Can you mix a culture with red wine?

Air dried cured meat and salami recipes

Can you mix a culture with red wine?

Postby tommix » Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:15 pm

I plan on making some pepperoni and am going to be using Bactoferm T-SPX. It says to
For every 10 lbs. of meat: dilute ½ tsp. of culture in ½ cup distilled water (or chlorine free tap water). Let sit for 15-20 minutes for bacteria to “wake-up” then pour over mixed meat and re-mix thoroughly.
My question is can I use red wine instead of the water, or will the wine kill the culture?

This is going to be dry cured pepperoni so I don't want to add any extra liquid, I was going to add about 3/4 of a cup of red wine to a 15 pound batch.

Thanks.........Tim
tommix
Registered Member
 
Posts: 236
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2011 2:05 pm
Location: Central California

Postby manfran » Mon Nov 07, 2011 11:00 pm

hi Tim,

I guess the main thing, is that the wine will be alcoholic and acidic. The wine will probably be something around pH 3.5...with an alcohol volume of 10-15%

T-SPX uses the following two bacteria 'PEDIOCOCCUS PENTOSACEUS' and
'STAPHYLOCOCCUS XYLOSUS'.

There will be something on the net with about the conditions those bacteria can survive in. My guess (and it really is a guess) would be that the bacteria could cope with the wine's pH, but probably not with the alcohol. You could always evaporate the alcohol off the wine....but the main crux is this...

...in mixing the culture with distilled/mineral water you are giving it the optimum environment to thrive. From what I've read (and I've read tonnes this week, cos I'm about to ferment some sausages for the first time myself), you want the fermentation process to really start as quickly as possible. 24/48 hrs fermenting and then into cooler drying conditions. I reckon that mixing the culture with wine will, at the very least slow the hole process down!
:) Francis
manfran
Registered Member
 
Posts: 66
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2011 8:50 am
Location: Ealing, London, UK

Postby tommix » Tue Nov 08, 2011 12:32 am

Francis,

Thanks for the quick response. You are probably right, why would you want to change conditions that are ideal for a particular culture. I have emailed a company here in the U.S. that supplies T-SPX so I will see what they say and post the response.

I have made dry cured pepperoni and salami in the past with mixed results, (my failures have made excellent dog treats :D ) I finally have a good drying room where I can accurately control the temperature and humidity so I am hoping for more consistent results in the future.

I too have been scanning the internet for information and this site has some excellent info if you have not already found it. http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-ty ... ed-sausage

A lot of information there but it seems accurate. Good luck with your project.

Tim
tommix
Registered Member
 
Posts: 236
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2011 2:05 pm
Location: Central California

Re: Can you mix a culture with red wine?

Postby aceddu » Sun Oct 06, 2013 3:13 pm

I mix my culture with red wine always,and I've never had an issue.I try to add as little water to my salami...
aceddu
Registered Member
 
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2008 12:14 pm
Location: near Philadelphia,Pennsylvania


Return to Recipes for cured meats

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests