I knew there was a reason I was hanging on to all my old home-brew stuff (to the annoyance of my wife!) I just rigged up a fermentation chamber with a cooler (used to be my jockey box), temp control (STC-1000 that used to control my fermenter) with a reptile heating mat, and some pieces of dowel cut...

I'm going to put up some Spanish Chorizo this weekend, so I've been researching recipes. I want to do a fermented, then dried version, but I'm curious why some recipes call for fermentation, but no culture. It seems to me that is maybe not quite as safe or predictable as using a culture, which, give...

I decided that I'm going to track the weight of these two pieces every week. As of today, the larger piece has lost 8%, and the smaller one has lost 10%. Does that seem on track for the first week to all of you experts? My chamber is at 55F, and the humidity swings between 69% when the fridge cycles...

That's a beautiful piece of loin! Put's the my recent purchase of cryovac commodity pork to shame! :D Make sure you keep good notes so that you can adjust the salt and seasonings in the next round. When you have the luxury of a quality cut of pork sometimes less is better. Thanks, Red, at about din...

Since you are curing vac sealed in a bag (equilibrium cure) you can cut back the cure amount to .25% (156 PPM) While the amount you used is well within guidelines for a long drying period it is simply not needed. Most of the recipes like Marianskis are for rubs where a certain amount is lost during...

Now that I have my Coppa going, and I feel like my curing chamber is pretty dialed in, I wanted to get a Lomo Embuchado going as well. I have a local butcher who breaks down whole Kurobota pigs, so I asked him to trim out a loin for me with about 1/2" of fat still on it. Picked that up at lunch toda...

I use a non frost free bar fridge. Even empty humidity in the 90's. Where I have it it sits on about 25c i am in a hot climate most stuff I see ferments round 23 so it just ticks over.. If I bring another fridge on the property, I may need to sleep in it! :) I've got a cooler or two that should wor...

Here's some ideas https://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=8472&p=41789&hilit=fermenting#p41789 Thanks, Bob! Usually my search skills are pretty good, they failed me this time. :) Ok, so I got it......high humidity, temp control, and that's about it. To me, that says smaller is better so th...

We have mold (the good kind!) :) Looking good. Chamber is ranging between 51-58F, and ~70-75%RH outside of when the fridge is actively cooling. I'm sure the weekend scientist in me is going to want to tweak all of that to get tighter bands of temp and RH, but I'm certain this will work for now. I'm ...

As posted elsewhere, I've got my first (non-UMAI) whole muscle cure going in my small drying fridge. One of my absolute favorite examples of charcuterie/salumi is Spanish dry-cured chorizo. I make a fresh version which is great fresh or smoked, but I would like to take the next step of making a dry-...

Just give it a few days and the smell will be gone. And it's not that bad! Get used to it! Besides natural casings impart flavour to the meat, house beneficial bacteria such as Staphyllococcus xylosus, lessen case hardening, have better mould cover, and look great. You're right, Red, it's not that ...

I was just thinking how cool they look and was going to try a bung instead of collagen sheet next time :lol: Hey, you have to try it to know if you like it or not. Now that I know what the bungs are like, I'll try the collagen sheets and see if I like them better. I know they won't have an odor, bu...

So, a question if anyone is looking...... When does the fragrance of the beef bung dissipate? It's not horrible, but there is a distinct smell in the cave right now.....

I ordered some collagen sheets yesterday so I can skip the bunginess next time.

R

Those look great. Can't wait to sort out my humidity issue to start drying. Just curious, when you say "a couple patches", what exactly do you mean? I made a few holes in the bungs I was cleaning the other day and have been thinking how to "repair" them ever since (I don't think a few holes can spo...

After a 7 day cure, I've got my first Coppa hanging in the "cave". I am using the recipe that's over on Taste of Artisan (Victor, I think?), though I decided to give it a coat of paprika before casing it, just for some color. This is the first time that I've seen a beef bung, let alone stuffed one, ...