# Curing chamber questions



## Ty520 (Oct 7, 2021)

Looking into getting a mini fridge to build a curing chamber per the two guys and a cooler website but had a few questions theft weren't addressed in their post...

Can anyone recommend good manufacturers to keep an eye out for? 

Any recommendations on minimum size to accommodate the humidifier and hanging meat?

My instincts tell me no, but can I use the same chamber for meat and cheese at the same time?


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## SmokinEdge (Oct 7, 2021)

Mini fridges are tough. Even if you add a fan for circulation, there is virtually no way to remove the humidity or moisture as the product dries. In a conventional fridge/freezer, they have a fan that circulates air and the cooling coils freeze the moisture in the air forming ice on the coils, which in turn have a defroster that melts that ice and the water drains out of the fridge through a tube. 
Most mini fridges have a cold plate, either on the back wall or on the floor (both hidden) this set up is very difficult to successfully dry sausages,


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## ramatack (Oct 7, 2021)

Ty520 said:


> Looking into getting a mini fridge to build a curing chamber per the two guys and a cooler website but had a few questions theft weren't addressed in their post...
> 
> Can anyone recommend good manufacturers to keep an eye out for?
> 
> ...


Ck out taste of artesian (hank shaw) I think he has an excellent post on a curing chamber


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## BGKYSmoker (Oct 8, 2021)

You need a fridge that is frost free. Like stated most mini fridge have a plate that cools and can get frost on it. Fridge with frost free compressor work the best. You will need some controls


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## daveomak (Oct 8, 2021)

It needs to be large enough for a humidifier, dehumidifier and small heater...  at the minimum.....
Think about an apartment refer....  mobetta


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## indaswamp (Oct 8, 2021)

Ty520 said:


> Looking into getting a mini fridge to build a curing chamber per the two guys and a cooler website but had a few questions theft weren't addressed in their post...
> 
> Can anyone recommend good manufacturers to keep an eye out for?


There are many that will work. I recommend a freezerless stand up refrigerator if you can find one, or a stand up freezer. Either will work. You will be using controllers to highjack the freezer to stay between 54-59*F.



> Any recommendations on minimum size to accommodate the humidifier and hanging meat?



Larger is easier to maintain even parameters of temp. and RH%. Also, if you keep it full, you will not get wild swings. just keep putting new product in a stuff becomes dry and finishes.



> My instincts tell me no, but can I use the same chamber for meat and cheese at the same time?


Yes. You can do that. But you will probably need to put the cheese in containers to keep the humidity a little higher unless you are making hard cheeses like Parmesan.


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## Ty520 (Oct 15, 2021)

indaswamp said:


> There are many that will work. I recommend a freezerless stand up refrigerator if you can find one, or a stand up freezer. Either will work. You will be using controllers to highjack the freezer to stay between 54-59*F.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I've heard that wine coolers are a good alternative to fridges because they naturally are designed to hold a temperature very similar to what is desired for a curing chamber and are also frost free - thoughts?


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## ramatack (Oct 17, 2021)

Ty520 said:


> Looking into getting a mini fridge to build a curing chamber per the two guys and a cooler website but had a few questions theft weren't addressed in their post...
> 
> Can anyone recommend good manufacturers to keep an eye out for?
> 
> ...


 Taste of artisan- advanced curing chamber


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## verbage (Oct 17, 2021)

I have done my drying/curing in mini-fridges and wine coolers exclusively since I started because a full-size unit is never gonna happen for me according to this house's business manager (i.e. my wife).  With smaller units like this, it can definitely be done successfully, but yeah, one needs to make some adjustments versus a full size unit.

The two main issues are the limited amount of air volume in a mini-fridge/wine cooler, and the cooling mechanism.  Using both mini-fridges and wine coolers, I have never had an issue getting rid of moisture--in fact, it is exactly the opposite.  Because they hold such a small volume of air, and the cold plates get so cold causing moisture to condense and freeze on them, your product will dry too fast and have case hardening unless you have a humidifier in there to add humidity as needed.  In my experiences, a heater/dehumidifier has never been needed in these small units--only a humidifier to add moisture as needed.

In a mini-fridge with a horizontal freezer compartment (what I started on), the act of constantly adding moisture will lead to the build up of an ice cake over the cooling elements since there is no defrost mechanism.  This is not really a critical problem, just something to keep in mind.  In a wine cooler (what I am using now), many have a vertical plate at the back, and a drainage channel underneath it that will lead to an evaporation pan above the compressor.  But since you have to constantly add moisture to prevent case hardening, this might actually overpower the evaporation pan and cause it to overflow, thus, necessitating another adjustment.  In my case, I just bypass the evaporation pan, and run a plastic tube to a container that I occasionally empty.

Also, with these mini-fridges or wine coolers, you do not need a full-size humidifier, indeed, those are probably even overkill for a full size fridge unit because a full-size humidifier is capable of humidifying ROOM-sized volumes of air.  For a mini-fridge or wine cooler, a tiny/mini ultrasonic humidifier is enough, indeed, more than enough given the small air volume.  I am talking about the size you might see as listed for "aromatherapy" or similar that might hold like just like 2-3 cups of water or less.

For my current setup, I am using a Tramontina 4.4 cubic foot Wine/Beverage cooler (model 80901/102) that I got at Sam's Club a few years back.  I use the onboard thermostat on the fridge to control the temp, and monitor temp/humidity with a Raspberry Pi system that also controls a mini ultrasonic humidifier to add moisture.  I like the Raspberry Pi system because it allows logging, but this is an extra level of complication since most folks have great success with the Inkbird temp and humidity controllers that are easy to just set-and-forget.  I am not entirely happy with the onboard temperature control with the wine cooler because despite having a supposed degree level of precision (i.e. you dial it up/down in degree increments), the results are not linear.  By this I mean that you dial up/down the temp by one degree, but the result is 3-4 degrees of difference.  So I might eventually move temp control to the Raspberry Pi, too.  If you go the Inkbird route, this would mean the temp controller, too.


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## indaswamp (Oct 17, 2021)

ramatack said:


> Taste of artisan- advanced curing chamber


Victor has a lot of great information posted there! Especially in the comments section.


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## Ty520 (Oct 17, 2021)

indaswamp said:


> Victor has a lot of great information posted there! Especially in the comments section.


I've been pouring over his articles


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## indaswamp (Nov 8, 2021)

I'll add this here. Video recently posted on youtube. Setting up a chamber...


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