Homemade Sausage Making

Hi Chuckwagon, As you know i have been making alot of smoked and fresh sausage, but have been wanting to do the dry cured, so I purchased this freezer, is a Continental 2F, commercial freezer, 48 cubic feet, I was wondering if you could give me some pointers on setting it up, most important is humidity and temp control, i will be using a humidifier in side and the freezer for temp control, I presently have a Jonson control on my other freeze for a fermenting cabinet, with a hot plate inside for heat, it works great for fermenting and also smoking sausages, on this new one, I need a humidity control and a temp control, the freezer already has fans inside for air circulation, so i think that wont be a problem, any suggestions? I will post a link below to pictures of the unit,Tim

http://s1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc3 ... NTINENTAL/

TSMODIE
Take a few minutes and review the link below, I think you might find a few ideas from other members to help you along with your project.
Wally

http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=5317

Thanks Wally, you are a good man! Even if you can't drive a kayak straight!
Appreciate you expertise fella!

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Thanks for the link, there alot of info there. i have seen most of these controllers, But i would prefer to have the controllers on the outside, with just the sensors going inside, i like the dual controllers, but am worried about it being in that moist of enviroment, most are designed to be in a room, not an enclosed freezer, I will experiment with a few and let you all know, Also, we are going into the cold season, and this will be in my garage, so I am thinking using a hot plate with a seperate temp control for the colder months,Thanks for your inputs,Tim

Hi Tim.

I was thinking about making a cold-room in my basement, but I think this fermenting cabinet is a much better idea.
You can read about it some more here too......http://curedmeats.blogspot.com/2007/07/ ... amber.html

THE CURING CABINET IS DONE, I went with a CAP AIR2 dual temp and humidity controller, and did the modification for humidifying instead of dehumidifying, the temp control did not work, but the humidity control does a good job, do i added another Johnson Controls A419, these are the best i have found for temp control, I have another one on my fermentation cabinet. I also added a Oregon scientific weather station with a remote sensor for temp and humidity, so i can monitor this from inside, it has been running now for 24 hours and keeps the temp exactly at 55 degrees and the humidity between 69 and 72 percent, so the meat is going in friday, 15 lbs of salami allasandra and 15 lbs of pepperoni, the link below shows the pictures of the finished cabinet and controls,Tim

http://s1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc3 ... 20CABINET/

I really the Oregon scientific weather station, I can continually monitor this from inside, and it keeps a record daily of the high and low temps and humidity, and resets itself daily, so every day i can see what the high and low temps were in the cabinet and the high and low humidity,Tim

My problem with making dried sausages is my rate of consumption. I don't use five pounds per year of all varieties. Bacon, I use. Sausage many kinds almost all fresh or cooked some smoked..

Tim.

It's so nice, I wish it's mine.

Tim, that unit is fantastic. Like Gulyás I also wish it was mine. I'm surprised that you found that the temp control on the Air-2 does not work. I also have one and I hope it will work for me. I also bought a dual control unit (heat and cold) but have to get it wired. I intend to get mine going in a week or so.

A couple of questions. If you are intending to keep the unit outdoors will you be installing a heater? Are there fans in the unit to distribute the air and humidity evenly? And finally, will any venting be necessary?

Hey Tim,
What a job you've done! That's incredible. Way to go pal. That is really something to be proud of. That project will inspire others to make great equipment too. I can hardly wait to hear from Wally (he's our resident dry-curing chamber expert).
Okay TSmodie... what sausage goes into the machine first to initiate the project? Salami? Pepperoni? Nice work pal!

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Redzed, I will need to use a heater in about a month, the Johnson control will switch from cool to heat, I was very disappointed in the cap air 2, it would range from 19 degrees to 90, but the humidity worked ok, I am getting a Dayton humidity controller saturday, and keep it for a back up. Tim


I am doing a 15 lb batch of salami and a 15 lb batch of prpperoni for the first try, I will post pictures and results weekly, and i am sure i will have plenty of questions, And Yes, it has 2 fans in in the top, one blows cold air and the other sucks air out and goes over the evap, when its on, the humidity drops real fast, but the humidifier kicks in and keeps it level, I hope this work good for circulation, when I put the heater in it, I will need to open tha cabinet every few days I;m sure,Tim

Thanks a lot Tim.