First time making fermented sausage

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JerBear
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Post by JerBear » Mon Oct 15, 2012 03:47

Great progress.
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redzed
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Post by redzed » Mon Oct 15, 2012 07:13

You have the salami in some type of artificial casing. What is the purpse of the elastic netting?
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Post by atcNick » Mon Oct 15, 2012 19:21

Day 6. I weighed them today and I'm at 6.9-9.2% weight loss.

Redzed, I'm using beef middles. I've read that the netting helps the salami hold its shape. When I tied the loop to hang at the end of the casing I also tied it around the netting as added insurance from casing breaking and sausage falling. But at this point I'm not sure it's really needed. But it does look cool! Haha
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Post by uwanna61 » Mon Oct 15, 2012 23:55

Nick
I like your enthusiasm, keep up the good work. Also, the netting does give it a professional flare, nice job!
Wally
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Post by atcNick » Mon Oct 22, 2012 02:58

Day 12. Averaging around 15% weight loss. Lowest is 13.2%, highest 17.3%.

Im having a humidity issue. Been having it most of the time actually. I have an analog dial hygrometer, the Dayton 1UGH3 humidistat, and a digital remote thermometer/hydrometer.

Its rare that all 3 show the same humidity. Sometimes there's as much as a 15% difference.

Im not using a fan.
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Post by redzed » Mon Oct 22, 2012 03:26

A couple of weeks ago I went to a couple of stores and bought 5 digital hygrometers. All five read the humidity differently. I returned all except one. Here is a link to a site that will tell you how to calibrate your hydrometer, or if you can't you will know how close your reading is.

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/maho/y ... mo_002.cfm
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Post by el Ducko » Mon Oct 22, 2012 03:35

atcNick wrote:Its rare that all 3 show the same humidity. Sometimes there's as much as a 15% difference.
The usual solution: get rid of all of 'em except the one that has the reading you like.
Better solution: calibrate, using a sling hygrometer. If you don't have access to a good one, try pegging the 100% mark by saturating some air with water- - boil; some water in a tea kettle, and direct the steam into a closed vessel (container).

Good luck.
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Post by atcNick » Mon Oct 22, 2012 04:02

redzed wrote:A couple of weeks ago I went to a couple of stores and bought 5 digital hygrometers. All five read the humidity differently. I returned all except one. Here is a link to a site that will tell you how to calibrate your hydrometer, or if you can't you will know how close your reading is.

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/maho/y ... mo_002.cfm
Thanks for the link. That should be easy enough.
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Post by atcNick » Sat Oct 27, 2012 14:56

Im at Day 18, everything still looking good. I do have a question though:

I dont have a fan in my curing chamber, I just circulate the air by opening the door a couple times a day to check on things. Im about to go out of town for about 52 hours. Do you guys think everything will be OK or not? Will 2 days of no air exchange cause any problems for me?
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Post by redzed » Sat Oct 27, 2012 16:46

Hard to say, but I would think there should be no problem since you are already into your third week and as long as the humidity is stabilized. I have noticed that after a week or so when I added a product into my chamber, the humidity swings dissipated considerably. Are you running your humidity at less than 80?
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Post by atcNick » Sat Oct 27, 2012 18:45

redzed wrote:Hard to say, but I would think there should be no problem since you are already into your third week and as long as the humidity is stabilized. I have noticed that after a week or so when I added a product into my chamber, the humidity swings dissipated considerably. Are you running your humidity at less than 80?
Its around 80% at this point. Probably swings between 77-85.
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Post by atcNick » Tue Oct 30, 2012 03:36

I'm at day 20. Made it back in town and haven't noticed any change so that's good. I do see that the white mold is starting to get thicker though. It's been doing that for the last few days atleast. Is this normal? It's only white, no color, just thickening.

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Post by Chuckwagon » Tue Oct 30, 2012 06:05

I do see that the white mold is starting to get thicker though. It's been doing that for the last few days atleast. Is this normal? It's only white, no color, just thickening.
That's EXACTLY what you want Nick! Nice goin'.
Sometimes, earlier in the process, people have gotten round, dark, colored "spots" on the meat. This indicates a yeast in competition with the mold. These organisms cause physical, chemical, and sensory properties of a food to change, as the food is spoiled. In the sausage industry, the spoilage yeast we fear is of the zygosaccharomyces genus. These species are able to grow in some of the more commonly used food preservation concentrations including ethanol, acetic acid, sorbic acid, high sucrose, benzoic acid, and even sulfur dioxide. :shock:

The white mold on your alysandra salami is called hyphae - penicillium nagliovense in particular. This species greatly contributes to improving the flavor by breaking down fat (lipolytic) and breaking down proteins (proteolytic). The nagliovense also oxidizes lactic acid - increasing pH, and consumes oxygen to produce "catalase" as well, thereby reducing lipid oxidation and rancidity of fat. However, in order to grow, the mold needs 75% relative humidity or more and higher temperatures facilitate their development (hence the curing chamber).

Lookin' good Nick. Keep up the good work.
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Post by Baconologist » Tue Oct 30, 2012 06:14

atcNick wrote:I'm at day 20. Made it back in town and haven't noticed any change so that's good. I do see that the white mold is starting to get thicker though. It's been doing that for the last few days atleast. Is this normal? It's only white, no color, just thickening.
Many folks frown upon thick development of mold (it's not usually traditional); I happen to be one of them. It can become overpowering.

Once thick mold starts to develop, a tiny amount of air movement will help control it.
Godspeed!

Bob
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Post by atcNick » Tue Oct 30, 2012 16:36

Day 21:

Weighed the salamis today. Im at 21-24.4% weight loss. Does that seem about where I should be?
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