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Coppa, in or out?

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 20:22
by fatboyz
My coppa is ready to case and dry now. The recipe I have from here is to hang for 21 days. My chamber is loaded with fresh product so RH is in the high 80's. Temp is set at 13C. Should I put the Coppa in the chamber or leave it hang in the shed which the temp is set at 13C but Rh is around 30%. I can surround it in plastic with a pail of water in the bottom to get the RH up to about 50%.Thoughts?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 00:01
by BlueMonkey
Hi Fatboyz.

For what is worth, I usually aim for weight loss, not time hanging, and tend to favour a loss of around 38 - 42%.

My Coppa sit at about a 79 - 80 rh, and 13 degree C. Takes about 3 months.

I use a mix of recipes, and I know our sister site has a recipe calling for 21 days, however i successfully use that recipe for this time period.

I believe you are unnecessarily risking case hardening running at only 50%rh, and suggest you put in your chamber, but work off weight reduction. Your fresh product will be dropping rh soon, and certainly will not have any adverse effect. Time is your friend!

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 01:39
by fatboyz
Thanks Blue! I'll go with that. The coppa's are 2.6 kg each. I'll get them wrapped and netted and into the chamber.

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 03:36
by redzed
Yes it is important to start drying at higher humidity and then progressively drier as the water activity slows down. A bit of case hardening is normal, but you don't want it to form in the early stage of the process.

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 04:09
by fatboyz
she's in the chamber and on its way!

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 13:43
by Bob K
Like was already stated use the higher humidity of the chamber. 3 or 4 months is not to long to dry them and the reward for patience is great flavor development!

Those are large coppas, did you include part of the shoulder or loin?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 15:20
by fatboyz
Bob our normal hog break down is 3 ribs back but Chris had mentioned that Italians will split the front off 5 ribs back to get a longer Coppa so that's what I did. They weighed 2.7 and 2.6 kg. So in essence yes a portion of the loin is added. I wasn't too worried about how many chops I'd get off that hog as it was a good sized one so I made the Coppa's bigger. I also de-boned one loin for speck.