Dry aged experiment

[Dave R]

I made a fermentation cabinet it of a old masterbuilt 30.
Tried to degrease, clean and I did sanitize it. Using an inkbird controller for temperature and humidity.
Umai pepperoni for the first run. Looks good so far.
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[Dave R]

Dave R I want to test standard casings with this process? Anyone ever tried this?

[glen]

I have had great luck with non-edible collagen casing

[Dave R]

glen did you ferment the pepperoni, then put it in the refridge, or leave it in the fermentation cabinet the entire time? Thanks for the reply

[glen]

This works for me but I am not endorsing it for anyone else.
I use my oven with only the light on for a 24 hr. ferment
I also believe the non edible casing slows the moisture escape so less humidity is needed for dry curing making the curing cabinet a lot simpler.
My basement is 60 deg and 55% humidity this time of year.
As always, cleanliness, salt ratio, the correct cure #1 or #2 depending on the time factor (IE. casing size and conditions) and observation are critical, also I generally use a starter culture altho there are may recipes that do not call for it.
Tons of info on the web to go deeper in the methods and safety factors
Having said all that, I would love to have a curing cabinet LOL

[Dave R]

glen thanks for the info. I have been studying the science and it seem like it should be viable. Winter will be easy to maintain cool temperatures. I need to get my procedures down. I will let you know how it goes.

[glen]

Yeah, let us know how it goes

[YooperDog]

I am repurposing a slightly used reach in cold drink cooler as a curing chamber. A couple of controllers, a lamp, fan and humidifier.

[Dave R]

YooperDog let me know how it’s going, I can use some pointers

[YooperDog]

Dave R I will keep you posted. Currently rebuilding the cooling system, a bit of a learning curve.

[Jonathon]

Dave R Looks good, such a hard thing to tell others to do though. We probably won’t ever provide instructions on how to do this outside of pH drops and then time, temp and humidity because so many things can happen if you don’t have dedicated equipment. We got 75 lb going in our cabinet right now, Hab BBQ, Pepperoni and Salami that we added red wine too, ours should be done in 2 weeks or so!

[Dave R]

Jonathon thanks, I don’t have a cooler in the fermentation cabinet so it will likely be a winter process. I’m using your auto sponge trick under the heat lamp, it creates a decent humidity. I will let you know how it goes

[Dave R]

Dave R 2 day fermentation with a weight loss of about 4-5 percent. 1 week in the refrigerator 14-15 percent weight loss. The casing is separating from the stick, which I guess it’s supposed to do. Smells awesome. My uncased test patties look like they are ready, but I’m going to see what the look like at 2 wks.

[Dave R]

Dave R week 4. A 41 percent weight loss and finally the sticks are firm enough to slice on my new Walton’s 12" slicer I received for a present. The pepperoni tastes great. However, it took twice as long as Umai dry said it would. The other disappointment was that my new 12" slicer from Walton’s only went down to 2mm.

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Looking for help on the slicer… are there any adjustments for the thickness and carriage adjustments?

[YooperDog]

Dave R pictures look good how do they taste?

[Dave R]

YooperDog they are excellent.

[JPAP]

I wish I had the room to attempt something like that. Hopefully when I move into a bigger house I can get an old drink cooler or fridge and can start dry curing meat also. Inkbird controllers are the ones I hear/read you want.

[Dave R]

So far the inkbird is been very good and easy to program

[Jonathon]

Dave R I used the 12" to slice our dry-cured lomo (dry-cured pork loin) thin enough to see through, so it can definitely do thinner than 2mm. If it is “jumping”(going right to 2 mm) when you try to make it really thin it might just be stiff, working the action for a while on the knob should make it smoother and allow you to set it as thin as you would like. Then, when you have it thin as you want, go ahead and set the depth protecting screw on the back to keep it at that depth.

[YooperDog]

Dave R those are the brand that I have been using to build my control board. I haven’t had the opportunity to put them to work, still rebuilding the reach in. They work good for control on an ‘essential oil’ still though. Many good reviews.