Italian sausage questions

harleykids · Post by **harleykids** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 06:32

Lou, those fans look great! Nicely done! Your salum I will LOVE the fresh air!
Just be sure to keep your temp low, 53 F or so, and your humidity high, 82% is ideal for drying!

Keep your chamber at that temp and humidity and you will be rewarded in the end!

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 13:54

I found a timer that will give you 20 on/off set times total. You can either set each time for weekdays, individual days, weekends or all. I set 20 times daily to turn on at the hour for 5 minutes each time. I wish it had 24 set points, so I had to cheat a little and skip an hour here and there. I decided to go with dual fans, one push, one pull. I will start by pulling from the top and pushing out the bottom. The only thing I don't like about this is the top fan is in line with the top row of salami, so if I'm pulling, I will probably creating a lot of direct air to the top row. The bottom fan is not near the salami, which was the reason I wanted to originally pull in air from the bottom. The location where the refrigerator is located is a very clean environment friendly finished lower level, so I'm not too worried about pulling in dust etc like was mentioned. The whole house also has a medical grade hepa system on the furnaces that also brings in fresh air from the outside 20 minutes per hour with 3 pre-filters and carbon. I did cut up filters and rubber banded them to the insides of the pvc tubes. My only concern at this point is whether a computer fan will really have enough push or pull to introduce or exit air thru these filters. I bought a Grade 10 filter to cut up, which also elimintates odors etc, but I'm not sure a computer fan will push or pull enough air thru it. I guess I will find out soon,,,,,,as once the humidity and temp is satisfied, I should be able to turn on the fans and watch the humidity drop within that 5 minutes because the exterior humidity is obviously nowhere near 80%

harleykids · Post by **harleykids** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 16:52

Instead of timers, I just tied my fan to the humidifier circuit. When the humidifier comes on, the fan comes on. My humidity is controlled by a $24 WH8040 PID humidity controller. Works like a charm! Also tied to he humidifier circuit is the LED strip light inside the chamber.

And my temp is controlled by a $16 STC-1000, which turns on the freezer when cooling is needed. Works great!

So two controllers control the entire curing chamber. I don't have any timers to set or maintain.

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 17:03

I understand what you are doing, but here's an issue I see happening. When a refrigerator is loaded with 46 pounds of fresh meat, it's unlikely the humidifier is even in use with the exception of when the refrigerator kicks on and dehumidifies. At 53 degrees, I have no clue how often the refrigerator kicks on which in turn dehumidifies. I have a small fan indirect in the chamber that distributes the air internally that kicks on with a humidity call. By putting a timer on the door fans, I know I am removing stale air 5 minutes per hour irrelevant of humidity. Also, if the door fans kick on with the humidifier circuit, you are also potentially pushing a lot more humidity into the room because the humidifier will work harder to become satisfied if the door fans are on at the same time.

Post by **Bob K** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 22:36

I have to agree Lou. I usually have 45-50 lbs of sausage in the chamber, and the humidifier rarely turns on. So I run the air exchange on a separate timer.

Everyone's chambers are different. A lot depends on the ambient temp and humidity. In the winter time I can use the air exchange to dehumidify, if I run it too much in the summer months with warm moist air, it will raise the humidity, and condensation will wreak havoc on the sensors.
That is the reason Auburn's Ins. came out with a "more robust" humidity sensor.

Jason - I use the same temp controller in my fermenting chamber and it works great. The temp readings were spot on. Have you calibrated the humidity unit?

Post by **redzed** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 22:38

Lou that looks like a professional job on the fan installation. I think I will have to incorporate some of your methods into my plans for a new chamber. And with both fans going, you are not relying on natural air flow difference in air flow, so it makes little difference whether you vent out from top or bottom. The two computer fans should be more than capable of handling the air exchange. And I also agree that using the timer will work best. When I load my chamber with fresh product it sometimes takes two weeks before my humidifier kicks in. And regular fresh air is important, whether we use a curing chamber, cellar or cave. As to the top fan blowing directly on the sausages, you could diffuse it somehow so that it spreads out when it enters the chamber. To see whether the filters are impeding the air flow, place a piece if tissue paper in front to see whether there is movement.

Can we see how the fans look like from the inside?

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 23:42

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 23:52

The benefit in doing it this way is in less than 30 seconds, I can flip the bottom to the top which will reverse the direction because the fans are mounted on the plates reversed. The filter on the incoming is impeding drastically. I pulled the filter in half to help the airflow. I also made blank plates so I can close off the refrigerator completely.

harleykids · Post by **harleykids** » Tue Jan 26, 2016 08:14

Looks great Lou, very nice job!

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Wed Jan 27, 2016 22:35

Here's a question. The soppressata are looking good. I am at an average of 21% weight loss in 14 days. They are still mushy and you can still flatten them by hand. I was just honored a job out of state for 2 weeks and I have a feeling they may be ready while I am gone. If that's the case, my brither can stop by to confirm they are ready. If they are, he's an old timer and he sprays his with a little oil and foodsavers them, but his don't normally have any mold on them. What are you supposed to do with them the modern way? Do you foodsaver them? Do you remove the casings? Do you refrigerate them? Suggestions?

Post by **redzed** » Thu Jan 28, 2016 01:33

I would leave them hanging. Just have your brother check your humidifier and refill it when necessary. Drying at this stage is slower, so it probably won't reach 35% by the time you come back. And if it goes a bit lower than 35% loss, it's no big deal. Unless you are using hog casings, it normally takes longer than 4 weeks to dry the salami.

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Thu Jan 28, 2016 01:57

Beef middles and Im not leaving until febraury 7th. My wife is still around and will fill humidifier and monitor. She just doesnt know what to do with them afterwards,,,,but either do I, so I maight as well ask now.

Post by **Bob K** » Thu Jan 28, 2016 14:06

Like Redzed said I would leave them hanging till you got back, You only started them on Jan 14th!

LOUSANTELLO wrote:What are you supposed to do with them the modern way? Do you foodsaver them? Do you remove the casings? Do you refrigerate them? Suggestions?

If They have mold remove casings, vac seal and refrigerate.
Keeps almost indefinitely.

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Fri Jan 29, 2016 19:25

I noticed some small areas with an orange/red mold. Is this common?

harleykids · Post by **harleykids** » Sat Jan 30, 2016 03:45

Lou,

Make sure it is actually mold. Many times the red paprika or pimenton can bleed/leach thru the casings during drying, and mix with the white mold, giving a false look of a red/orange mold.

This bleeding thru the casing, at many of the spots where you pricked the salami and penetrated the casing is perfectly normal.

Do a Google search for "daily brine", and look at the pics of the chorizo on his website for an example of bleed thru. Same thing can happen to your sopressatta.

Good luck!