Slow Weight Loss

[ericrice]

I detailed in another string that I had a curing room built earlier this year - I have had very little circulation in the room and constant humidity right around 75%. All seems well but I'm still a bit concerned with the lack of circulation. Weighed the first batch I did this year - genoa in 61mm casings (collagen). Good covering of bactoferm mold and no bad mold. A month in and I have a 19.5% weight loss, seems reasonable but the salami still feels very squishy at this point. Also on a batch put in more recently the mold is powdery on the outermost edge but underneath very moist and a somewhat yellowish appearing thin layer - kind of pasty feeling.

Am I overthinking based on the slow weight loss or has anyone experienced anything similar?

On a side note I have since put in an incubator fan which runs with the humidifier so I am getting a little more air movement now.

Appreciate any suggestions.

[NCPaul]

The weight loss on the Genoa looks right on to me. Which culture did you use?

[ericrice]

F-LC for the culture. After thinking through a bit more and going back through "the art of" I'm a bit worried I may not have allowed them to properly dry before fermentation (a step I have been historically lazy with and gotten away with). Stan refers to a slime that may accumulate but other than that doesn't make reference to it ruining the product in any way. My main concern after closer inspection is the pasty layer and that it may be inhibiting water loss. I'm going to closely monitor any additional loss over the next week and also plan to clean the casing of a salami from each batch, possibly repricking holes.

[ericrice]

Okay, I may be asking for trouble but I am interested in others thoughts. For my salami's that had the film my concern was the inability of water to migrate out. I attempted to wash them down with a vinegar/water solution but the coating is similar to smeared fat and seemed impossible to remove it. So I re-pricked one of the salamis, somewhat as a test and I'll monitor it's weight loss along with the others from that batch. I have no doubt re-pricking 4 weeks into the cure and at 20% weight loss isn't recommended but as I think through the safety hurdles taken (cure, ph drop), it is doing its thing whether I pricked it, cut it in half or left it alone. So that leaves me thinking what risks did I open myself up to by doing that? I assume the main concern would be with bacteria getting in there that otherwise couldn’t? I guess I keep coming back to is it a necessity to have a “sealed” product until shelf stable? I understand the risk with a “void” in a salami but to me that is a different situation as air isn’t getting to that.