poking holes for drying

Tips and tecniques on dryng drying, curing etc.

poking holes for drying

Postby mrphilips » Sat Apr 14, 2012 5:38 pm

i'm still experiencing a degree of case hardening, and i am now considering my case pricking as a potential culpret...

essentially, after 28 days of hanging at about 80% humidity (starting at 85, working down to 75 over four weeks), the sausage looses the desired weight (or more), but is still mushy-moist in the center.

i prick mine with a toothpick before hanging, as is usually directed, but i'm wondering if i don't prick em enough... perhaps leading is insufficient humidty egress from the center out.

what do you guys do, about one poke per square inch? more? less?
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Postby tommix » Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:24 pm

I don't prick mine at all unless I see a big air bubble, what kind of casings are you using? If I keep my humidity above 70% then I have no case hardening problems, do you have a fan running in your drying chamber?
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Postby mrphilips » Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:52 pm

nope.
i removed the fan a while back. see my previous posts on case hardening, i've been battling it continuously and it seems i still have an issue, which is why i've moved the investigation over to hole-poking as a possibility.
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Postby wheels » Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:31 pm

What do you mean by a "toothpick", I use a needle - a toothpick here is somewhat larger, but it may be different where you are?

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Postby mrphilips » Sun Apr 15, 2012 12:31 am

no... our teeth are approximately the same size, more or less :D
i use a tooth pick because it's handy.
but unless you can think of a reason why that would make my interior seem too moist, i don't really see that being an issue...

but this is why i ask - i'm just surprised (again) by the inadequate drying and i assume it's cause of case hardening as the casings seem dry-ish.
do you think a needle would help in that way?

how many pokes do you do? a lot or just the bubbles, like tommex does...
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Postby wheels » Sun Apr 15, 2012 5:30 pm

I do mine like this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL7VMPmu7-Y&t=4m20s

If it doesn't start at the correct place - it's at 4m 20s

HTH

Phil
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Postby mrphilips » Sun Apr 15, 2012 5:48 pm

ok, wow, yeah... that's significantly more poking than i usually do.
i'd say he's doubled the "aeration" i have done.
perhaps this'll help...

thanks
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Postby ericrice » Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:33 pm

I've continued to have this problem despite lots of pricking with a sausage pricker. When I make small diameter I do them in natural pre-tubed casings (convenience). They seem to do fine. However when I move up to larger protein lined casings (again convenience) I seem to always have the case hardening issue. I carefully regulate and monitor humidity and it is in the 75 range. The only thing I can think to try next is keep the humidity very high for a much longer period of time, gradually decreasing it. To date I keep it at 90-95 through incubation and have then moved it right into my curing cellar at 75 after that. Thoughts on needing a longer, more gradual decrease? If it isn't that has anyone experienced more case hardening issues with synthetic casings?
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Postby mrphilips » Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:26 pm

never used synthetic, but i have to keep mine over 80 (preferably 85) to prevent it.
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Postby ericrice » Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:01 pm

Appreciated. Do you keep it that high through the curing process?
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Postby mrphilips » Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:28 pm

...well, let's just say that i haven't decided what i do as i'm still tweaking my results.
my last batch "faded" down to about 78 over four weeks, but i still think i got some case hardening, so next time, i'm going to use a professional grade case mould and keep it that high for the whole time.

then we shall see.
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Postby larry » Wed Apr 18, 2012 4:11 pm

One thing you can try on the next batch is spritzing them with a spray bottle once or twice a day for the first week or so to keep the casing from drying out, but without jacking the total humidity too much. I think you need the right humidity level and a moist casing to allow transport of water out into the chamber. If the total humidity level is too high, the water is less inclined to travel. I would suggest pulling them out of the chamber, spritzing, and putting them back. My experience has been that the synthetic or collagen casings dry out faster than natural, and thus need surface moistening early on in the drying process. The evaporation from the moist casing into the chamber air will help to pull water out of the interior.

I've also found that spraying them during the initial fermet/cure/inncoulation at high temp. helps them dry properly once they get to the drying chamber.
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Postby mrphilips » Wed Apr 18, 2012 4:27 pm

i use the natural casings, but could try spraying them.
i do already when i spray on the mould starter.
"the right humidity" is obviously the key balance and numbers don't seem to mean much in comparuison to your particular setup... in my small bar-fridge chamber, 75% is no where near enough to prevent case hardening as of yet, but i'm still tweaking it.
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