is this black mould ?

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is this black mould ?

Postby chorizoguy » Fri Jul 08, 2016 4:48 am

Hi all,

I am new to the forums. I have always been interested in sausage making and finally decided to give it try.
I have converted a fridge into a curing chamber and used the following recipe for my first batch.

Ground pork shoulder, 10% fat pieces by weight, 2.5% salt, 0.2% sugar, 2% paprika, 0.6% ground black pepper, 0.25% Cure #2 and TSPX as starter culture.

I have sprayed the sausages with Mold-600. However, I forgot to let mold sit in the solution for 12 hours before spraying. After this I transferred the sausages to the curing chamber set to 12c with 90% humidity.
After day 2, I saw no white mould forming so I decided to spray it again this time after letting the solution sit.
After spraying, I turned up the heat to 23c with 90%.

After 12 hours, I saw white mould forming and left the curing chamber at 23c for another 12 hours. Around day 3, I took it back down to 12c again.

On day 4, when looking at the sausages under the light I noticed some black specs. I tried to white it off but it appears to be under the casings.

I was wondering if this just the back pepper becoming more visible as the sausages dry or if this is some sort of a mould growing.

Please let me know what you think.

http://i67.tinypic.com/f4mryo.jpg
http://i63.tinypic.com/fnu0ex.jpg
http://i66.tinypic.com/hvvwcn.jpg

Thanks,
chorizoguy
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Re: is this black mould ?

Postby NCPaul » Fri Jul 08, 2016 10:32 am

Welcome to the forum. :D Looks normal to me. It reads as if you did the fermentation of the starter culture on the second day, did you check the pH?
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Re: is this black mould ?

Postby wheels » Fri Jul 08, 2016 2:55 pm

Likewise, they look OK to me.

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Re: is this black mould ?

Postby chorizoguy » Fri Jul 08, 2016 5:04 pm

NCPaul wrote:Welcome to the forum. :D Looks normal to me. It reads as if you did the fermentation of the starter culture on the second day, did you check the pH?


Thanks for the replies. It's a pleasure to come across such a great forum! I am glad that they look okay to your trained eyes.

As for pH reading, I have not done it since I didn't know the importance of it while making my first batch. I think that it will be a requirement for my next batch.

Given that I haven't done a pH reading, would you say that it's safe to consume once they are done drying ? Or should I do a pH reading once I cut into them ?
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Re: is this black mould ?

Postby DanMcG » Sat Jul 09, 2016 6:43 am

The black specks I see look to be your black pepper.
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Re: is this black mould ?

Postby NCPaul » Mon Jul 11, 2016 2:10 pm

I wouldn't bother checking the pH after they are done drying. Next time try increasing the sugar to 0.3 % and fermenting the sausage for 36 hrs. at 23C. That should give you a pH of 5.3 or below and is a good safety hurdle when starting out.
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