Beginner Mold Question

[jp240z]

Hi there, first time poster, first time dry curing question. Great site.

First attempt is pepperoni using the Ruhlman Polcyn recipe. Had to travel, so was only able to incubate for 12 hours at 78 degs and 40% rh. Then pepperoni went into wine fridge at a rock solid 60 degs and 80% rh. After 7 days drying, noticed white mold spots starting to develop last 48 hours. While white = good generally from what I understand, this mold isn't developing like the finely spotted 600 mold bath pictures I have seen. Want to make sure that what is blooming on mine is ok to continue. I sliced a small piece off one of the larger sausages. Color looks good, aroma good. Cooked it up and while very, very tangy, it was definitely not "bad". Pictures attached.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

James

[wheels]

Hi James, welcome.

We can't see you photos. I don't think that you've posted the correct link. You need to make sure that sharing's enabled on your Flickr account and then select the code that should be on the drop down box titled 'share' at the top of your photo, it's the bbcode that you need.

If you enable sharing on your Flickr account and can't embed the photos, one of us should be able to help.

Phil

[jp240z]

I have everything set to public, not sure why links not working. Here is http to album.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63584043@N05/

[wheels]

In that case, you may be able to see the link you need (as the 'owner') but I can't.

I set up an account on Flikr so that I could see what to do, but I don't really know my way around it that well. Hopefully, someone who does will advise further if there's an easy way to do this. In the meantime this is the code you need:



The code will look something like this:

Code: Select all

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/69640383@N06/8570834705/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8106/8570834705_dd82351824.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/69640383@N06/8570834705/]xxxxxxxxx[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/69640383@N06/]xxxxxxxxxx[/url], on Flickr

I hope this helps.

[jp240z]

Thanks for the link tip. Let's try this then:

[jp240z]

When I got home from work tonight, did not like the look of the additional mold growth, even though it was all nice and bright and white it had too much of a three dimensional look to it for my liking.

So washed sausages and everything in cure box down with 50/50 vinegar/water solution.

Everything all clean now, we'll see how it looks in next couple of days.

[wheels]

I can see what looks like black marks on the casing. Is this mould? Or maybe just some black pepper showing through?

Phil

[jp240z]

That is indeed black pepper. If not, pepperoni would be in trash bin!

Have a small fan in there now on low and put some spacers along 4" of door seal to get a little ventilation going.

rh dropping slowly, is now approaching 70%. temp still at 60 degs.

[wheels]

That is indeed black pepper. If not, pepperoni would be in trash bin!

I thought it would be, but thought it best to check.

Phil

[jp240z]

Think the problem was too high humidity, to0 high temperature, and too little air flow.

Originally had wine fridge sealed, rh 80% and temp 60 degs. Pepperoni quickly developed shiny (moist) surface, looked wet. Then concentrated fuzzy mold spots developed. Made the following adjustments:

Washed mold spots and entire pepperoni, and interior of wine fridge down with vinegar/water solution
Wedged door seal open by few mm to get rh down to 65-70%
Dropped temperature to 55 degs
Installed PC fan that runs 15 minutes twice a day to move air around

Result is pepperoni has dryer surface look. Aroma was good before, but now it is awesome. And while not so distinguishable in this picture, what appears to be a powdery fine good looking white mold is starting to develop across the surface.

[Kizer]

Think the problem was too high humidity, to0 high temperature, and too little air flow.

Originally had wine fridge sealed, rh 80% and temp 60 degs. Pepperoni quickly developed shiny (moist) surface, looked wet. Then concentrated fuzzy mold spots developed. Made the following adjustments:

Washed mold spots and entire pepperoni, and interior of wine fridge down with vinegar/water solution
Wedged door seal open by few mm to get rh down to 65-70%
Dropped temperature to 55 degs
Installed PC fan that runs 15 minutes twice a day to move air around

Result is pepperoni has dryer surface look. Aroma was good before, but now it is awesome. And while not so distinguishable in this picture, what appears to be a powdery fine good looking white mold is starting to develop across the surface.

First off, it looks like you have things under control now. I am not convinced that they white mold was bad, at least from the pictures, but better safe than sorry.

Do you have a humidity and temperature controller on your chamber? If not, is it in a location where you can safely assume constant temperatures 24 hours a day? I am wondering if there is a lack of control over the environment. This could be a cause of your problems, and an indicator of problems to come.

I have some potential mold issues popping up. Similar unknown white mold possibility. I am about to update the post about it.

[jp240z]

Well, just got back from a week of Spring break and disappointed to see concentrated mold spots came back, some of them bluish gray, and a grayish thin mold film over most of them. Odor is definitely moldy, not appetizing at all. Think I am going to chuck and start over.

I do have a hygrometer and temperature gauge. rh was at 60-70% and temp 55 degs for the most part over 18 days. I think, possibly, my error was in the initial fermentation stage did. I only incubated for 12 hours at 77 degs and room humidity, which was around 40%. Next time, will try higher temp, more humidity, and full 24 hours. Also planning to use the Mold-600 to control for surface mold.

[Kizer]

In my experience, which is just a little, the mold 600 does a great job of protecting against malicious molds.

[jp240z]

That is what I have read as well.

Interestingly, I cut open a few and cut some thin slices. Inside looked good, nice dark red and good aroma. So hopefully just a surface issue.