www.sausagemaking.org

Having viewed many a thread in the past that contained pictures of fridges with cured meats in I seem to recall that very often there were different types of meats curing at the same time, i.e. Salami's and whole pieces of meat, please could you clarify how, and in fact if, this is done, as reading Marianski's book it seems that different meats require different temperatures and humidities? or when you start a project does it all have to be similar stuff so that it can cure etc equally?, which in turn means that only one project can be carried at out at any given time because the fridge is occupied

Many thanks
Ped

It's a case of compromise. Ideally, some may need a little higher temp or more, or less, humidity; we just aim for the middle-ground and hope!

Phil

I mix wildly. All in the same fridge. It seems to work.

To steal one of Y@t's pics (sorry...bill me for the copyright )




My cabinet recently;;



It seems to work. I Run my cabinet at 60F@70%RH (give or take about 5% for the responsiveness of the Hygrostat and Thermostat).

The biggest head ache I've found is that once your curing cabinet is curing stuff.....you cant use it to incubate any further projects............just have to make room for another fridge!

I guess you have to remember that this is an old craft...in days gone by, usually done in environments that didn't have sophisticated temp & rh controls.

Dingo, that's one of the pictures, thanks All for the input, I was hoping you would say that

Dingo wrote:[---]
...just have to make room for another fridge!
[---]

I know what you mean... This is my bedroom:

Damn.....how's your electric bill

No problem. As you see, I'm not running all simultaneously. One fridge runs full-time, the one on the right is a freezer, and the one on the left runs intermittently 1/8th of the time to create a 12 C atmosphere. I estimate the extra electricity to around 1 kWh/day or SEK 30/US$ 4 a month. Not much.

Doesn't everybody have two or three fridges and freezers?

I thought that Grisell's set up looked perfectly normal - that is, assuming that he has further appliances in his kitchen?

Phil

Yes it does seem to be a consequence of this craft.......need to build a larger house

wheels wrote:Doesn't everybody have two or three fridges and freezers?

I thought that Grisell's set up looked perfectly normal - that is, assuming that he has further appliances in his kitchen?

Phil

Of course. Full-size freezer and refigerator.

Dingo wrote:Yes it does seem to be a consequence of this craft.......need to build a larger house

...or get rid of all the stuff that you will never use (all that has nothing to do with sausagemaking that is...)

Phew
at last ,I am proven normal. 3 chest freezers,one used as a fridge (works excellent ) for fresh sausage and dry curing bacon.Beer.
\and 2 fridges for the green stuff.
How do you control Humidity?
cheers.
Titch

Some years ago, I entered a brewing competition and won a used commercial refrigerator from a brewpub that was being liquidated. I had no place to put it, so it has been sitting in storage all this time. I should get it checked out and/or repaired, once I've got the funds. It had been converted for chilling kegs, but since I had to stop brewing, it would be perfect for curing or maturing.

I guess that, after my cold smoker, refrigerators will be the next item on the agenda, and like others, I'll be hanging various products at the same time.

Titch: The first thing is to figure out whether your natural humidity is high or low, or whether it varies. I would get a temp/humidity gauge, put it in your chamber and just start taking readings a few times a day, to see what you have. If you're lucky, you may not need to do much. If you report back here with your baseline info, I'm sure the engineer types here can suggest how to rig your chamber. Most people use either a small humidifier or a bowl of water and salt to add moisture, and a vent and fan setup to get rid of it.