Humidity Issue With T-SPX

[Seadog92]

Chuckwagon, Hello! I've read many of your posts, and I love your willingness to share your knowledge. I used Stan's recipe this last weekend to make dry salami, and I hoped you might be able to answer a question for me. I used T-SPX and have had my salami hanging in my smokehouse (no smoke at all) at a temperature of 68 to 75 degrees since Sunday. Unfortunately, I had trouble getting the humidity up past 60%. This afternoon, it moves to my cooler which will keep it at 55-59 degrees with a humidity of 90 - 95%. My question is, do you think I'll have issues seeing that the humidity for the first 72 hours was lower than called for?

[Chuckwagon]

Seadog, it's a pleasure to have you with us. I hope I am able to help. When you stuff meat into a casing and call it a sausage the "water weight" should be no lower than Aw0.96. Why? Because staphylococcus and Kocuria (aerobic bacteria) need the moisture to grow and as you know by now, these are the flavor forming and color forming bacteria. They are concentrated near the surface and indeed need oxygen to survive. However, these little bacteria buggers are very sensitive to low water activity (Aw) and when the humidity is low at the surface, the action of the color and flavor - forming bacteria will be affected. Proper color and flavor will suffer as a result. This is when we see the "gray ring". (Have you ever cut into a salami and found a gray ring around the edge?)

So, why is it so important that we have a high moisture content in a fermentation chamber? Whenever using a culture like T-SPX, it is essential that during the first 72 hours, the salami is placed into a chamber with ninety percent humidity, decreasing slightly to eighty-five percent over the following three days at a temperature of about 68°F for optimum bacterial growth. Please realize that there are two types of bacteria at work here - beneficial and pathogenic. They are at war, competing for the moist meat. Only a relatively large salt content is keeping the pathogenic bacteria from overtaking the lactobacillus or pediococcus - the beneficial, lactic acid-producing bacteria during these first few critical hours. As the higher moisture volume and warmth in the chamber continue, the lactobacillus or pediococcus produce lactic acid and take over the food supply - literally taking it away from pathogenic bacteria.

Lactic acid bacteria are less sensitive to the Aw and actually do very well until the Aw drops down to a point below 0.92. Note that drying is normally done at a temperature range of 54°F to 66°F in a "decreasing humidity" from about 85% on down to about 70% or just slightly lower. Okay, get this... Higher temperatures and humidity over 75% will promote the development of MOLD on the surface of the sausage.

So, when you make slowly-fermented sausages, keep the temp down just slightly and try to balance the diffusion towards the surface with the moisture evaporation from the surface. If moisture comes from the center of the sausage (duffusion) and it is faster than the rate of evaporation at the surface of the sausage, then moisture will accumulate at or near the surface. This moisture becomes slimy and is the perfect medium for breeding yeasts and molds. On the other hand, if the evaporation from the surface is faster than the duffusion from the center, the outside surface area of the sauage will dry out and harden. It will become a barrier to any further moisture removal. Moisture will be trapped inside the casing, .....uhhhhh...... yuk! creating perfect conditions for spoilage bacteria and pathogenic bacteria to grow. This is where we get into trouble much of the time and it is where the pathogens have a chance to develop and where they can damage us as we bite into a delicious clostridium botulinum sandwich! So.... Ol` pard, the key is to "balance" the diffusion with the evaporation. When the moisture is removed at just the right rate, the pathogens will have no chance to develop and you won`t see a ring around your sausage either!

As you can see, monitoring the conditions inside your drying chamber becomes vital. A good set of controls is needed to make sure your product does not lose too much moisture too quickly. The developing acidification will be correct only if you monitor and adjust your controls to allow or restrict more heat or more moisture. Far too many people just jam the door shut and hope for the best! Be a little scientific and do it properly. And for goodness sakes, keep a record book of the conditions as they develop.

T-SPX is a marvelous choice where a mildly acidic flavor is desired in a time period of about a month. It`s certainly my favorite. It is the choice for smoked fermented sausages too. Having a drying period of at least 30 days, I believe your project will be just fine and my advice is to keep the sausage as near the recommended temperature and humidity as possible.

The bottom line may sound a little harsh... If you can`t keep enough moisture in the chamber, you can`t just ignore it and hope for the best. You`ll have to find a way to consistently monitor and provide prescribed amounts of moisture. Unfortunately, this can get a little expensive as you purchase the electronic controls to remedy the situation. Yet, if you are as serious about fermented meats as I am, you`ll find that the expense is well worth the final product AND satisfaction of making your own premium fermented products.

Please let us know how this salami turns out. Any chance of a photo or two?

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

[oneills]

Seadog, it's a pleasure to have you with us. I hope I am able to help. When you stuff meat into a casing and call it a sausage the "water weight" should be no lower than Aw0.96. Why? Because staphylococcus and Kocuria (aerobic bacteria) need the moisture to grow and as you know by now, these are the flavor forming and color forming bacteria. They are concentrated near the surface and indeed need oxygen to survive. However, these little bacteria buggers are very sensitive to low water activity (Aw) and when the humidity is low at the surface, the action of the color and flavor - forming bacteria will be affected. Proper color and flavor will suffer as a result. This is when we see the "gray ring". (Have you ever cut into a salami and found a gray ring around the edge?)

