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Hanging in garage for curing?

PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 5:30 pm
by Fingers
I live in the north of the UK and currently my garage is 4 degC during the day, well ventilated and atmospheric humidity in the area has been 70% to 98% for the last few days. I have a Hygrometer on the way so I will know what humidity inside my garage is.

However I am reading here that many are using fridges and fans and various other gubins to control temps etc. Its would seem there are narrow critical condition which spell disaster bin, or success?

I am guessing I will not know if I have a good natural space for curing till I try it and see.

Re: Hanging in garage for curing?

PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 9:41 pm
by Swing Swang
Garage should be fine - there there are 'good' conditions that can be achieved by curing at the right time of the year (such as your garage in February/March) and there are 'optimal' conditions that can be achieved by having the right stone building, correctly ventilated, on the right side of the valley, in the right region (or alternatively you can attempt to mimic this with all of the 'gubbins'!).

Only concern with the garage is the smokey old diesel that gets left on idle...

Re: Hanging in garage for curing?

PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 9:51 pm
by NCPaul
For narrow salamis it might be fine; larger salamis take more time and seem to me to require closer control. You might want to study up on case hardening and how to avoid it.

Re: Hanging in garage for curing?

PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 11:19 pm
by Fingers
Cheers folks.

All I can do is give it a go, I feel the first mistake has been made trying without nitrates. Fortunately the garage is more of a utility room than a garage, so no car fumes. As I understand it so far it's a question of trying to dry it out all the way through to center. If the outside dries to quick then the air can't get to the centre. So I guess this is an art to balance air flow, temp and humidity and it could be any number of variations of those to get it right.

If for e.g. something is drying to quick in a humid cold enviroment would reducing air flow be a fix?

Re: Hanging in garage for curing?

PostPosted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 12:35 am
by wheels
Welcome.

I'll not add much, except to say that it might be a good idea to look up the production process for salami (which you mention in your other thread). It normally includes a fermentation stage at anything between 20° and 30°C depending on product, and there are other elements that you may wish to include.

Maybe have a firtle around this website:

http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage ... ed-sausage

..or invest in one of the Marianski's books. This one's a great investment:

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/Searc ... d+Sausages

That way you can be confident that you ingredients and process are correct.

As to the garage/utility room? The temps not ideal - 12°C would be better. But that's splitting hairs, if you've got 4°, it may not be ideal but you can work with it. What I do know is that a room like you've got is far better than trying to control something like a fridge. You can easily use humidifiers/dehumidifiers or even units to control the temp (if necessary - which I doubt).

Keep us posted.

Phil