New guy building a curing chamber

Air dried cured Meat Techniques

New guy building a curing chamber

Postby pahunter » Mon Dec 02, 2013 3:26 am

So i have recently picked up for free a old freezer that i was gonna use for some kegs that i could drink while making some sausage but it turns out that the freezer i got has the cooling coils in side of it on each shelf inside so i really cant take them out. So my next great idea in my head was make a curing chamber, but from what i have read its hard because it has the coils in the freezer.. Has anyone tried this? If so how did it work?? if no one has can anyone give me some ideas on whether they think it would work or not..
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Re: New guy building a curing chamber

Postby Dingo » Mon Dec 02, 2013 2:31 pm

I'm not sure I understand...are you saying you can not remove the shelves? If that's the case it will limit your ability to hang stuff. I dont see any reason that you couldn't use a freeze instead of a fridge--as long as it is FROST FREE. No frost free.....no humidity reduction.
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Re: New guy building a curing chamber

Postby pahunter » Tue Dec 03, 2013 6:47 am

I can not remove the shelfs because the shelfs also the the cooling coils inside them meaning I can see the cooling coils.. Which from what I understand is not a frost free freezer it is old.. Even though there is the problem with humidity reduction do u think there is a way to put a dehumidifier in there to remove the humidity instead... I am in california right now and I don't think I can get the right temperatures and humidity levels without making a chamber..
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Re: New guy building a curing chamber

Postby Dingo » Tue Dec 03, 2013 3:09 pm

I dont have much experience in de-humidification...however disregarding the physical hurdles of the non-removable shelves i'm sure it could be done.

For temperature control use something like this;
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/johnson-controls-a419-digital-temp-controller.html?gclid=COiNxq6nlLsCFa9DMgod7jgAYQ
I hang a 40w lamp in the bottom of the cabinet to generate heat, then the above device kicks on to bring the temp down etc etc. I saw a better solution on the forum here somewhere...a non-light emmitting heat source that fits into a bulb socket.

For humidity control use something like this;
https://greenair.com/product/thc-1.html
connect it to a de-humidifier or humidifier depending on your problems.

Next..get one of those indoor/outdoor weather stations from the hardware store to monitor the cabinet conditions independently of the controls.

Here's a more in depth tutorial'

http://www.sausagemaker.com/tutorials/chamber/curing_chamber.html

Hope this helps
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Re: New guy building a curing chamber

Postby pahunter » Thu Dec 05, 2013 12:54 am

teperature im good with i understand that my big concern is the humidity since its an older model and that i donnt think its frost free. Not sure if i should look into getting a humidity controller that will dehumidify also and then i would just have to wire both of them in there
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Re: New guy building a curing chamber

Postby Dingo » Thu Dec 05, 2013 3:09 am

It has to be frost free or the cycle wont work. The concept of the cabinet detailed above doesn't care if you need to add humidity or reduce it. It's a closed cycle;

Heat source adds heat....
Temp controller turns fridge on....
Fridge reduces heat and also humidity
Humidifier adds humidity
Process continues until fridge/humidifier stop...
Heat source adds heat.

That's a fairly simplified explanation. I use the same cabinet to do fermentation and curing...so the "cycle" differs at different stages. i.e. during fermentation the fridge rarely turns on, as I want high temps and high humidity. I just set the controllers at the appropriate settings. Once fermentation is done..i change the controllers to "Curing mode"..i.e. lower temps/humidity.

Please understand that this is a "band aid" solution. Ideally, as in the old world where temp and humidity ( and members like Wheels and Brican came from :wink: ) were part of the environment, that's where the product was made.

Anyway, i digress. The humidistat that I have only lets you have one setting. Humidify or dehumidify. I'm not aware of any off the shelf devices that do both simultaneously. It could be done, but would require some fancy PID control...of which I am planning :evil:

Sorry for being so long winded. :oops:
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Re: New guy building a curing chamber

Postby stborgke » Sun Jan 12, 2014 7:37 pm

A Swedish man thats interesting in charcuteri, bats, running, beer and all other stuff thats make life wearth too living.
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