So, why is it so important that we have a high moisture content in a fermentation chamber? Whenever using a culture like T-SPX, it is essential that during the first 72 hours, the salami is placed into a chamber with ninety percent humidity, decreasing slightly to eighty-five percent over the following three days at a temperature of about 68°F for optimum bacterial growth. Please realize that there are two types of bacteria at work here - beneficial and pathogenic. They are at war, competing for the moist meat. Only a relatively large salt content is keeping the pathogenic bacteria from overtaking the lactobacillus or pediococcus - the beneficial, lactic acid-producing bacteria during these first few critical hours. As the higher moisture volume and warmth in the chamber continue, the lactobacillus or pediococcus produce lactic acid and take over the food supply - literally taking it away from pathogenic bacteria.

Lactic acid bacteria are less sensitive to the Aw and actually do very well until the Aw drops down to a point below 0.92. Note that drying is normally done at a temperature range of 54°F to 66°F in a "decreasing humidity" from about 85% on down to about 70% or just slightly lower. Okay, get this... Higher temperatures and humidity over 75% will promote the development of MOLD on the surface of the sausage.

So, when you make slowly-fermented sausages, keep the temp down just slightly and try to balance the diffusion towards the surface with the moisture evaporation from the surface. If moisture comes from the center of the sausage (duffusion) and it is faster than the rate of evaporation at the surface of the sausage, then moisture will accumulate at or near the surface. This moisture becomes slimy and is the perfect medium for breeding yeasts and molds. On the other hand, if the evaporation from the surface is faster than the duffusion from the center, the outside surface area of the sauage will dry out and harden. It will become a barrier to any further moisture removal. Moisture will be trapped inside the casing, .....uhhhhh...... yuk! creating perfect conditions for spoilage bacteria and pathogenic bacteria to grow. This is where we get into trouble much of the time and it is where the pathogens have a chance to develop and where they can damage us as we bite into a delicious clostridium botulinum sandwich! So.... Ol` pard, the key is to "balance" the diffusion with the evaporation. When the moisture is removed at just the right rate, the pathogens will have no chance to develop and you won`t see a ring around your sausage either!

As you can see, monitoring the conditions inside your drying chamber becomes vital. A good set of controls is needed to make sure your product does not lose too much moisture too quickly. The developing acidification will be correct only if you monitor and adjust your controls to allow or restrict more heat or more moisture. Far too many people just jam the door shut and hope for the best! Be a little scientific and do it properly. And for goodness sakes, keep a record book of the conditions as they develop.

T-SPX is a marvelous choice where a mildly acidic flavor is desired in a time period of about a month. It`s certainly my favorite. It is the choice for smoked fermented sausages too. Having a drying period of at least 30 days, I believe your project will be just fine and my advice is to keep the sausage as near the recommended temperature and humidity as possible.

The bottom line may sound a little harsh... If you can`t keep enough moisture in the chamber, you can`t just ignore it and hope for the best. You`ll have to find a way to consistently monitor and provide prescribed amounts of moisture. Unfortunately, this can get a little expensive as you purchase the electronic controls to remedy the situation. Yet, if you are as serious about fermented meats as I am, you`ll find that the expense is well worth the final product AND satisfaction of making your own premium fermented products.

Please let us know how this salami turns out. Any chance of a photo or two?

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Good to have you back Chuckwagon. That is one of the most imformative posts i have read regarding curing salami. I noticed that i had more control over large salami in the curing fridge than the smaller ones cured naturally.

Cheers
Steve

[Chuckwagon]

Steve,
Thank you for the kind words, my friend! Appreciated very much.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

[redzed]

Chuckwagon, Hello! I've read many of your posts, and I love your willingness to share your knowledge. I used Stan's recipe this last weekend to make dry salami, and I hoped you might be able to answer a question for me. I used T-SPX and have had my salami hanging in my smokehouse (no smoke at all) at a temperature of 68 to 75 degrees since Sunday. Unfortunately, I had trouble getting the humidity up past 60%. This afternoon, it moves to my cooler which will keep it at 55-59 degrees with a humidity of 90 - 95%. My question is, do you think I'll have issues seeing that the humidity for the first 72 hours was lower than called for?

Seadog, there is a very strong possibilty that you will have "issues" with your salami being fermented at 60%. The fermentation stage is the most critical of the whole process and maintaining a high humidity (90-95%) during this stage is very important. The high humidity should be maintained until the pH drops to 5.2 if you are using T-SPX. As CW outlined, while you want to to eventually lower the water content in the salami, you don't want to do it too fast, and you want the sauage to dry from the core to the outside. A low humidity environment will dry the outside, forming a barrier, preventing further drying from the inside. What might result is a salami with that ring that CW mentioned, and possibly a rancid center.
The possibility of this is strengthened if you used a larger diameter casing. What size of casing did you use? And did you take pH readings?