Let Talk Sausage Curing

[Forkin Pork]

Hey everyone just joined your forum. I also a member of such other forums as the SMOKE RING and BBQ & U........well simply becauseI just meat BBQin and smokin al kinds of meat. I also very much love makin sausage and have been for ten years now, and now I want to start gettin heavy into curing sausages of all kind  and I want to build a curing chamber out of a workin freeze and she's a FULL SIZE Freezer too.

So I spotted your sight here, lurked around for a couple of days to see whatcha all had to say.........and so I said to my self..........."SELF"....this the place to be, so I signed up and here I am, ready to learn.

Ok lets get start.................ahhhh........where do I start fellows, beside going to the frig and poppin open a cold one?  ::)

Oh yah, I love to BBQ Big time, I'm a certified KCBS judge and I use a Backwoods Party for all my Qin and smokin.

[Shasta bob]

Welcome to the forum Forkin Pork

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Forkin Pork;

Welcome to the forum.

Here are a couple of threads on the topic:

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=12597.0

More elaborate system:
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=18974.msg230897#msg230897

Here are some other useful links:
http://www.sausagemaker.com/tutorials/chamber/curing_chamber.html

http://curedmeats.blogspot.com/2007/07/key-equipment-piece-3-curing-chamber.html

http://lpoli.50webs.com/text_files/Creating%20An%20Ideal%20Environment%20For%20Dry%20Curing%20Sausage.doc

http://lpoli.50webs.com/Tips.htm

http://lpoli.50webs.com/text_files/Creating%20An%20Ideal%20Environment%20For%20Dry%20Curing%20Sausage.doc

[jiggerjams]

Welcome FP

[FLBentRider]

W E L C O M E  to the Forum Forkin Pork!

[mjdeez]

I've been doing some research on this. I'm trying to make something similar to what ExpatCanadian made.

Here are a couple of alternatives to the heater (no fan like his though)
Heat tape is the most economical from what I've seen: http://www.omega.com/ppt/pptsc.asp?ref=SRL_HEATCABLE&Nav=heab01
Here's a ceramic heater, probably an easier installation than the tape, still reasonably priced, i'd go with a 60W and/or 150W: http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/2533/product.web

Here's a humidifier a lot of people seem to be using: http://www.amazon.com/Kaz-5520B-PersonalMist-Ultrasonic-Humidifier/dp/B0009HAZBS/ref=sr_1_8?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1296499583&sr=1-8

Temp / humidity controllers seems to be where the major expense is, so I was thinking about making this a DIY job w/ programmable microcontroller. It may be that I can't even beat the prices of some of these controllers even if I were to build it myself, as the cost for some of these relays is really high.

[LoftyNotions]

One more link I'd add to the excellent list Habanero Smoker provided is http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/.

I use a wine refrigerator for my drying chamber and a box I built and lined with visqueen for fermentation. The wine refrigerator has its own temperature control. I heat the fermentation chamber with a warming plate controlled with a Ranco controller. One benefit of the Ranco is it will control both heating and cooling, depending on how you set it. I've been able to pretty well control humidity with just pans of water or water saturated with salt, changing surface area to either increase or decrease humidity.

Be sure to read everything you can find on meat safety.

Welcome, and enjoy.

Larry