Dry Curing Cabinet - In Development.

[Mr Walleye]

Habs... the salami looks fantastic!  ;)

Mike

[Habanero Smoker]

Seemore & Mike;

Thanks.

I've got a lot of fine tuning to go through; but based on my past experiences in dry curing, the outcome of the sausages were better then I had expected.

[anderson5420]

Wht was the diameter of your casings and how long did the salami hang?  I just hung my Tuscan (in 3.5" clear protein lined casings) this morning, have 61 degrees F and thanks to a Target humidifier 63% RH in a little room in the back of my daylight basement.  Charcuterie says 30 days, I am guessing based on the size of these puppies it will be more like 3 months. Your time may give me some insight.  My prior Tuscan was in regular hog casings, and it took about a month.

The salami was finished a few days ago, and I’m really pleased with the results. My only regret is that I misplaced my notes. This is what I called a Hybrid-Salami. I combined what I thought was the best of two different recipes (Tuscan and Hungarian), and came up with a unique salami. The average weight loss was 34%.

[Habanero Smoker]

I decided to go with natural casings and I used hog middles; which averaged 2.25 inches in diameter. Mine took 27 days, but my humidity was much higher during the entire drying period, then yours will be.

Charcuterie is a good book, but they really lack important information in their the dry curing section. The way they write the recipe if for when every thing goes exactly right. I would toss the time factor out, and go by weight loss. Weigh ever piece and mark them so you know what each one weights. They will be done when you get to a 30% to 35% in weight loss (I preferred 35%). I seen reference not to go beyond 40% weight loss, but that was written for commercial sausage makers. The reason given was that it would not be profitable, because to the amount of weight loss, but on the other hand you don't want to take to the point it becomes a huge snack stick. :)

[anderson5420]

I will weigh them, and see how the % weight loss goes, but with everything else I have mainly gone by feel - when the "squishiness" is gone.  Not precision of course.

[Habanero Smoker]

If you can tell by feel, then you don't have to go through the extra step of weighing them.

Let me know how those casings work out. I didn't want to use that type until I knew for sure that those type of casings would shrink and keep good contact with the meat as they dried out.

[dAWGS]

saw this on another site.      since a "frost free" fridge uses cold DRY air when it cycles..   when it does cycle the RH should drop right?  what if a light bulb set on a dimmer to raise the temp slightly is installed to actually force the fridge to cycle more than it would normally.   this way every time it goes on the RH drops and HIGH HUMIDITY would be a factor.    low RH is regulated by a humidifier and humidstat

what do you think?

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi dawgs,

Welcome to the forum.

Nice idea, and it could work. The problem is that light it the enemy of fermented sausages, and dry curing meat. Constant light can break down the fat and make it rancid. I suppose I could use my small ceramic heater, but I would not want my refrigerator motor running constantly or that frequently.

[teach]

Lover the salami and other products they look very professional.

I now have my fridge, just picked one up on ebay, its a 6ft auto deforst so should be good.  I want to try and put 3 devices in it.  A humidifier/ dehumidifier and a heater so I can use it as a fermentation chamber as well.

My questions are

1) where is the best place to get the cables and probes through the fridge wall?
2) what power heater did you use?  I am looking at a 60w tubular greenhouse heater will this be enough?
3) I have found a dual control temperature controller which will work to produce a stable temperature but I am finding it tricky finding a controller to control the humidifier and dehumidifier.  I might have to buy 2 with one having a dehumidifier setting.
4) What would you recommend re airflow is it woth putting a couple of computer fans in with a fan controller to slow them down?

Any thoughts would be appriciated.

Cheers

[Habanero Smoker]

I didn't want to drill any holes. In my planning stages I was going to. The best area would be to drill out through the side. As one member suggested, drill from the inside, but only drill far enough to break through the wall. Next use a wood dowel, insert it in the hole, and poke around through the insulation to make sure there are no wires of coils. If none are found, continue to drill until you come out the exterior wall.

I'm using a 950 - 1800 watt ceramic heater. I've never saw the tubular greenhouse heaters. They look like they would do the job, I need to search to see if they are available here in the States. The single 60 watt may be too small to bring the cabinet up to 80°F - 95°. You may have to get one that is 100 watts, or hook up two 60 watts. I found that my singe-stage Ranco does a good job in keeping my cabinet within 1°F.

I'm struggling with the humidity and I'm about ready to purchase a dehumidifier. Finding a two-stage humidistat is difficult, and the one I found, it is better to purchase two single stage hemostats that are capable of control one device at a time. I'm hoping that one humidistat can control the dehumidifier accurately enough that the humidifier would not need to turn on.

I have two air flow devices, and only use one at a time. One is a portable variable speed fan that runs on batteries or AC adapter current. I have also put together a computer fan and hooked it up to a universal AC adapter, and control the speed by selected the desired voltages. Using a fan control will also work, one fan should be enough. If you have too much air circulating, even in a high humid environment there is a possibility of dry the outside of the sausage too fast.

Keep us posted on your progress.

[teach]

Thanks Habs

I will keep you up to date and take photos.


Iam not sure if you can get this one http://www.orionairsales.co.uk/prem-i-air-pmd1608-dehumidifier-with-350-mlday-capacity-953-p.asp

in the states but this is the dehumidifier I was going to get.

Cheers

[Habanero Smoker]

I probably wouldn't be able to get that one, but Mike (Mr. Walleye) provided me with the following link. I'll be ordering it in a few days.

Mini Dehumidifier

[carnie1]

I probably wouldn't be able to get that one, but Mike (Mr. Walleye) provided me with the following link. I'll be ordering it in a few days.

Mini Humidifier

Hab I got one of these at a cigar shop, http://www.bargainhumidors.com/bh/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=ACC-HYDRA I just have a small refrigerator and my other humidifier is too big, havent tried it yet but will keep you posted when I do

[Habanero Smoker]

I probably wouldn't be able to get that one, but Mike (Mr. Walleye) provided me with the following link. I'll be ordering it in a few days.

Mini Humidifier

Hab I got one of these at a cigar shop, http://www.bargainhumidors.com/bh/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=ACC-HYDRA I just have a small refrigerator and my other humidifier is too big, havent tried it yet but will keep you posted when I do

Sorry I mislabeled my link. I should have read Mini-Dehumidifier, I've now changed it to reflect the correct label.

The humidifier you linked may be of great interest to those that have smaller cabinets.

I have one question about that humidifier. Do you need to purchase the Sealed 100% distilled water cartridges, or are the cartridges refillable? If they have to be purchased, what is the cost and approximately how long do they last in your refrigerator.

[carnie1]

I probably wouldn't be able to get that one, but Mike (Mr. Walleye) provided me with the following link. I'll be ordering it in a few days.

Mini Humidifier

Hab I got one of these at a cigar shop, http://www.bargainhumidors.com/bh/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=ACC-HYDRA I just have a small refrigerator and my other humidifier is too big, havent tried it yet but will keep you posted when I do

Sorry I mislabeled my link. I should have read Mini-Dehumidifier, I've now changed it to reflect the correct label.

The humidifier you linked may be of great interest to those that have smaller cabinets.

I have one question about that humidifier. Do you need to purchase the Sealed 100% distilled water cartridges, or are the cartridges refillable? If they have to be purchased, what is the cost and approximately how long do they last in your refrigerator.

The water tank is refillable,  I'll dig it out and hook it up and report back