Italian sausage questions

Post by **redzed** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 09:58

The salami are looking good. But you have a lot of fresh product in there and might need some gentle airflow.

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 12:31

I was trying to avoid cutting in vent fans. Can I locate fans within the unit to circulate without venting new air in? If not, can i open the unit up and run a fan for 5-10 minutes at a time with the door open? If so, how often?

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 13:31

I ran a small fan on them last night for about 15 minutes. Just enough to watch all the tags flutter. This morning, I ran a small fan again for about 10 minutes with the door open. When I do this, the temperature of course rises, but the temp doesn't increase more than 58-59. I would imagine that's air temp and not meat temp. In the meantime, the tackiness is definitely going away and some of the tackier are toward the back, so I shifted them around. I am starting to see more white chalkiness now and I assume that's a good thing. I decided not to use the mold 600, so these are just el-natural cure,salt,dextrose,culture, black peppercorn and red pepper flakes. I wish I could find a way to press these guys. Any suggestions as they are staring to firm up.

Post by **Bob K** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 13:57

Lou-
For air exchange opening the door several times a day will work fine if you don't want to cut a vent hole.

for internal air movement a small fan on a timer run for 15-30 minutes several times a day works well. ( I use a low speed computer fan)
In the warmer months with the refridge kicking on more often, that fan is more than enough (frost free units)

Pressing is best done right after stuffing before the chubs firm up

Post by **redzed** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 23:30

Lou, don't run a fan directly at the sausages! That is a recipe for case hardening! Even in a very humid environment high velocity air will dry the surface of the sausage and you will have case hardening. And unless you are prepared to open and close the door of your curing chamber several times a day, you do need regular infusion of fresh air and venting out of stale air. The easiest way to do this is to have an intake vent on the bottom and an outake vent at the top. You can install a computer fan in both vents or always leave the lower vent partially opened and have a fan on the top. Another low velocity fan should be installed on the inside to homogenize the air. But make sure that the air is diffused and not blowing directly at the curing meat. In industrial curing chambers the air velocity is generally 0.05-0.1 m/s (meters per second), or .86-1.72 CFM Cubic Feet per Minute). That is very slow air movement. To put it into perspective, a computer fan runs at 110CFM.

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 00:15

redzed, If I decide that I would prefer not to vent the unit, How many times per day do you think I need to transfer the stale air? The unit was not intended to be a full-time curing chamber. It's also used as my "drink" refrigerator during swimming pool season.

Post by **redzed** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 07:25

Wish I could answer that but when you first load the chamber it would be more often. The only real solution is very gentle air movement and regular air exchange. I have left my chamber running for more than three weeks while I was gone and the fans took care of everything.

harleykids · Post by **harleykids** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 07:55

Lou, you may try simply leaving the door cracked open about 1/8"-1/4" or so, and putting a very small fan in the bottom of the fridge, pointed away from your sausages.

That will give a nice easy airflow, exchange the air as it needs to be, and still maintain an easy 53-55 F inside your chamber while they cure.

Yeah, your fridge will run a bit more often, but the electricity cost is negligible.
1/8" door cracked will not make that much of a temp difference, but will make a huge difference in exhausting your chamber.

You need airflow or you will end up disappointed. My chamber exhausts the inside air every time my humidifier comes on, which is about every 45 mins or so, about 25-30 times in 24 hours.

Good luck!

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 05:49

Well, I decided to take everyone's advice and I'm convinced I need to circulate the stale air. I thought about how I wanted to do this and make the refrigerator a normal "can of pop" unit when the swimming pool opens, so here's what I decided to do. I created 2 j-tracks. Tommorrow, within the j-tracks, I'm going to drill a 3" hole and slide a pvc pipe from the inside and seal the rough cut leaving 2" of pvc protruding on the inside. I'm going to create a panel that will slide into the jtrack that will incorporate a central vac flap vent. On the lower section, I'm going to create a panel with a variable speed computer fan tied into the humidity "on" circuit. This will run the fan and vent the unit during the humidity cycle. When I'm done with it being a curing chamber, all I have to do is slide the vent and fan out and replace them with blank panels and cap off the lvc's on the inside. Bingo, back to a refrigerator. http://imageshack.com/a/img911/4219/vyna3C.jpg

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 05:50

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 05:52

Day 8

harleykids · Post by **harleykids** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 06:05

Great idea Lou! Your salumi will be much happier with the airflow!
My chamber sucks clean air from the top vent and exhausts out the lower vent.

No sense in sucking in dusty air off the floor...

And be sure to add a bit of filter material to each vent to catch bad molds, dust, dander, etc.

I cut up a pleated home hepa style filter, enough filter material for years in one $20 24"×24"×1" HVAC slip in filter! I just cut and stretch the pleated fabric flat.

Best of luck!

Post by **redzed** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 06:21

I have to disagree with the location of the exhaust fan. Humid stale air will rise to the top of the chamber, so if you position the exhaust on the bottom you will have a hard time drawing it out. That would only work if you also instal an intake fan on the top. I believe that Evan Brady of the Craft Butchers Pantry has than his chamber. He runs the fans on a timer, but the intake fan starts running 5 minutes before the exhaust gets going.

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 06:32

Im lost. Are you suggesting 2 fans? An intake fan on top and exhaust fan on bottom? Or are you suggestion an intake on the top and an open vent on the bottom? Or are you suggestion a vent on the top and an exhaust fan on the bottom?

Post by **redzed** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 06:41

Open intake vent on the bottom. Fan exhaust on the top. If you want the intake on the top and exhaust on the bottom them you need two fans, one to pull the air in and the other to push it out.