Salami 101

[Mercs Own]

We will wants photos of the cupboard construction and of course a step by step intruction sheet so we can make one after learning from you!!

 

[ledgenko]

Merc and others ... I have been making Biltong (from QLD KEVS design 'ish) ... in a plastic trunk with rods attached and a computer fan ... now I am starting to think that this same machine might just be the key you are looking for ... this takes about 5 - 7 days to dry out the Biltong so I would imagine that a month and your salami will be awesome ....


Kaiser ... let me know when you are doing your next batch and I will create a LARGE version of the machine I have and give it a red hot go .. who knows we might have hit the nail on the head here .. and u get to watch it as it dries ...

I will try and post a pic tomorrow ...


HAVE A GREAT XMAS ..

Matt and the Pavlenko family...

 

[benno1973]

Merc and others ... I have been making Biltong (from QLD KEVS design 'ish) ... in a plastic trunk with rods attached and a computer fan ... now I am starting to think that this same machine might just be the key you are looking for ... this takes about 5 - 7 days to dry out the Biltong so I would imagine that a month and your salami will be awesome ....


Kaiser ... let me know when you are doing your next batch and I will create a LARGE version of the machine I have and give it a red hot go .. who knows we might have hit the nail on the head here .. and u get to watch it as it dries ...

I will try and post a pic tomorrow ...


HAVE A GREAT XMAS ..

Matt and the Pavlenko family...

Hey Matt,

I have you in mind for our next batch! Sometime in the coldest part of June, generally...

I got an old fridge and just wired up a humidity controller the other day. That, in conjunction with a temp controller and computer fan, should make a pretty good fermenting/curing chamber. I'd be interested in trying yours side by side with it! Last year, my curing fridge destroyed all my salamis, while my neighbour (who hung his in the garage) came up trumps, so it can sometimes be the less technical method that does the best job.

Can you post a photo so I can see what yours is like?

 

[ledgenko]

Hey Matt,

I have you in mind for our next batch! Sometime in the coldest part of June, generally...

I got an old fridge and just wired up a humidity controller the other day. That, in conjunction with a temp controller and computer fan, should make a pretty good fermenting/curing chamber. I'd be interested in trying yours side by side with it! Last year, my curing fridge destroyed all my salamis, while my neighbour (who hung his in the garage) came up trumps, so it can sometimes be the less technical method that does the best job.

Can you post a photo so I can see what yours is like?

Hey Kaiser ...

Yes I have been slack ... Pic up tomorrow night ... I forgot all about posting it up .. I am working on getting the Biltong recipe right .. Sister spent 9 yrs living in RSA ... my chilli version using Roasted Thai chilli for some reason did not cut it ... ...

But the machine .. hell yeah .. I will pic it , load it .... but remember it is the Biltong version .. I am thinking a Toy plastic bin (kinda like the council bin ) but smaller .. a large fan unit (120mm computer fan - 240v) on top and air holes at the bottom ... 60watt globe at the bottom = heat ...


I am thinking of becoming inventive this week end ... I am a bit confident , however it may dry the outside out too quick ??

Open to suggestions on this ...


Matt

Matt

 

[ledgenko]

Ben ... I have been thinking about this for a while .. can u tell me whether the fridge you plan to use is a working fridge with a temp controller on it or is it a carcass of a fridge with a humidifier in side ... or ??? I am really interested !!!

I am also interested to know if your salamis got a coating of white mould like has been discussed on page 18 I think ...maybe 19 ...

cheers

Matt

 

[benno1973]

Hey Matt,

It's a working fridge with a temp controller. I'm currently testing it out with some pork bellies/pancetta and they are coming out nicely, so it's all working well. Next I will do a batch of italian salamis and see how they go. If it can handle them in the heat of summer, I'll be happy that it can do it any time of the year.

All my past sausage efforts had a white mould coating. I hung a good quality mouldy italian salami in the fridge with them to encourage it!

 

[ledgenko]

Ben .... I want to learn this stuff .... awesome ... stunned ... and really very interested !!!!


Could you pop up some pics of the fridge system ???

Cheers

Matt

 

[ledgenko]

Ben ... thins is my Biltong machine ... I made it pretty simply through using QLD Kevs instructions .. pure genius the boy is !!!



