Homemade Sausage Making

Hello all. I am attempting to do my first Sucuk at home.

I follow instructions from Marianski’s book. Happy to be part of this community.

I have a home build fermantation chamber. (Chiller converted with humidifier), it is fairly small but I can control it decently.

Here is the initial question. I use T-Spx and when I filled the casing the pH (I use Lutron ph meter) was 5.3 and in two day it dropped to 4.6 at which point I have stated the drying process. (Currently set to 12.5 c and 85%)

I am wondering why pH was dropping fast. Too much culture (hard to measure sub grams), too much sugar (I didn’t use Dextrose but Glucose which I believe identical to Dextrose), too hot (I was fermenting at 22 c and 90% humidity).

I think this product will still be safe but I like to prolong this fermentation duration next time for better, less sour taste.

Thanks.
Ba2

There are a lot of people more knowledgeable than me on fermentations but I don't think the amount of culture would play much of a role but the temp and the amount of sugar will play a roll. Temperature I'd think would have a larger effect on speed of fermentation and how far it goes would depend on the amount of sugar.

Hello Ba2 and welcome to the forum. To begin with, we need a bit more info about the soujuk you made. What type of meat did you use and how much glucose did you add? What were the other ingredients? 5.3 is unusually low for a starting pH. Did you calibrate before testing? I used a Lutron meter for a few years and always calibrated it with fresh buffer solution before each project. Was 4.6 the lowest reading you got, or did it go lower?

I used a 70/30 ratio of 30% fat beef and 30% fat lamb combo. I followed the recipe from the Maranski’s book.
T-SPX and 0.3% glucose.

I bought the lutron because of you since I have seen it in some of the posts from you. I calibrated in my subsequent measurements. (First one I didn’t.) when it hit the 4.6 I stared the drying process and it has been drying for almost 2 weeks.

This is my second attempt, first one I throw it away because I didn’t use Cure#2.

The Lutron works well but it does need to be calibrated before each session. That is, you don't need to calibrate it each time if you are testing a batch over a 2-3 day period, but definitely after it has been sitting for a period of time. The Lutron electrodes are also very thin and break easily, so be careful. Try using using only 2g/kg next time and lower the temp to 19-20. The low pH that you ended up with was also due to the high fat content of your farce. The lactic bacteria and sugars don't metabolize in fat, so the .3% of glucose that you used was too high for the meat content. Cure #2 will work, but for soujuk, #1 is fine as well. Soujuk is a thin sausage, so it will dry and mature quickly.

And would there be an alternative to Lutron pH testers if possible? If they're the kind of tool that can break easily, I'd like to check if there's a more rugged alternative before investing in a set of electrodes.