www.sausagemaking.org

Speaking with Aris in the Coppa thread, I decided that I should post some pics of the curing box I built out of 2x4's an foam board. Description:
My curing box is 20 cubic feet. I constructed it out of 2" x 4" lumber and 1.5" foam board insulant. The foam board comes in 4' x 8' sheets. I built the fram with the woods then enclosed with the foam board. I then mounted 3 sets of closet rod couplings to run dowels across the box. I can then hang bacon hooks, meat hooks from the dowels. The box isn't completely air tight but it works great for now as my garage is insulated as well.

Humidity: I have a cool-mist humidifer that I picked up for $17. It has settings for 35-55 % humidity. The 55% humidity keeps my chamber at approx 64%. However, Portland, OR has great temp/hum. for dry-curing. The hum. only turns on during really dry-cold days.

Temp: When the temperature drops beneath 40 degrees F, I have a 75w bulb hooked up to a dimmer. I turn it on low and it keeps the box at approx 46F. Portland only gets hot in July or August. Those are probably the only months I won't be able to dry-cure - but you never know.

Pictures are as follows:









Let me know if you have any questions. I hope all of you have a good day.

Nice work!

I've been wanting to get into into the dry curing end of the spectrum, but have been put off by the lack of a way to hold the meat at required temp and humidity. This just may be the extra push over the cliff I need!

BBQER: Thanks for the compliments. It looks like you live in Washington, where abouts? You can PM me if that works better for you.

My initial interest with this craft has always been with dry-curing, so I just dove right in. If you have the resources I would highly suggest "Cooking by Hand" by Paul Bertolli. There is only one chapter in the book that covers dry-curing but it is worth more than all the other documentation I have read. Paul Bertolli is who products Fra'mani meats, if you're familiar with his product. Also Len Poli's website is a great resource. Talk to you soon.

I'm in Olympia.

I'll take a look at "Cooking by Hand". Can't have too many cooking related books.

My resources so far are the Rytek Kutas book and this website. Rytek book good, this website absolutely great!

Definately check out this website:

http://home.pacbell.net/lpoli/index.htm

Any concern that the foam has harmful chemicals?
is the humidifier that little thing sitting in the corner of the box?

that was the last post by mcattrone, so ?

Ok dave you have it, Good thread and still lots of interest...


Lets get some thought on automating this puppy...

there was another thread started here, in equipment,
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=3633
I can't merge the two so let's keep going in here, shall we?.

Dave

Hi all,

Recently I got more involved in cold smoking because I made a cold smoke generator for my father in law. With searching the Internet for solutions, I got more and more interested in dry curing ham myself. I am going to build my own aging chamber on the short term, and a separate curing chamber in the near future. I like the simplicity of the setup of mcattrone and for the curing room I will re-build a small chest freezer.
I always try to come up with simple solutions and I have put these solutions on a few web pages that I made.
For now, the cold smoke generator is on it, and a simple solution for a thermostat for the aging chamber.

Questions and/or comments are always welcome.

Hoggy