Curing smell, color, beginner sopressata

[yianni]

So far so good I think. I appreciate all the help.

I did some forum searching and don't think I have a straight answer on what I should be smelling and seeing. Using Rhulmans recipie. I attempted to make a mold solution sprayed before fermentation stage from a store bought sausage but I kept it in the over with the light on for 3 hours so maybe not enough time or got too hot.

1. So I am getting a dirty feet and sock, cheese smell seems to be getting lighter or maybe I am getting used to it. Is this good? Not a rotten meat smell just a new smell to me.

2. Out of all 10 sausages I found only 2 tiny pinhead white fuzzys on two salamis where I pricked an air pocket. I touched it and it went away. Do I need to get crazy with apple cider vinegar water mixture just yet?

3. I used pork lion and kept everything near freezing and hand mixed with gloved hands so it dosen't look like I have any smearing. Check out the color. Pretty pale and getting more matte, pale looking. Normal? Is this my good mold starting? When can I expect that nice dark salami color to start forming?

Bonus question. One of them touched my heating element for a min before I smelled it in the fermentation box and is burnt on the end. I'm letting it ride. Thoughts? It's the one right above my temp / humid sensor in the pic

Thanks everyone!

[yianni]

Oh and I have been doing pretty good at keeping them around 60 f and 62 to high 70s % humidity.

[Dingo]

Hi Yianni,
They are looking good at this stage. My fairly inexperienced comments are;

(1) The smell is normal. I'm not sure I would call it a dirty sock/foot smell (maybe a separate personal problem? I Jest...Aussie's cant miss an opportunity ). I know the room my cabinet is in definitely has some "smells" to it. I guess it;s just the aging process...get use to it...enjoy it.

(2) You're in good shape so far. I wouldn't break out the vinegar yet. That being said..try not to handle your sausage to often for risk of contamination.

(3) The color at this stage is fine...I'm guessing they've only been out of fermentation a couple of days? Every chamber is different my chamber dries salami's in beef rounds in 14-16 days. From my understanding this is pretty quick. It is the actual aging process that makes the flavor. I've been endeavoring to slow my down. Anyway, i digress, the dark color you refer to comes with age...be patient...pour yourself a rum and chill out I would've though that you'd seen evidence of the white mold by now...but maybe not...again be patient.

(4) I guess the concept here is that a section of the casing will not let moisture exit...similar to case hardening. If your super paranoid...throw the whole batch out...if your a little paranoid...throw that sausage out....personally I'd roll with it and maybe at a later date cut that section off.

PS..please dont throw the whole batch out.

Hope this helps...i remember my first batch of salami...it was a very stressful time. Try not to let it get the better of you. If you've followed the protection hurdles correctly and your chamber is in the correct ranges...let it be and post successful photo's when they are done.

[bwalt822]

They look ok for now but should probably get a little more red as time goes on. Did you cure them hanging vertically because they look a little more red near the top where it would have been warmer. This is not a problem I don't think.

I have had a good coating of mold 600 form in 2 days at 90 degrees and near 100% humidity and other times it has taken several days or even longer.

My salamis put out a slightly sour but not very unpleasant smell when fermenting which then turns to a mushroomy/brie like smell and a slight hint of ammonia after the mold has formed and they are drying. Not sure if the ammonia is bad or not but it seems to be fine as long as its not really strong.

I keep my salamis at 55 degrees for what its worth.

But I'm certainly no expert, my success rate is 3/5 with the 6th looking pretty good right now at 30% weight loss. The failures occurred because of too high of humidity which caused widespread brown mold. Also taught me I cant make salami in summer time with my ambient conditions and curing chamber combo.

[yianni]

thanks for both of your replies. I have a small unused tiled bathroom in my basement that I moved the fridge to and it is holding 60 f and 70% quite well with the fridge door cracked open and wet salt pan.

the foot smell is what I have heard other describe it as. its more earthly I guess. I like it.

I did ferment them hanging. next time I will do it lying down. I believe my oven will work perfect with the light on. (it gets quite warm in there) for fermentation.