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My 3 Salami's are coming to a finish here shortly, they are in my wine cooler chamber where i manged to keep the temp/humidity steady at 53F/71% give or take a degree or so.

Its already started to warm up here in northern California and i have acquired a full size side by side, been testing it out trying not to use my temp controller on the main unit power as i would like to keep using the extra freezer space

Im managing to keep the temp at 50-53F by setting the ref to its highest setting (45F) and using a heat lamp with the temp controller set at 53F. The ref is cycling quite often obviously trying to get back down to 45.

Humidity here right now is pretty low 51% and in the ref its 63% so i know ill need a Humidifier

My question, will the ref burn itself out cycling so often? will get worse i guess as the weather gets hotter (ref is in garage) or would i be ok leaving it on its highest setting of 45F and not using the heat lamp?

Your using an external temp controller with a thermocouple and hooking that to a heat lamp?
If thats correct...
Why not just hook the temp controller to the Reefer mains and set it to 53°?

Without disabling your freezer, I would dry at the highest temperature your fridge could be set at. My guesses about this would be that mold would be suppressed so I wouldn't bother with it. Drying times would be longer, which would work in favor of flavor but world require patient neglect. Because moisture movement within the sausage is slower, I would think to keep the humidity towards the high end and air movement/exchange low. You'll want to avoid water condensation but you'll be near where that occurs. Start with a modest number of salamis. Keep detailed records of the conditions so you can help others considering this path.

RodinBangkok wrote:Your using an external temp controller with a thermocouple and hooking that to a heat lamp?
If thats correct...
Why not just hook the temp controller to the Reefer mains and set it to 53°?

That was also my thought.

Phil

RodinBangkok wrote:Your using an external temp controller with a thermocouple and hooking that to a heat lamp?
If thats correct...
Why not just hook the temp controller to the Reefer mains and set it to 53°?

Because it will turn off the freezer will it not? as i said i want to use the freezer space, when i say heat lamp, its a 60w grow light bulb, nothing big, if i get a few hrs spare i will log the cycles for a few hrs, see exactly what its doing as it keeping a great steady 52-53F

Well on a side by side I'm not certain it would be a problem. Normally, and I'm not an expert on newer fridge technologies, but the air to the fridge is fed from the compressor which is running the freezer, so a slightly higher temp on the fridge side may not have that much effect on the freezer side, I'd try that to see how much effect it has.

But when the controller turns it off, the freezer will go off also, could be it wouldnt be off long enough to defrost anything in there, ill keep testing

fusion555 wrote:But when the controller turns it off, the freezer will go off also, could be it wouldnt be off long enough to defrost anything in there, ill keep testing

Sorry, I misunderstood, I thought that you were using the whole lot as a chamber.

Phil

I have controller I build and sell if anyone is interested. It controls heating, cooling, and adding humidity. Besides my control, all you need is a working fridge, preferably with the freezer on the bottom, a heat source, generally a 100 watt incadescent bulb with an aluminum shade, like a clamp on work light, and a small one gallon one room cool mist humidifier. My control works great and no mods are necessary to the fridg. Makes it easy to make aged, dry fermented sausage of any kind. For more info email me at [email protected].