My first one I believe was around 38% and this one just over 43%. To me I like it dryer and if I decide to do another I will go 45%. So for my tastes I will not go lower than 40%. I believe even in a curing chamber the normal time is around 4 months so this one seems much better than the first. Just...

I took my second one a full 4 months. It finished off at just over 43%. I like the texture on this one much better than the first one. A little dryer but still nice and moist. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-I4f2JOJ0o3A/VRWLVR4UJmI/AAAAAAAAQcw/--RXiv304Bc/w622-h553-no/Untitled-1.jpg https://lh4.g...

Found a small beef roast in the back of the freezer. Can't remember what they called it but it was one I had bought on sale. So Sunday around 12:30 PM I fired up the Pit Barrel Cooker (UDS 30 gal.) with Kingsford Charcoal. I had already the night before gave the roast a good rub of tatonka dust and ...

All of mine are in the fridge. They average between 24%-32%. That also has me concerned and the different drying times. It really shouldn't be such a large difference being it was all made from the same batch and in the same place in the fridge. Yours look wonderful.

Red, the Genoa that I did 7 in all 3 of them the casings did not shrink with the meat. The other 4 look wonderful. Yesterday I undid the strings and wrapped them back up as tight as possible. Even doing this there seems to be air in there that I can't get rid of. Going to play it out and see just ho...

So where are you getting your casings from? Have you tried a different supplier?
The kielbasa I just did has a nice snap to it when not cooked.
Last night I pan fried some for dinner and the casings seemed a little tougher but not to the point that I disliked them.

Here is a whole lot of info on casings

http://www.alliedkenco.com/naturalcasingfaq.aspx

Great taste and these larger Dia. casings peel off perfect. Going to be some good lunch meat for awhile. https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-vOw9UsOWYuc/VQbbs7yAyJI/AAAAAAAAQaM/qBTEci3OHWs/w835-h553-no/DSC_0071.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-KUorGuyb2yw/VQbbspD8vpI/AAAAAAAAQaI/KLq8MqTLoZY/w83...

Still had around 9 lbs. of deer meat and 8 lbs. of ground pork left over so I made up a batch of SS. Was going to use standard SS casings but than I remembered I had some bologna JUMBO RED FIBROUS CASINGS so this worked out very well. Two casings used up the whole mix. The only problem was I couldn'...

Wanted to do kielbasa and SS today. Got a late start this morning. (2 many beers last night) So I did manage to get my kielbasa mixed up and stuffed into 35-38 hog casings. I have 47mm X 20m Nitta Smoketone Rounds for kielbasa but still like the natural casings even if they are not as big in dia. Re...

Not sure if any of our down under members live close to this but I hope you guys & girls are OK. Heard another one is brewing up to so take care. Tropical Cyclone Pam, one of the most powerful storms ever to make landfall, strikes Vanuatu, a group of islands northeast of Brisbane, Australia. Aid wor...

About 12 hours of cold smoke yesterday and another 10-12 hours of smoke today we have some really nice looking smoked ham. Going to be really hard to wait till next Christmas to sample All hung up in the basement for the aging part. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-OFh-KOXC2O8/VQCXxEAggeI/AAAAAAAA...

Devo- That Red Cedar is quite aromatic and may be absorbed by the Ham? You could probably seal it with a clear coat Ham Looks Great!!!! Or I can just cold smoke the inside of it so it smells wonderful :) Not even sure if I am going to use it yet as the part of the basement/crawlspace might just wor...

Start of day two. This will be the final smoke. Getting a very nice smoky color to it. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mMPre3afwBw/VQA1DFd5QWI/AAAAAAAAQQg/G5ljdTZTEzg/w366-h553-no/DSC_0035.JPG https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-a7Y-Dx4vFz8/VQA1C0BggVI/AAAAAAAAQQc/M_jdikXrPzk/w366-h553-no/DSC_0036...