Gents, hello. I as many others I think have been loitering in the wings taking note of the forum before taking the plunge and having a go. I've just started my first 'trial' batch (1.4kg of pork) of Chorizo Castellano using the 'Our Daily Brine' recipe as a guide and could do with a sanity check of how its getting on?
Here is the cabinet. Fridge/freezer combo modified into single chamber:
Here is the controller. twin Hygrometer (only single outputs hence two) controlling a small humidifier and a small dehumidifier, and a single twin relay temperature controller powering the fridge and a 40W heater element. Additionally the internal fridge fan is on all the time giving a gentle air movement inside.
Here is the 'green' product post stuffing:
And here is the product at the end of fermentation:
We had a power cut on day two (figures) the chamber shut off and temp inside dropped to 7 Deg C. I then extended the fermantation to compensate. I meant to add 8 hrs to the original 72 hrs in the recipe but circumstances kicked me in the plums and it unded up being 84 hrs.
Ph on testing (twice) at 84 hr point was 4.7 using a Hanna ph tester.
Ive dropped the humidity and temp to 14.5 Deg C and 85% RH, dropping to 70% over the next few weeks and will dry to approx 35-40% of green weight.
Here are the questions:
Is pH 4.7 ok? Ive read that pH of 5 is hard to achieve and i'm below that?! I used TSP-X at 0.1% by weight and dextrose at 0.4% by weight.
The mould culture (Mould 600) was applied using a diy sprayer. I was aiming for 'gentle summer mist' and got 'deluge hose pipe'! The coverage is pretty uniform but a bit 'lush'. Should I be bothered?
Thanks in advance.
Deano