Temporarily lowering temp during dry curing process

[tommix]

I have a dilemma, I think. I want to make a batch of dry cured salami and I have been using my walk-in cooler to do the drying part. After fermentation I have been putting the salami in the walk-in at 55 degrees F and 75% R/H and this has been working well for me. The problem is that with deer season coming up I will want to be hanging a deer in there, (hopefully), and I can't hang it at 55 degrees. When I put deer, beef, etc. in there I will take the temp down to about 35-36 degrees for at least a week. Soooo, the question is how is that going to affect my salami? After the fresh meat gets taken out I will raise the walk-in temp back up to 55 degrees.

Thanks

[wheels]

I don't know the precise answer. This is just a reminder that, if you lower the temp, then at the same RH there will be a lot less moisture in the air. Because of this, my gut instinct would be to have the RH on the high side after you lower the temp.

HTH

Phil

[tommix]

Thanks Phil. On the RH I was thinking that with a fresh carcass in the walk-in that would be losing moisture that maybe the humidity would remain about the same, but, either way, I can deal with that.
I was just curious as to what the lower temp would be doing to the effect of the cure #2 and to all the other enzymes and little critters that are doing their thing inside my salami

I would imagine that it would have some sort of impact on the final flavor.

[wheels]

Seriously, I don't know! It's fairly obvious that you need to get the fermentation out of the way before lowering the temp.

From there on in, I'd monitor everything carefully, and play it by ear.

Hopefully, Brican will advise further.

He ages a lot of stuff at lower temps.

Phil

[NCPaul]

The salami could be sealed up in a bag and the drying process would be suspended for a week after fermentation. I don't foresee this as a problem (of course there are lots of things I didn't foresee).

[wheels]

That's a great idea Paul. Tommix - Cancel my advice and follow NCPaul's.

Phil

[tommix]

Thanks Paul and Phil! I have a vacuum sealer so I think I will bag up the salami for a week while I hang the other game at a cooler temp. Doing that would keep the salami from picking up any off flavors also I would think. I will give it a go and let you know what happens, if anything.

[BriCan]

I normally use the lower temperatures (32 degrees F)in the cooler to do my dry curing, takes a tad longer but I have found that end product justifies me doing it `` never had a problem with case hardening and such

While working out at the smokehouse we had a reefer parked inside the unit which we used for our dry cured stuff, when game season came around we just hung the game on one side of the reefer just making sure that the two did not come into contact (health reasons)

Due to limited space at the moment I came across something on the internet and thought I would give it a go and posted it here

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11151&p=95162&hilit=curing+chamber#p95162

and here are some resent shots

http://instagram.com/p/ZI4K3kHbvZ/

http://instagram.com/p/aBkhN9nbo7/

http://instagram.com/p/bAJC_AHbod/

http://instagram.com/p/bT-uzznbkH/

[tommix]

Thanks for the input and information BriCan. I will not worry about the temporary drop in temperature too much, just making sure to keep the fresh game away from the dry curing stuff.