Anyway , I am thinking that using nothing other than a larger fan (see 120mm 240v) and a 56 lt kids toy bin with some drilled in holes at the base and a few pieces of dowel to hold the salami via strings... it should work a treat ... no flies enter .... its dark, secured and dries meat evenly in the case of biltong anyway and salami should work too ... see Hypothesis 2012 by me .. ... I could see it worth a try ... I will give it a go anyway .. using chorizo ... as I do like dry chorizo .... I am thinking a bit of kitty litter or news paper at the bottom might be good to sop up the oil ???


Thoughts ??? Considerations ???


Note that this machine is not too big however the bins I am thinking of is about a meter high which would / could allow for a light globe if you needed heat .... I am not sure how it would go with a humidifier ....


Matt

 

[benno1973]

Hi Matt,

Looks good! I am still to take a picture of mine but a few comments on yours...

Rather than a light globe, it might be better to buy a ceramic reptile heater as they don't put out any light, and they are pretty cheap. I have a couple for a dehydrator project that I'm still yet to start, but they are 200W or something like that, so might be a bit big for your needs. I'd also wonder about adding heat to a plastic container, but maybe I'm being overly nervous?...

A heat source wouldn't be needed with chorizo or salami or anything like that - you'd be wanting to keep it as cool as possible. Below 15C is ideal.

Rather than a humidifier, you could use just a bowl with salt water in it, and an adjustable lid that would allow you to open it/close it as required to increase/decrease humidity. Otherwise, I bought a small cheap humidifier from a chinese online store. It uses PET bottles as the water source so it allows you to use small bottles to reduce the height and it has a really small footprint. I'll take a photo of it in my fridge.

The other thing you'd need is airflow, although I've found that a PC fan on full bore is too much for dry curing things. You tend to get a crusty outer which doesn't allow the inside to dry properly. I've since ordered a 12V 8A LED dimmer (similar to those used on stir plates) so I can control the air flow.

Will try to post some pics of my setup later. In the meantime, I find http://forum.sausagemaking.org/index.php a really useful forum full of great information.

 

[benno1973]

Ok, so here's some pictures of my dry curing chamber, and a bit of a step by step on what I used. First off, please excuse the state of my shed - it's due for a tidy this weekend! <_<

So here's my fridge, kindly donated by my mother-in-law. It's not huge, but it's certainly big enough for dry curing, and it doesn't have a freezer section which is a bonus.



On top of the fridge are an old style temp controller (bought on gumtree for $10) and a hygrostat from ebay. The hygrostat was around $40 from memory. It came with a really bad wiring diagram that was different to what was shown on the device itself, but if you've ever wired a STC-1000, you'd be familiar with the concepts. It's essentially a single relay, normally closed to dehumidify, but when the sensor goes below a set point it changes to humidify. Simple really. Still, I had the wiring checked by a sparky friend before I plugged it in.

If anyone does want to wire one up, I'm happy to pull mine apart to show you my wiring and setup.

Similar to the STC-1000, it has 2 extension leads coming out of it, one for the humidifier and one for the dehumidifier. It also has a humidity probe that hangs in the fridge.



Inside the fridge, I have a PC fan for circulation (as yet I'm still to add speed control to the fan, so it currently goes flat out), an ultrasonic humidifier and a dehumidifier.

The ultrasonic humidifier was from DealsDirect and was delivered for around $30. It really is tiny, and it takes a PET bottle, which means that you can tailor how big it is. Currently I use a 750ml brown beer PET and it lasts about 2 days, but is space wasn't an issue, you could use a large 2L coke bottle and it'd last a lot longer. If space was tight, you could get away with a poptop juice container.

The dehumidifier was donated from my brother. Dehumidifiers aren't cheap, they're generally around $100, so I was lucky to have one donated to the project. Still, sometimes I wonder whether you even need one. Hanging wet meat in a fridge does tend to increase humidity, but in summer, the fridge turning on automatically drops the humidity anyway. In winter, it might be better to simply put a dehumidifying sachet in the fridge if required, or just a bowl of salt? It'd take a bit more trial and error.

Note that the black bits on the floor are pepper and chilli from the pancetta hanging above!



