Homemade Sausage Making

Our Daily Brine has published a free e-book on how to measure pH in food and drink.

https://ourdailybrine.com/how-to-test-t ... and-drink/

Thank you Phil. That is excellent!

I followed that link, great info! There is also a link within the article where you can follow it to the Hanna website and they will give you FREE cleaning and calibration liquid ($50 value!) with a purchase of a PH meter.

Might just be the perfect time to get a Hanna 99163 and get the free solutions!

harleykids wrote:I followed that link, great info! There is also a link within the article where you can follow it to the Hanna website and they will give you FREE cleaning and calibration liquid ($50 value!) with a purchase of a PH meter.

Might just be the perfect time to get a Hanna 99163 and get the free solutions!

Not with our exchange rate - buying from the USA these days is tough and even though Hanna has a Canadian website the bite is huge.

That's too bad Phil.

Cheapest I have seen a new 99163 was USD $399, on ebay.

But I have seen used ones on ebay for around USD $250 or so.

I thought about buying an older BNC jack-equiped Hanna meter (the old style black ones with the round dome buttons) and then buying the meat probe new.

The older meters can be had for USD $50-$100 on ebay all day long, and I think a new metal chisel tip meat/cheese probe runs around USD $120

But I worry about the codituon of the older meters.

Anyone do this already, buy a used meter and just add a new probe?

Jason-
You don't need the metal chisel tip to test a mince. They are for testing solid meat like a carcase.
If you can get a used meter at a bargain price go for it. The meters last a long time. The probes need to be replaced every year or two...sometimes less . They are only warranteed for 6 months.

When replacing probes just make sure of the connection type some have DIN and others BNC connectors.

Last year when I was shopping for a new electrode, I called a company called Cole-Parmer, a seller of testing equipment. Fortunately I was put through to a very knowledgeable and patient gentleman who took the the time to explain their products and how to select the correct electrode for testing solids. We also discussed cleaning and longevity. Although I did not buy one of their electrodes, it appears that they are quite durable and possibly easier to clean than others. I would highly recommend anyone who is considering buying a pH meter to give them a call.

http://www.coleparmer.in/TechLibraryArticle/1425

Bob,

I figured I could use the metal chisel tip to simply test a small "test" link that I put into the chamber when I ferment. Kind of a sacrificial mini link, cased and in the same environmental conditions as the batch of sausages I am making. Like a 2" link or something like that.

Should give me a spot on analysis of the larger links, since it will share the the same fermenting conditions.

Seems easy to do when I start stuffing...what do you think?

RedZed,

I will check those out before I pull the trigger on a PH meter!

thanks!
Jason

There is certainly nothing wrong with doing it that way.

I have been looking at the Hanna electrode with Bluetooth that Kyle also feautures in his e-Book. Pretty darned amazing!
http://hannainst.com/fc2022-halo-foodca ... ology.html

I have been looking at that one as well.
I am assuming that the probe will penetrate a fermented, cased sausage with a little help from the tip of a knife if needed.

Sounds like a heck of a deal at only $200, plus the downloading of the free Hanna PH app.
And then $50 of free cleaning and calibration makes it basically $150!

Sounds like a killer deal to me!

Anyone on the forum have one of these Blutooth PH meters from Hanna?

Thx
Jason

Great book. Does anyone have a reference how to reliably measure Ph of meat by titration?

That is an interesting question and I'm wondering why you asked and why you think that testing titratable acidity in meat is important? I usually check the TA of the must as well as the pH, when making wine and then make adjustments with tartaric acid. I also check it after the malolactic fermentation is finished in my reds. But I have several professional and scientific meat processing manuals, and I have never come across any references to testing the TA in meat. Am I missing something?

I make sausage once a year during winter break. Meter probe is $300 and becomes old. Can't afford it for 50 kilos of sausage. There are references in google, but they don't seem to be consistent. My PhD chemist friend found them incomplete.

I still don't understand why you consider that TA is relevant or important in testing the acidity in meat. It gives you only the amount of acid in a solution and not the strength of the acid, like we get with pH testing. It is the strength of the acid which increases with a lower pH which is important to stop the activity of pathogenic bacteria in dry cured sausages. And meat is not a soluble solid, so I'm not even sure you can even test it for titratable acidity. Please post the links you found on google about TA in meat, since you now got me interested.