Built a dry-curing chamber....

NePaSmoKer · November 14, 2010, 12:51:19 PM

I agree

Very nice setup.

This is my 2do here real soon.

Habanero Smoker · November 14, 2010, 01:15:43 PM

You definitely have the Rolls Royce of setups. One of these days I'm going to bite the bullet and start cutting holes in my dry curing cabinet, but I still use it for double duty and use it for refrigeration during the summer months.

BLSH;

They make those types of refrigerators over here. Just do a search for freezerless refrigerators, I got mine from Sears.

You can also get an upright freezer. I started to get one, but I knew I would start using it to freeze food instead of using it for a dry curing cabinet. Sears also has a unit that can be used either as a refrigerator or freezer with a flick of a switch. But if you get a stand up freezer, you can easily use it for both once you have a temperature control device to control the temperature.

smokeNcanuck · November 16, 2010, 05:29:57 PM

WOW, That is the SH#@!!
Really nice, I like the way you kept all the wiring and controls so neat and tidy.
Real professional like, congrats it's a real beauty!! Cant wait too see some of the results ;)

hal4uk · November 16, 2010, 11:01:43 PM

That's very impressive!
Wow!!!
Awrighten.

ExpatCanadian · November 17, 2010, 12:31:05 AM

I'm ITCHIN' the get going. Only a few days to go with my Coppa cure.... then spending the weekend making a few different salumi, I want to get a few things going at once. Got around 20lb of pork and beef in my freezer to divide up into 2 or 3 different air-dried products.

I'm thinking Len Poli's favorite salami.... some Mortadella.... and maybe another batch of semi-dried cervelat, my first batch is pretty much gone and it was fantastic. I'm also going to get a couple of jowls from my butcher for some Guanciale....

Yep.. jumping in with both feet ;D ;D Why start slow when you can start at light speed?

ExpatCanadian · November 18, 2010, 04:16:45 PM

Well folks, after sitting back and feeling mighty proud of myself for my efforts and basking humbly (NOT) in the glory of the deluge of compliments from your good selves.... I'm feeling a bit let down this evening...

It all started yesterday afternoon... I get a text message from my alarm system (don't ask... I like tech!) telling me there's been a power cut in my home. No biggie, happens now and again. I get home from work, and realise a breaker has tripped, the one that amongst other things has my shiny new drying chamber attached to it. I reset it, everything comes back to life... all good. Or so I thought... within 15 minutes, it's tripped again! Crap... I'm thinking great, my cheap and cheerful £9 fridge with a brand new £44 door has decided to pack it in. I test my theory by resetting the breaker again, but programming the unit for 25^oC, so the fridge compressor stays off, but the interior heater is switched on. POP... breaker goes again! WTF!! ??? ??? ??? ??? Ok, getting 50:50 annoyed:worried here now.... think, I'll try a totally different outlet, in fact I ran an extension cord to the very outlet that I use for my DBS. Plugged it in, switched it on... and this time a very nasty sizzle noise comes from somewhere, and I smell that nasty burnt electric smell we've probably all smelled at some time or another. AND my extension cord is dead... didn't trip the breaker, but blew the fuse on the plug itself (our UK plugs have a 13A fuse built right into the head). Tomorrow I'll remove the fridge and heater wiring and try to run them independent of the controller, and HOPE that they are not the issue. With a bit of luck I've simply got a duff controller that has shorted out now that I've burnt it in using it for a few weeks.

So much for my high tech curing cabinet hey!!?? And all this 2 days before I am due to get my Coppa stuffed and drying. I can postpone the salumi making, but the coppa ain't stopping for anyone.

I guess if all else fails, the coppa can hang in my conservatory for a bit until I get this fixed, it's roughly correct in terms of temp and humidity anyway... so it wouldn't be the end of the world.

smokeNcanuck · November 18, 2010, 04:23:47 PM

sounds like we have the same kind of luck ;) ;)
That is a bit of a bummer, but I'm sure you will get it all sorted out. Better now than if it was full of a bunch of salami :o
Good luck and keep us posted!!

classicrockgriller · November 18, 2010, 04:29:46 PM

That is my kind of luck.

I was ready to watch the fun.

I'll put my popcorn in a food saver bag.

dang!

BuyLowSellHigh · November 18, 2010, 04:39:30 PM

Bummer dude! But anyone who can design and assemble a rig like that can probably quickly find and fix the problem. Just hope it isn't something that causes your used fridge to get ex'ed and need to rebuild the thing.