And finally a shot of some pancetta dry curing in the fridge. It's coated in pepper and chilli to keep the flies away (if they were somehow able to get into my fridge). These two have been hanging for just over a week now. A third one dried out quicker and has been taken down - tasting delicious!!

 

[keezawitch]

Ok, so here's some pictures of my dry curing chamber, and a bit of a step by step on what I used. First off, please excuse the state of my shed - it's due for a tidy this weekend! <_<

So here's my fridge, kindly donated by my mother-in-law. It's not huge, but it's certainly big enough for dry curing, and it doesn't have a freezer section which is a bonus.

View attachment 52101

On top of the fridge are an old style temp controller (bought on gumtree for $10) and a hygrostat from ebay. The hygrostat was around $40 from memory. It came with a really bad wiring diagram that was different to what was shown on the device itself, but if you've ever wired a STC-1000, you'd be familiar with the concepts. It's essentially a single relay, normally closed to dehumidify, but when the sensor goes below a set point it changes to humidify. Simple really. Still, I had the wiring checked by a sparky friend before I plugged it in.

If anyone does want to wire one up, I'm happy to pull mine apart to show you my wiring and setup.

Similar to the STC-1000, it has 2 extension leads coming out of it, one for the humidifier and one for the dehumidifier. It also has a humidity probe that hangs in the fridge.

View attachment 52102

Inside the fridge, I have a PC fan for circulation (as yet I'm still to add speed control to the fan, so it currently goes flat out), an ultrasonic humidifier and a dehumidifier.

The ultrasonic humidifier was from DealsDirect and was delivered for around $30. It really is tiny, and it takes a PET bottle, which means that you can tailor how big it is. Currently I use a 750ml brown beer PET and it lasts about 2 days, but is space wasn't an issue, you could use a large 2L coke bottle and it'd last a lot longer. If space was tight, you could get away with a poptop juice container.

The dehumidifier was donated from my brother. Dehumidifiers aren't cheap, they're generally around $100, so I was lucky to have one donated to the project. Still, sometimes I wonder whether you even need one. Hanging wet meat in a fridge does tend to increase humidity, but in summer, the fridge turning on automatically drops the humidity anyway. In winter, it might be better to simply put a dehumidifying sachet in the fridge if required, or just a bowl of salt? It'd take a bit more trial and error.

Note that the black bits on the floor are pepper and chilli from the pancetta hanging above!

View attachment 52103

And finally a shot of some pancetta dry curing in the fridge. It's coated in pepper and chilli to keep the flies away (if they were somehow able to get into my fridge). These two have been hanging for just over a week now. A third one dried out quicker and has been taken down - tasting delicious!!

View attachment 52104

absolutely fantastic, do you think this type of set-up would work for curing cheese, I have been trying to work out how to make a "cave" so i can progress onto hard cheeses

 

[ledgenko]

Ben .. wow .. a sweet deal ... I free in concept with the use of plastic for heating ... my store room where I do most of my fermenting is normally around the 20 degree mark and it takes about 5 - 7 days to dry the beef rump right out.. although I start tasting it around day 3 or 4 ... I love it !!! I am thinking you are correct in as far as the dehumidifier goes and I will give a few chorizos a go in the biltong machine first as well as a few csabi just to see how they go... I love salami ... soft or firm ... but I do love a bit of meat you can sink your teeth into !!!! mmmmm ... Meat !!!


Looks like I might just have to keep an eye out for a working fridge ... I don't think this is something the Boss has considered just yet ...


Cheers

Matt

 

[ledgenko]

Oh ... I think instead of using a bowl of salt .. there is a product called Thirsty camel which captures any moisture in the air that is designed to be used in your wardrobe ... might be a solution for the dehumidifier ??


Cheers

 

[benno1973]

absolutely fantastic, do you think this type of set-up would work for curing cheese, I have been trying to work out how to make a "cave" so i can progress onto hard cheeses

I'd say definitely. I have considered using it as a cheese cave, but I don't produce that much at a time. At the moment only soft cheeses that don't require aging like feta and haloumi. However I am trying to do a cheddar this weekend, and I have a small wine fridge that holds good temps. I'll have to fudge the humidity thing with a bowl of water I think. But yes, this setup would work perfectly, if it wasn't full of drying meat!!

