Good news, Bad news

[fusion555]

Well the bad news (for me) i planned to start my first Salami yesterday after the postman delivered my cultures, Gathered all the ingredients and couldnt find my #2 cure, what the heck iv done with it i dont know, i guess thats one of the downfalls of getting old.

On to the good news, my new batch of cure should be here Saturday, but better news, I found a store that sells Back Fat and fresh pigs blood Black pudding was high on my to do list and i took it off, now its back on.

Colin

[NCPaul]

Back fat is rare but fresh blood is extremely rare. Good for you. There are a good range of blood sausages in Charcuteria by Jeffrey Weiss that you can now try as well.

[fusion555]

This Salami will eventually get done, i ordered some beef middles and they are not going to be here until Thursday, I have also changed my mind and im going with Len Poli's Cascina Salami, very similar to my origional pick of Spudly's but Len's recipe has the measurements in spoons instead of %
Much easier to follow for a first time try.

I realized i was going to find it hard to hang these for 48 hrs at 70-75F, i know im in Northern California but its cold right now, i have made up a cheap chamber heated by a 60W bulb, cost less than $10, looks good, im testing it right now. Made from a 70 Qt container, set up in my cold garage. Temp is up to 65F after 1 hr so we will see.

[NCPaul]

I use my oven with a big tray of water and wet paper towels and the oven light to warm it. Put a sign over the oven controls that says "salami", don't ask how I learned to do this.

[fusion555]

Finally got these made they are now in the chamber sitting at 73F and 76% after being there 2 hrs, both the temp and the Humidity are still climbing slowly, i do have a container of water in the bottom, will check again a few times before bed, fingers crossed.

Recipe says 24HRS @ 85F /90% in the chamber, im using F-LC instead of TSP-X, i read lower temp with F-LC
is this right? Im expecting this chamber to level out at 73F/78%, will this be good for 24 HRS?

Colin

[fusion555]

Seems the temp is holding steady but the humidity has dropped to 71% is this ok? i do have a container of water in the bottom

[NCPaul]

F-LC does ferment at a lower temperature but it can take longer than 24 hrs. depending on how much sugar is in the recipe. For me, with 0.3 % dextrose and 0.3 % sugar, it seems to take about 40 hrs. at room temperatures. Try hanging a wet paper towel in the chamber to raise the humidity.

[fusion555]

Thanks Paul.
Dropped overnight to 67F/68%, iv now hung a wet paper towel as you said. Im sure it will go back up to yesterdays numbers as the day warms, do you think 48 HRS will be a good time for these?

Colin

[NCPaul]

How much dextrose did you use?

[fusion555]

1 1/2 Tspn

[fusion555]

Total mix was 2.25 KG
6 Tspn Salt
1 Tspn cure #2
1/8 Tspn F-lc
1 1/2 Tspn Dextrose

[fusion555]

Its up to 72F/82% right now with the second wet paper towel of the day (12:15 PM)

[fusion555]

Moved to curing chamber today after 31 HRS in the fermenting chamber, initial figures are 54F/85

[fusion555]

Above should read 41 hrs in fermenting chamber not 31

[fusion555]

Well at this time of the year im finding my wine cooler chamber difficult to control, but i have found that my garage is just about perfect



Daytime 54F/74% night time 49F/71%

I guess this time of year is a good time for this, im thinking the cooler will work ok in summer when the temps in my garage do climb pretty high.

Colin