Case hardening or ready??

[Hammerheads]

Hi all,

I am onto my second batch of salami after the first batch hit the bin (temp spike).
They are stuffed in hog casings and used t-spx culture & bactoferm 600 mold.
I set them to 21deg 85%rh for 48hrs then 12.5deg 80%rh for 24hr then dropped the rh to 75%.
They have been in the chamber for 12 days and i weight them today. They have all dropped 40% in weight.



It appears there is a bit of case hardening, how can i tell if they are ready and safe to eat?

[NCPaul]

If the salt and cure were right, they're ready. They did dry fast, so I'd consider raising the rh next time to slow the process down.

[Hammerheads]

Thanks mate. I am pretty confident about the culture, cure & salts. Just thought it was a quick dry. I will vac pac the salami for a week or two in th fridge to even out. I will raise the RH next time.

Thanks for the advice.

[DanMcG]

that was quick, was there a lot of air movement in your chamber?

[Hammerheads]

I have a 12v computer fan running on 5v constantly to provide air flow but it doesn't blow directly on the salami. It also has a computer fan that turns on to extract the air when the humidity gets high. I might get rid of the air flow fan and just run the extraction fan for 10min an hour as well as when the humidity gets high. Hopefully that will increase the dry time. How much air flow is needed?

They are also only small salami with the biggest weighing less than 300gm when stuffed.

Cheers

[DanMcG]

I cant answer how much is needed but my chamber has a 3" (7.6 cm) hole in the top with a fan, but I've yet to run it. I open the door once or twice a day and that seems to be enough.

[wheels]

I used to use fans but had trouble with case hardening. I've not had problems since I stopped.

If you use a fan to lower humidity, it will only work if the RH of the air you introduce will remain below the level required when it's cooled e.g. Surrounding air at 20°C and 60% RH will have an RH of 98.8% when cooled to 12°C. Unless you have a very low RH in the surrounding area it's doomed to failure.

HTH

Phil

[Hammerheads]

Thanks for the replies.
I have it set up to cycle the fridges compressor and turn on the lamp (heat source) for 1 minute at the same time the exhaust fan is turned on so the fridge condenses the moisture and the temp remains stable.

Does anyone know why the fat would turn a bit yellow? is this due to me using a light as a heat source and is that an issue?

Cheers

Luke

[Swing Swang]

>Does anyone know why the fat would turn a bit yellow?

Paprika/bell peppers/chilli peeppers etc contain many fat-soluble components that will therefore turn the fat yellow. Normal and desirable for this type of sausage.

If you look at my first attempt that I posted elsewhere they do similar (although some of the fats have really stained whereas others much less so, which I guess is due to the fats being of different types/hardness)

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=12343

Philip

[Wunderdave]

Pretty typical for hog casing to dry quickly but not this quickly. I think they're slightly case-hardened and therefore a little squidgy in the middle. Probably fine to eat though!