Oh ... I think instead of using a bowl of salt .. there is a product called Thirsty camel which captures any moisture in the air that is designed to be used in your wardrobe ... might be a solution for the dehumidifier ??


Cheers

I like the look of these silica gel units. Pretty cheap, and you can re-dry them in the oven!

 

[keezawitch]

I'd say definitely. I have considered using it as a cheese cave, but I don't produce that much at a time. At the moment only soft cheeses that don't require aging like feta and haloumi. However I am trying to do a cheddar this weekend, and I have a small wine fridge that holds good temps. I'll have to fudge the humidity thing with a bowl of water I think. But yes, this setup would work perfectly, if it wasn't full of drying meat!!



I like the look of these silica gel units. Pretty cheap, and you can re-dry them in the oven!

on the cheesemaking forum they just use a spray bottle and give a light mist, it seems most of them use an esky set up, but i have a small bar fridge i want to use unless I can score a lger free one. I try to make a few cheeses a week to use up the excess milk from my goat, mainly a variation of maltese, soft, cottage and quark but they arent getting eaten fast enough that is why i want to have a go at hard cheese. A wine fridge might also be better for me and you can pick them up at a good price thanks for the ideas

 

[benno1973]

on the cheesemaking forum they just use a spray bottle and give a light mist, it seems most of them use an esky set up, but i have a small bar fridge i want to use unless I can score a lger free one. I try to make a few cheeses a week to use up the excess milk from my goat, mainly a variation of maltese, soft, cottage and quark but they arent getting eaten fast enough that is why i want to have a go at hard cheese. A wine fridge might also be better for me and you can pick them up at a good price thanks for the ideas

Well you're very lucky to have fresh goats milk, and cheesemaking is the perfect way to use it up! If you do decide to go down the route of wiring up the humidity controller, let me know and I'll happily take a photo of my wiring so you can compare. In the meantime, make sure you have a read of the cheese thread, and post some pictures of your results!!

 

[keezawitch]

Well you're very lucky to have fresh goats milk, and cheesemaking is the perfect way to use it up! If you do decide to go down the route of wiring up the humidity controller, let me know and I'll happily take a photo of my wiring so you can compare. In the meantime, make sure you have a read of the cheese thread, and post some pictures of your results!!

yeh i am lucky to have a nice dairy goat, slowly working on a small herd, got my full blood saanen girl i am milking and a nice little boy also a xbreed girl so hope to have the start of herd in 6-7 mths, looking for another girl in milk, i find milking them relaxing, and fresh milk is nice. back to cheese there is a thread on here? i will have to look, i also check out a cheeseforum and it is informative. As for posting pics i am hopeless at that but will try when i am happy with the look of cheeses, My son is interested in the salami/smoking thing and bow hunts so hopefully we will have some venison to play with this season. I plan to show him your set up, he is in the air-con trade so I think he will understand it and fingers crossed may help out.

 

[Ces]

hey sausage friends,

great thread! i've been making fresh sausages for awhile but want to get int fermented/dry cured sausages. My only option for a curing room is a converted fridge due to space/pet/partner issues.

However i am not confident at all in wiring up anything and wondered if anyone had managed to find a releativley cheap hygrometer/humidity controller that will just plug in to a humidifier and will not require plug converters etc because they are shipped from overseas?


appreciate the help guys.

 

[benno1973]

I had a decent look around when I was looking to wire mine up, but humidity controllers are insanely expensive. There's this one for $130, but it's a bit unclear as to whether it powers the humidifier based on the humidity reading or a timer. Otherwise you're looking at $330 for this unit, but again I don't think you can control a dehumidifier at the same time.

Ultimately, it might be cheaper to buy one of the $30 units and arrange a sparky to wire it up for you. Where are you located BTW?

 

[Ces]

I had a decent look around when I was looking to wire mine up, but humidity controllers are insanely expensive. There's this one for $130, but it's a bit unclear as to whether it powers the humidifier based on the humidity reading or a timer. Otherwise you're looking at $330 for this unit, but again I don't think you can control a dehumidifier at the same time.

Ultimately, it might be cheaper to buy one of the $30 units and arrange a sparky to wire it up for you. Where are you located BTW?

thanks for the links. you're right its not clear about the type of control the unit provides. sparky may be the way to go.
i'm in the mascot area of sydney. all the way across the desert mate.