How to ferment summer sausage / pepperoni using Sous Vide?? Read too much info pros and cons. Just looking for advice . Please tell me what worked for you. Thanks
I ferment summer sausage using a culture.
You do have to hold the meat at an optimal temperature according to the culture you are using and track the pH drop.
When the proper pH is obtained I increase the temperature until the finished temperature is obtained. Shower with cold water and then smoke.
Since I prefer a semi-dry sausage, smoking at the end of the process works well for me.
clubchuck Thank you for the insight. I want to do this… just not ready to have the wife cash in the life insurance 
. I do have several processing questions. If you would be kind enough to hang in there.
1st, what are you using to ck PH, and how is it ckd if it’s bagged? Temp is a water thing, got that.
I just use simple pH paper. You will have to cut a small opening into a sausage to do this. But you will find that various cultures will take a predictable amount of time to do their job, as long as you provide the optimal temperature. For example, my experience using chr Hansen LHP culture with 100 grams of dextrose in a 25 lb. batch will take about 20 hours to hit a pH of 4.4
clubchuck
Well that took care of 5 more of my questions. After 4.4PH how long do you hang dry, and after they’re dried, the sausage is ok non-refrigerated? Sorry i just keep falling back on my cured instincts. Fermented is a new animal for me… Again thanks for your time
clubchuck said in How to ferment summer sausage / pepperoni using Sous Vide??:
I just use simple pH paper. You will have to cut a small opening into a sausage to do this. But you will find that various cultures will take a predictable amount of time to do their job, as long as you provide the optimal temperature. For example, my experience using chr Hansen LHP culture with 100 grams of dextrose in a 25 lb. batch will take about 20 hours to hit a pH of 4.4
I use a pH probe to fine tune my beer brewing process. Based on your understanding of testing sausage pH, are there people using a probe to do the pH monitoring of meat?
Rather than opening up a stuffed sausage to monitor the pH, is there any reason you couldn’t just put a portion of the meat batch in a zip lock bag for the sole purpose of easy testing of the pH?
processhead Great questions Paul, i must say that the paper PH test is very inexpensive, the probes are pricey and the glass probes can break and contaminate. Just my opine
JoeB said in How to ferment summer sausage / pepperoni using Sous Vide??:
processhead Great questions Paul, i must say that the paper PH test is very inexpensive, the probes are pricey and the glass probes can break and contaminate. Just my opine
Yes, understand the probe could be overkill, but since I already have it, I was just wondering if it could be used on fermented sausage.
Since ECA became available, I have kind of put my interest in fermented sausage on the back burner, but it would be fun to make a fermented uncooked sausage like salami on day.
Joe I add culture to create a consistent flavor profile in my summer sausage, I am not trying to create a shelf stable sausage.
I used to struggle with some batches having the perfect tang and some batches almost flavorless, introducing culture to the meat mix has made all the difference in consistent flavor. You are still using a cure along with your spices and then adding the culture to the meat mix. After fermentation, cooking, smoking and hanging (4 to 7 days) I still vac seal, refrigerate and/or freeze when all done.
If your goal is to make a product that does not require refrigeration, I have never tried it, nor do I understand the required process.
I do not want my wife cashing in the life insurance either!
clubchuck well you summed it up. You can see the risk on unrefrigerated fermented sausage. I walk with caution. About your life insurance “didos ”. Thanks for the info.
Visit waltons.com to find everything for meat processing.
Walton's - Everything But The Meat!
