Drying salamis/chorizo in garden shed.

[suripitamela]

Hi,

I live in Dublin and have a 10 x 6 wood garden shed(brand new and well insulated) and am planning to start drying some salamis, been measuring the humidity and temperature daily for a few days and it varies from 14 C to 23 C/50 % to 80 depending on the time of the day. So although, it's not perfect yet I am not far from what I need if I can make it stable at around 15 C / 75 % humidity.

Any suggestions or tips? I looked at the dehumidifier below which seems a good option to make sure humidity levels don't go above certain level.. but what if I need more humidity? I read about some units that are a Combo that humifies and dehumidifies depending on the needs but those are way out of my current budget

Ecoair DD122FW SIMPLE 7L Desiccant Dehumidifier with Rotary Humidistat

Thanks

[NCPaul]

Welcome to the forum. I would recommend that you might try these instead:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12580
Working with sheep casings allows you to use your oven for fermentation and your fridge for drying. You'll have a wide range of conditions that are tolerated and you'll get a feel for making salami with low cash input and rapid results. I use this to develop salami recipes that I will later make on a larger scale and on a longer time frame. Your shed conditions are such that all we could say is maybe.

[wheels]

If you can't get the shed to constant temperature below 15°C, I'd forget it. Above that risks Staph. Aureus, which is really nasty. Even River Cottage (HFW) have moved away from the 'hanging meat in a tree' style of curing.

Aim for 12°C for drying. This will need some form of refrigeration in Eire, unless you have a cellar. But, it'll be worth it.

Phil

[suripitamela]

Thank you both, I'll update when I have some results in a month or so