost 25% - 26% in weight, and the bresaola has lost 14% in weight.

After battling mold here is a picture of one piece chorizo and pepperoni sliced. I'm fighting a cold, so my tastes buds are off, but the flavor of both are very subtle (I used recipes from Charcuterie). Both the chorizo and pepperoni where taken to 35% - 37% weight loss. The pepperoni was nice and firm and the chorizo had a nice silky texture. Later I'm going to try each on crackers with some cheese. If I were to make chorizo again, I think I will take it to a 40% loss. I may hang it in the kitchen to have it dry further.


I wanted to make the pepperoni (on the right) without any pork products, so I used sheep's casing. I feel that is too small in diameter. The white you see on the pepperoni slices is not mold. That part of the casing separated from the sausage while slicing and the flash add to the whitest color. The ph in the chorizo was a little lower then I would have liked, but it was within the safe range.

[deb415611]

WOW,  that looks awesome Habs!

[Tenpoint5]

Looks Awesome Habs. When can I place my order?