Incubating dry cured meats

rsherman24 · February 17, 2012, 06:52:19 AM

I am going to try my hand at dry curing with a Sopressata recipe from Rhulman/Polcyn's Charcuterie. I am using the Bactoferm F-RM-52, and the directions call to hang them at 85 degrees and high humidity for 12 hours.

I have a box built in my cellar which maintains 53 degrees/60 % humidity to cure them in, and I have an OBS with a PID built into the smoke generator. Can I maintain the 85 degrees/high humidity in the Bradley to incubate the Bactoferm, or does anyone have any other suggestions? I have seen some posts where it appears people are using the Bradley for this. I was wondering if the pid will maintain that low of a temp and how do I get the humidity up that high.

Thanks.

NePaSmoKer · February 17, 2012, 06:59:42 AM

Quote from: rsherman24 on February 17, 2012, 06:52:19 AM
I am going to try my hand at dry curing with a Sopressata recipe from Rhulman/Polcyn's Charcuterie. I am using the Bactoferm F-RM-52, and the directions call to hang them at 85 degrees and high humidity for 12 hours.

I have a box built in my cellar which maintains 53 degrees/60 % humidity to cure them in, and I have an OBS with a PID built into the smoke generator. Can I maintain the 85 degrees/high humidity in the Bradley to incubate the Bactoferm, or does anyone have any other suggestions? I have seen some posts where it appears people are using the Bradley for this. I was wondering if the pid will maintain that low of a temp and how do I get the humidity up that high.

Thanks.

Here is how Tony has taken care of the humidity inside his smoker.
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=27172.0

Yes the PID will go that low.

Keymaster · February 17, 2012, 07:20:58 AM

This might be of some help.

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/meat-smoking/humidity

rsherman24 · February 17, 2012, 08:12:33 AM

Thanks for the info. I'll run a couple of tests over the weekend to see what kind of numbers I can get. Hope to get this going on Sunday, so I will post some pics if all goes well.

Thanks

Habanero Smoker · February 17, 2012, 01:48:05 PM

When I use my Bradley to incubate, I do something similar that Tony does, but I use my cold smoke setup to allow warm moist air to flow into the cabinet. I place a hot plate in the cold smoke box, with a pan of water and let it simmer (keep an eye on the water level and replace when necessary with water that is around 180 - 200°F). I found that during incubation, the RH is not as important as when you are drying the sausage. The moisture is not for the bacteria, it is to keep the outer layer of the sausage moist, and prevent drying out. So as long as the RH is 75% or higher; you will be alright.

If I want to apply smoke, I apply it after the incubation period.

viper125 · February 18, 2012, 07:50:24 AM

Just wondering wouldn't a pan with water in the smoker be ok?

Habanero Smoker · February 18, 2012, 01:09:06 PM

I'm not sure, I just felt that it wouldn't. I make most of my dry cured sausages from about October and usually stop making them around April. So the outside temperature is cold and dry, I'm keeping the cabinet temperature at around 85°F, so I set it up so warm moist air will fill the cabinet.

It wouldn't be too hard to test it. Place a pan of warm water in the smoker, set the temperature to 85°F, and place a hygrometer in the smoker and see what it reads, and if it maintains a high enough RH.

Mr Walleye · February 18, 2012, 03:35:07 PM

In my big smoker what I have done is hand an old towel (clean) over a smoke stick. Start with a wet towel and allow it to drape down into a container of water. This easily held 80 to 90% for me in my setup and I could control the humidity level with the vent. For the most part I ran the vent wide open.

Might be worth a test, it's simple enough.

Mike

rsherman24 · February 19, 2012, 06:01:33 AM

I ran a few tests yesterday, then added the soppressata last night to hang and incubate for 12 hours. The PID held the temp at 85 perfectly and just a pan of water on the bottom kept the humidity at 75% to 85%. The casings were slightly damp from the stuffing process, so this may have helped with the humidity. I kept the vent closed and used a digital thermometer/hygrometer in the cabinet. After 12 hours the numbers were dead on. I am up in NE PA and the temps last night were low 30's.

I have them hanging in my makeshift curing chamber, so hopefully I can avoid the nasty fuzzy green stuff I have read about. I took a couple of pics on my phone, but I am using a tablet now and haven't figured out how to post pics yet. I will get some pics out here, but I just wanted to post my results for the curious minds. Thanks for all the info, this forum is awesome. I will keep you updated on the process. Thanks again

Keymaster · February 19, 2012, 06:24:00 AM

Glad to here that worked well for you. Can'twaitto see some pics :)

viper125 · February 19, 2012, 05:16:35 PM

Well waiting on a hygrometer. I have a dorm size refrigerator. Going to try a bowl of water in bottom and a fish aquarium heater and play around. I will add a small computer size fan. Then i'll see what happens. Not really sure I need a big cure cabinet. When I get the stuff together I'll post results.

DisplacedCoonass · February 19, 2012, 05:22:32 PM

Quote from: viper125 on February 19, 2012, 05:16:35 PM
Well waiting on a hygrometer. I have a dorm size refrigerator. Going to try a bowl of water in bottom and a fish aquarium heater and play around. I will add a small computer size fan. Then i'll see what happens. Not really sure I need a big cure cabinet. When I get the stuff together I'll post results.

Oh please do with pictures as well. I've been thinking about picking up one of these off Craigslist for the exact purpose.

Habanero Smoker · February 20, 2012, 01:35:15 AM

rsherman24;

If you used the 19005 Extech Digital Hygro-Thermometer ; they are too sensitive. The first time I use that, it shot up to 95% or 99% and stayed like that for about three days before the instrument began to function properly. Since then I have used a mechanical one, or an extra Oregon Scientific sensor to my weather station. The Oregon Scientific, functions better in high RH.

I'm a little nervous about keeping the vent closed, especially if you have the generator hooked up to the cabinet. Moisture will definitely back into the generator. Even with the cold smoke setup, with out good circulation, I would be concern that too much heat may build up around the heating element.

rsherman24 · February 20, 2012, 05:05:12 AM

The hygrometer I have is one that I use in my humidor(link below). It is very acurate in that environment, but this is the first time I have used it for any other purpose. The temp setting was dead on with the thermocouple from my pid, and the hygrometer seemed to react correctly.

I see your concern with the moisture and the smoke generator. I did have the vent open slightly for the thermocouple wire to go through, but I will keep this in mind next time. With a temp of 85, the heating element barely kicked on while I was watching it. As you mentioned in one of your earlier replies Hab, I think the humidity is more to keep the casings from drying out. The main goal is to keep it at 85 to incubate the bacteria. I put them in the smoker right after stuffing them, so there was a good amount of moisture still on them. I will try to run a test with the smoke generator taken off and the vent open.

thank you

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Humidor-CALIBER3-Thermometer-Hygrometer/dp/B0007W1EA6/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Incubating dry cured meats

NePaSmoKer

Keymaster

Keymaster