Homemade Sausage Making

Bob K wrote:

Shuswap wrote:I have yet to examine Ph in my sausage making especially since I've been using the Umai bags for fermented sausage and they say controlling Ph with Umai is unnecessary.

Phil-
Along with controlling the bad guys Ph also affects the taste of your dry cured product

I get tha but the Umai bagged product is held in the fridge, unlike a curing chamber, and I'm not aware how you control Ph levels in a fridge.

Phil, do you have pics of any of the salamis you made with the Umai method?

redzed wrote:Phil, do you have pics of any of the salamis you made with the Umai method?

Sopressetta


Pepperoni


Prosciuttini


Capicola


My fridge for this hobby is a pain in the butt for temperature control so the drying time for these items has been longer than Umai suggests but overall we have been pleased with the final results.

Shuswap wrote:

Bob K wrote:

Shuswap wrote:I have yet to examine Ph in my sausage making especially since I've been using the Umai bags for fermented sausage and they say controlling Ph with Umai is unnecessary.

Phil-
Along with controlling the bad guys Ph also affects the taste of your dry cured product

I get tha but the Umai bagged product is held in the fridge, unlike a curing chamber, and I'm not aware how you control Ph levels in a fridge.

Wow Phil those look good!
I am sure they were tasty also

Actually you can't control the Ph level in the fridge. Any Ph drop that you had was during the initial fermentation process. The Ph level was determined by the amount of sugar in the recipe the temperature you fermented at, and the culture used.

Both the acid producing and curing (color and flavor) bacteria become inactive in temps below 50f.... so when it went into the fridge it was just a drying process.

Phil, that looks sensational! How long did you dry the solid cuts?
Jan L

Janlab wrote:Phil, that looks sensational! How long did you dry the solid cuts?
Jan L

The Capicola was in the bag for 43 days. The Prosciuttini has been in the bag for 23 days and has lost 16% of its weight - Umai says it will take 2 months.

I meant to point out that Crusty also is using the Umai bags.

Phil those all look great! Next time I'm driving through your area I want to stop and sample some of that stuff! I'll bring some of my dry cured products, some grape juice and we will compare. Currently I have on the go a porcini salami, lukanka, a saucisson with nuts and a lonzino. Heading to Arizona at the end of the month and might order some Umai bags while there.

Just couldn't stand not trying this stuff out. Wanted it to get to 40% weight lose but I thought if its not enough I could re-bag it. It definitely is at or very close to where it should be. This is a very nice peppery salami, the fennel seeds, which give the salami an intriguing sweet, anise-like flavor. I like it very much.

It was at 36.36% ...close enough


The others a waiting a tad longer.


Still in the bag


Oh that looks good


No case hardening thats a good sign

Thanks guys for posting all those photo's.
It all looks so appetising. I haven't made any salami yet in UMAi bags but it is all on the endless list.
I made several coppa's, lonza and bresaola,s. The end results were very pleasing.
Personally I don't like cloves and cinnamon in dried meat but I have added all sorts of spices.
The choice is yours, whatever turns you on.
I will make Rauchfleisch and dry it in a UMAi bag as a test to see how it works out with the smoke taste.
My biggest problem is spare time at the moment and knee mobility but things are looking up.
Cheers,
Jan.

crustyo44 wrote:I haven't made any salami yet in UMAi bags but it is all on the endless list.

Hey Jan, sorry about that. I assumed (you know what that means ) you had used the bags having seen you on their forum a few times.

Sorry for WHAT?? Phil.!!!!!!!!
I like your photo's of what you made with UMAi. Over the last few months I have had an extreme shortage of spare time.
The main thing in sausage making is that you are satisfied with the end product.
Yours look great. With the next lot you might increase the garlic powder, who knows!!
Keep on posting PLEASE!!!!!
Cheers Mate,
Jan.

I've gone thru this thread from start to finish now and what's produced by using these UMAI bags looks absolutely fantastic. I'm wondering if this price from Amazon is decent, appears to have everything needed. Wondering if there are better deals to be had, not cheap. RAY

UMAi Dry® Dry Curing/Aging Bags, Charcuterie by UMAi

$24.99 + $8.99 shipping
●comes with (2) 8" x 18" and (2) 10" x 20" bags
●5 VacMouse Strips (for better seal)
●Insta CureTM #2
●0.5 oz Juniper Berries
●easy to follow instructions

RayI believe that Umai has the exclusive dealership for North and South America. Misty Gully has the exclusive in Australia and New Zealand. The bag manufacturer is Tub-ex in Denmark
http://www.tub-ex.com/Food.47.aspx

No Ray they are certainly not cheap!

You can better prices and more info from them direct here: http://www.drybagsteak.com/

Just make sure you get the right sized bags for what you want to make, they have the narrow ones for salamis and the larger ones for aging meat and making things like coppa and loinzino etc.