Thoughts?

[Dingo]

Awesome curing room....i've been toying with designs for this type of thing in my mind for a while now. For the humidity issue, maybe you could hook a de-humidifier up to one of the Johnson controls humidistat controllers. The one I use (more for adding humidity as I'm at 7000ft in Colorado) has the option to humidify or dehumidify. Plumb a drain from the the dehumidifier to the outside and your done...dial up, relatively constant humidity.

[Mohalk]

Dingo, thank you. I may be only about 8 to 10 ft. above sea lvl here in hot humid conditions but due to the AC running I still need to add moisture. Over night when the AC doesn't run as much the RH gets to ~60% and during the day falls to ~50% I ordered a Lasko 9 gal. unit from Home Depot yesterday that should do well and not have to fill it everyday. Cost was $79.99 USD

As far as the electricity usage I think I am good or at least good for the size of the room. The KWH for 3 days of the AC not running was 163 KWH used and with the AC running and holding a temp of 54 - 56 F the reading was 179 KWH used and during the time with the AC running I also used my electric oven for 8 hours during the first day of the 3. The oven was only set to 250 F during the 8 hours of use.

Al

[Wunderdave]

Very impressive! What are you going to do with all the product you can crank out with all this space?

[crustyo44]

I would kill 2 or 3 decent size pigs and make heaps of salami, enough for a year and not to forget other charcuterie that requires curing. Buy the Marianski curing book. You'll be busy!!!!!!!!!!!!
Man, I am jealous with your set up.
Regards,
Jan

[Mohalk]

Well I am doing a small test run (10 lbs.) to see how things go. From Len Poli I decided on this as a test http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Sal ... ta%202.pdf I added whole black pepper and used Marsala in place of the white wine. Alao T-SPX in place of the LHP. In just 24 hours there is a wonderful aroma and a very thin white mold started.







Now it's the waiting game. I think Christmas gifts will be easy this year

Al

[Mohalk]

LOL as a side note. The room still looks empty.

Al

[crustyo44]

Mohalk,
Take note of my earlier message, kill 3 pigs and start filling that great curing chamber right up. If I wasn't so far away I would come over and give you a hand.
Good Luck,
Jan.

[Mohalk]

Mohalk,
Take note of my earlier message, kill 3 pigs and start filling that great curing chamber right up. If I wasn't so far away I would come over and give you a hand.
Good Luck,
Jan.

Jan, that will come but I must learn what I am doing because I would hate to waste that much not knowing a few things first.The 10 lbs. hanging is the first dry cured meat for me and if this goes well I will venture farther and work the room for what it was built for. At this point I couldn't be happier!

Al

[crustyo44]

Al,
Buy some pork neck fillets when they are on a special. It's real easy to make some very good Coppa especialy now that you have the facilities to do so, you can either encase them or just string them up.
Some great recipes on the forum or the net.
Good Luck Mate,
Jan.

[Mohalk]

Just a quick update.

The meat has been hanging for 16 days and I think it may be drying a little too fast. By weight it has lost ~33% but feels too soft with a squeeze. This being my first attempt I am not sure. I am going to let it go until I am able to squeeze it and it has the right feel to me. I am a little concerned with case hardening!

So far even with temps hitting 100F a couple days the temp in the shack has held a constant 55F and the RH ~75%. Because the runs more during the day the RH may drop to as low as 71% if my equipment to read it is accurate which I doubt. I need to find something to read the RH that I can trust. I have been adding around 2.5 gal of water to the humidifier.

Al

[BriCan]

Just a quick update.

The meat has been hanging for 16 days and I think it may be drying a little too fast. By weight it has lost ~33% but feels too soft with a squeeze. This being my first attempt I am not sure. I am going to let it go until I am able to squeeze it and it has the right feel to me. I am a little concerned with case hardening!

First things first, what size casings are you using (30/35 ??) as this will make the difference on your drying time. The smaller the diameter the faster the drying time

The 'squeeze' test comes with practice 'BUT' it is not the thing to rely on (even I do not with all my years), keep a track on the weight. I normally aim for 40% weight loss.

[Mohalk]

First things first, what size casings are you using (30/35 ??) as this will make the difference on your drying time. The smaller the diameter the faster the drying time

The 'squeeze' test comes with practice 'BUT' it is not the thing to rely on (even I do not with all my years), keep a track on the weight. I normally aim for 40% weight loss.

The 2 sizes I used for this trial were 38 mm and 61 mm. I understand smaller size = less time to dry. My concern here is I don't think the equipment I have to measure the RH is accurate. One of the reasons for this is when I walk in to a Home Depot or Lowes there can be as many as 20 devices on the shelf and not 2 will have the same reading (temp or RH). I find this very disturbing.

Al

[Mohalk]

I think it's time to get busy and start to hang some meat! On the 23rd day I got up 3:30 AM and tossed a 23lb. brisket on the smoker and invited some friends over that afternoon for some good Texas style BBQ. (salt and pepper only as the rub) After eating my friends asked about the shed/cooler so I gave them a look see. Well I ended up cutting a piece of the salami and it was a huge hit. What a great feeling!

Below is all I have left for myself as my friends had a bidding war for the rest of it. There was only about 4 lbs. left after snacking and the 42% weight loss.





Al

[wheels]

Its great when people appreciate what you do.

Phil

[crustyo44]

Hi Al,
Looking at the photo's, you have succeeded 125%. You'll be the most popular guy around.
What a beautiful colour.
Now go and fill the chamber right up. Gosh, I am jealous.
Congratulations Mate,
Jan.