Off and running

[Fatdog]

Made about 6.5 kgs of Chorizo on Saturday - or probably more properly 'Fuet' given the relatively thin casing size (only 27mm-32mm hog casing available). I hope the picture below loads - looking good in the wine fridge. Hanging above bottles of Cider, Ginger Beer and Ale which are also mid ferment. Unfortunately they all have to live in the same space as the normal fridge is to cold and room temperature in Singapore is too balmy to say the least. I may end up with some white mould on my Cider

Thanks to all the contributors in the forum which provided an invaluable source of information.

Currently hit the 48hr mark and PH is 5.25 and coming down slowly. Im a bit relieved to be honest as on the day things went awry from the get go and will save the drama for another time.

Im facing a trade off if anyone has a thought to share. To get the humidity up to 90% I put a tray of water in the fridge and a hand rigged fan blowing down on it. Got humidity to 90% but took the temperature down to 17.6 c.. I turned the fan off after 24hrs and temperature hit 20.2c , but humidity dropped to 74%.

So if you had a choice....would you take the lower temperature and ideal humidity ….or ideal temperature and lower Humidity.

One other question I could not find a definitive answer to in the back posts. If introducing a mould culture is there an issue to start in fermenting stage (eg near the end say at 48hrs)- or should it wait till curing.

If my picture posting works I will make another post with a little hack for optimising the taking of PH readings of the sausage.

[Bob K]

So if you had a choice....would you take the lower temperature and ideal humidity ….or ideal temperature and lower Humidity.

Since you will be fermenting only for a short amount of time longer, go with the correct temp.

One other question I could not find a definitive answer to in the back posts. If introducing a mould culture is there an issue to start in fermenting stage (eg near the end say at 48hrs)- or should it wait till curing.

Not at all in fact the mold will bloom faster in warmer temps

[Indaswamp]

It's the heat from the fan motor in the small space that is causing the temp. to spike. You can use a variable speed controller like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/AC-Infinity-Cont ... 13&sr=8-20

And slow the fan speed down which will put out less heat from the fan motor.

[Fatdog]

Thanks Indaswamp for comment on fan. I probably was not clear in my post - turning the fan on actually dropped the temperature by about 2.5c (Dropped from 20c to 17.5c) but increased humidity by about 15%.(74% to 90%)

When I turn the fan off, the ambient temperature and humidity revert back.

Whatever heat the fan is giving off ( its a computer fan so fairly light I imagine) it is more than overtaken by the cooling effect of the breeze on the water tray, or possibly a 'wind chill factor' acting on the digital thermometer.

Will run with lower temp with a longer ferment at correct humidity. Thanks for advice @ Bob K

[StefanS]

From mine point of view - Much better it will be when you keep lower temperature but higher humidity. High humidity in early stages of fermenting and then drying/maturing (especially in smaller diameter casings ) is to prevent a dry ring ( small diameter especially dangerous). Lower temps are only slowing down (little bit) activity of LAB. Early stage of 90% of RH is just fine (few days).

If introducing a mould culture is there an issue to start in fermenting stage (eg near the end say at 48hrs)- or should it wait till curing.

best time to introduce mold is after end of fermenting phrase. (practically I do when by hand fill that casing is not dry yet but also is not wet either).

[Fatdog]

Thanks Stefan.

I hit it with mold-600 last night @ 48hrs. So maybe a premature strike.

Tonight is 72 hours and seems all in line. I had it my head fermentation was 48hrs , but a re-read of the recipe said 72 hrs (Mariake). Ph had dipped to about 4.8 - so time to move to curing. I did a check of all the hangs and as I expected some had advanced further than others due to uneven air flow and the precipitation tray/mechanism in this wine fridge. The front had lost about 15% weight ( which seem quit dramatic) - but the skin is firm and tender to the touch, but not dry. Hangs at the back bordered on moist with weight loss at around 4%.

I swapped them around just now to try and even it all out.


Feeling a bit more relaxed now. Its difficult doing this in Singapore not only for want of basic ingredients, but keeping things at right temperature, and guarding against rogue bacteria is a major challenge where every day of year the temp is 27-35c and humidity is 75-95% . Every wild bacteria and mould under the sun has a place here. Normally we/I make wet sausage in 60kg runs - but wet and dry sausage as I am finding or two very different animals.

BTW - I see your from Mass. My family moved there circa 1983-1987. My father worked for Polaroid. We lived at the edge of town and I went to the local high school at Wellesley. Great memories of Boston and Mass.