Best book for someone just starting this craft IMO:

The Art of Making Fermented Sausages, by Stanley and Adam Marianski

VERY thorough book with just enough technical stuff so you understand it.

I use star san... no issues yet with fermentation. just follow directions and mix precisely!

Did you use super fine sugar? If the sugar is in large crystals, you will get acidic pockets in your salami because the sugar is not evenly distributed.

Ah, you are correct Bob K, I missed that. Thank you for pointing it out.

@redzed- good point as well. I have really focused on cleaning my pH meter meat probe properly after use to ensure correct readings.

The frozen pieces may likely be the cause. How large were the frozen chunks?
Could also be not mixed enough. The pH should equalize over time. I would hang them in my chamber and let them equalize and dry.

What are the casings being used for? Salami, smoke sausage or fresh sausage? I think they will be fine for smoke or fresh sausage, but the blood might be an issue for salami, but I really don't know. I know blood pockets are a problem for hams and that is why the veins are milked to remove the blood...

Cayenne has about 15% sugars; paprika has about 10% sugars. So that's about 1.2g sugars for the cayenne and 1.7g for the paprika. Roughly 2.9g total from the peppers. That would have been enough sugar to push the pH below 5.3 if starting pH is around 5.75~5.8...

How much cayenne and paprika? Both contain a fair amount of sugars which will contribute to fermentation. I don't even add any sugars any more when I make calabrian sopressata... the peppers have enough sugars in them to support fermentation to below pH5.2.

good read on Victor's blog:
https://tasteofartisan.com/meat-curing-chamber/

As far as optimum settings for humidity, it will vary from chamber to chamber. Home curing chambers are not perfect and a balancing act must be done between all the parameters. Some home frost free chambers have too much airflow during the cooling cycle which can cause case hardening even if you hav...

There are more experienced people here that know more than I, but I will share what I know. Flora Italia LC is a fast culture and will drop the pH below 5.3 in less than 48 hours, usually closer to 30 hours. It contains bio-protective cultures that produce antibiotics that protect against lysteria a...

Relatively new research on the effects of dry curing on Trichinella Spirlis. Thought I would post this here... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405676616300208 Results of the Study: If pH is 4.6 and % NaCl ≥ 1.3%, 8 days are required to achieve complete inactivation of T. spiralis...

I was reading a pdf of the products produced by Mossimo Spigaroli at his salumeri in Italy. He states that Culatello, "must undergo 2 autumns of fog and one summer of fermentation." So my question is this: what average temperature would he be referring to in the summer? Can this be duplicated in a h...

smokeychris wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 20:48

.2% sugar

What type of sugar? Sucrose or Dextrose? Flavor of Italy culture prefer dextrose.

Thanks for the update. I have an old TRUE double door I am holding on to that needs a new refrigeration system. I may repair and put into service if I find a way to do so cheaply. I would not think I would need the cooling capacity as the original system and might fabricate a smaller system to reduc...