ExpatCanadian · November 19, 2010, 12:26:51 AM

Quote from: smokeNcanuck on November 18, 2010, 04:23:47 PM
Better now than if it was full of a bunch of salami :o

Most definately the positive side of this.... :)

Quote from: BuyLowSellHigh on November 18, 2010, 04:39:30 PM
But anyone who can design and assemble a rig like that can probably quickly find and fix the problem. Just hope it isn't something that causes your used fridge to get ex'ed and need to rebuild the thing.

Well, can't take credit for the design... had the benefit of experience from many blogs and forums to pick and choose from! But, it's morning here, just poured myself a cup of coffee and am about to get stuck into pulling the controller apart and seeing what gives.

Thanks for the encouragement!

ExpatCanadian · November 19, 2010, 05:01:41 AM

Ok, good news... isolated the fridge and heating and plugged each in separately. Fridge is fine... WHEW!! The problem is in the 100W heater, instant breaker trip and nasty bad smells when that bad boy gets plugged in :(. Weird thing is, it's barely been used at all... I've mainly been using the fridge as a fridge waiting for my Coppa to finish it's cure. Only actually used the heater in the first few days when I was playing around with different temperature and humidity settings.

I'm no electrician (beyond the basics)... but I think the reason it was tripping even on the cooling cycle is that the temp. controller itself only has a single Common/Neutral connector, so you have to wire both the fridge and heater common wires together. I think that must be enough for the short in the Heater to affect the whole system. Can someone more electrically savvy explain it to me, or tell me if this is even plausible?

Anyway, returning the heater, will have a new one by Monday and all is well in the world again

Habanero Smoker · November 19, 2010, 01:03:01 PM

Glad to hear you isolated the problem.

I haven't cut any holes in my refrigerator, because I still use it to refrigerate during the summer months. Since you have installed vent louvers, drilled holes through the cabinet, and still use it to refrigerate; I have a question. Does the compressor run constantly or more frequently to keep the refrigerator at 40°F and lower? In other words are you loosing too much cold air through those vents, even when closed there seems to be no insulation.

ExpatCanadian · November 19, 2010, 03:18:33 PM

Quote from: Habanero Smoker on November 19, 2010, 01:03:01 PM
I haven't cut any holes in my refrigerator, because I still use it to refrigerate during the summer months. Since you have installed vent louvers, drilled holes through the cabinet, and still use it to refrigerate; I have a question. Does the compressor run constantly or more frequently to keep the refrigerator at 40°F and lower? In other words are you loosing too much cold air through those vents, even when closed there seems to be no insulation.

I was concerned about that, but it seems to cycle fairly slowly. The controller actually has a programmable delay setting in it that will prevent the compressor from cycling on and off too frequently. I have it set to 3 minutes, which means if it calls for cooling again within 3 minutes of it's last cycle, it waits. However, at the moment, it seems to be cycling on about every 10-15 minutes... I have it set for a 1.5^oC buffer, so once it gets that amount over the set temperature it kicks in again. Same goes for the heating side, but at fridge temps, it never kicks in... ambient temp brings it up on it's own. It's in an unheated area of my house, so the ambient temperature is around 10^oC right now, which helps. I have no doubt that I have compromised somewhat on the ability to retain the internal environment, but I had to measure that against the other goals I was trying to accomplish. We'll see how it does when I need to maintain a higher temp.

BuyLowSellHigh · November 19, 2010, 05:44:18 PM

Living on the Gulf Coast of TX, I don't think I could get away with a well ventilated cabinet like yours. I'm afraid it would be an open door invitation to our abundant crawling critter population. It's a constant battle as it is, and a ventilated curing cabinet would probably quickly become a bait cabinet. When I get around to this I think I'll just have to open the door periodically for air exchange.

mjdeez · December 06, 2010, 12:11:53 PM

Expat,
I found some cheap / used / small (door-style) freezers on Craigslist. Any reason you can think of why a freezer wouldn't work for this type of setup?

I also did a little research after reading your posts and found that it may be difficult to reproduce prosciutto in a setup like this (from the sausage maker's version of this dry cure chamber). I know you're just getting started with this chamber so you may not know yet but do you think it's worth a try? I just want to know ahead of time what I can / can't do with a setup like this.

Thanks

Built a dry-curing chamber....

NePaSmoKer