# UMAi pepperoni



## chewmeister (Feb 16, 2015)

My first experience using these to make soppressata turned out well so next up is pepperoni. Using the smaller (30mm) bags this time.

Made half the UMAi recipe to see if I like the seasoning.

Beef and pork mixed waiting for spice mix.













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Spices, cure, and Bactoferm mixed in.













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UMAi bags ready for stuffing.













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This is after 2 days of fermenting at room temp. Already getting a reddish color and starting to shrink. One more day, and then in the fridge to dry.













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Gonna shoot for a 40% weight reduction.


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## tropics (Feb 16, 2015)

cm No curing chamber needed on these,  what spices and cure do you use? sounds interesting to me. TIA


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## rgautheir20420 (Feb 16, 2015)

Looks great! I really need to give this recipe a try. Since you made a smaller batch, did you just use pre-ground meat for simplicity?


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## gary s (Feb 16, 2015)

Looks good to me too

Gary


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## chewmeister (Feb 16, 2015)

tropics said:


> cm No curing chamber needed on these,  what spices and cure do you use? sounds interesting to me. TIA


I used the recipe on the UMAi website. Cure #2 and Bactoferm T-SPX. Spices are fresh ground black pepper, fennel, salt, paprika, and cayenne pepper. There also is some sugar and dextrose in there as well.


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## chewmeister (Feb 16, 2015)

rgautheir20420 said:


> Looks great! I really need to give this recipe a try. Since you made a smaller batch, did you just use pre-ground meat for simplicity?


I used some pre-ground pork, but was grinding beef for hamburger anyways so used the fresh ground beef. Looking back I will grind some pork next time so I can have a coarser grind.


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## rgautheir20420 (Feb 16, 2015)

chewmeister said:


> I used some pre-ground pork, but was grinding beef for hamburger anyways so used the fresh ground beef. Looking back I will grind some pork next time so I can have a coarser grind.


That makes sense. I use my biggest plate when I make most of my stuff. I just like the texture it ends up with.


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## chewmeister (Feb 16, 2015)

rgautheir20420 said:


> That makes sense. I use my biggest plate when I make most of my stuff. I just like the texture it ends up with.


Same here. I used my largest (3/8") plate when I made my soppressata and like the texture.













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__ chewmeister
__ Feb 16, 2015


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## rgautheir20420 (Feb 16, 2015)

chewmeister said:


> Same here. I used my largest (3/8") plate when I made my soppressata and like the texture.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Beautiful. Almost a mirror image of mine. I'm actually about to start another 2 kg batch of the stuff. I liked it that much!


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## themule69 (Feb 16, 2015)

It looks good so far. Keep the pics coming.








Happy smoken.

David


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## chewmeister (Feb 16, 2015)

rgautheir20420 said:


> Beautiful. Almost a mirror image of mine. I'm actually about to start another 2 kg batch of the stuff. I liked it that much!


I only wish it had a little more spice to it. Other than that it's pretty good.


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## chewmeister (Feb 16, 2015)

themule69 said:


> It looks good so far. Keep the pics coming.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks David. Will do.


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## hoity toit (Feb 16, 2015)

o wow...surely looks nice.gonna have to do that one soon as it probably tastes as good as it looks.


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## chewmeister (Feb 16, 2015)

Hoity Toit said:


> o wow...surely looks nice.gonna have to do that one soon as it probably tastes as good as it looks.


Thanks. I'm happy how the soppressata turned out. Can't wait for the pepperoni to dry. Love good pepperoni.


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## dirtsailor2003 (Feb 16, 2015)

Looks good. Need to give this a shot one of these days. So with these bags you don't vac seal?


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## chewmeister (Feb 16, 2015)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> Looks good. Need to give this a shot one of these days. So with these bags you don't vac seal?


Thanks. No vac sealing required. I stuffed the casing as full as I could and then tied off. The casing sticks to the meat very well. These things already smell awesome. Gonna be hard to wait 2-3 weeks for them to dry.


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## disco (Feb 16, 2015)

Well done.

Disco


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## chewmeister (Feb 17, 2015)

Disco said:


> Well done.
> 
> Disco


Thanks, Disco.


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## chewmeister (Feb 17, 2015)

A little update. After nearly 3 days of fermenting at room temperature, I put these in the reefer to dry. My concern is that they have already lost 25% weight. Quite a bit faster reduction than my soppressata, although that was in larger casings. They still smell fantastic albeit a lot like a Slim Jim. We'll see how it goes.


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## rgautheir20420 (Feb 17, 2015)

I know I hung my Sop for 48 hours only. How do they feel? I would say that's more important. Does the exterior seem overly dry? I think that size casings are supposed to take 2-3 weeks for drying right?


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## chewmeister (Feb 17, 2015)

They are firming up already. My soppressata took almost 5 weeks to get to 40% loss, but again a smaller casing for these. Maybe the weight loss will slow down in the fridge.


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## rgautheir20420 (Feb 17, 2015)

chewmeister said:


> They are firming up already. My soppressata took almost 5 weeks to get to 40% loss, but again a smaller casing for these. Maybe the weight loss will slow down in the fridge.


It will definitely slow down in the fridge. I expect you've got nothing to worry about, but only time will tell.


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## atomicsmoke (Feb 17, 2015)

Don't have experience with umai bags but 25% in 3 days seems a lot. Are you sure about your initial weight? I had pork sausage in 30+mm hog casing drying for more than three weeks to get to 25%. I just don't see how ground meat can dry that much in 3 days even if you spread it flat.


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## daveomak (Feb 17, 2015)

The humidity where you are drying the stick, should be around 75%....   If it dries too fast, it will case harden....   the middle will stay moist and things won't go well......


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## chewmeister (Feb 18, 2015)

DaveOmak said:


> The humidity where you are drying the stick, should be around 75%.... If it dries too fast, it will case harden.... the middle will stay moist and things won't go well......


Humidity is a little low in the house this time of year. Around 40%. The instructions with these bags make no mention of humidity, so I guess it's not as critical as with a natural or protein lined casing. I will see how these come out after losing around 40% weight.


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## rgautheir20420 (Feb 18, 2015)

Well I know the humidity is a non factor supposedly when fermenting with the UMAI bags because they aren't an actual casing. 25% does sound a whole lot of loss in 3 days, so I'm interested to see the results.


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## chewmeister (Feb 18, 2015)

rgautheir20420 said:


> Well I know the humidity is a non factor supposedly when fermenting with the UMAI bags because they aren't an actual casing. 25% does sound a whole lot of loss in 3 days, so I'm interested to see the results.


Me too. I didn't have any case hardening problems with the soppressata, so I'm hoping these will be okay as well. I did check the ph after 2 days and it was at 5.56. I may check it again in a couple days just to see how fast it's dropping.


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## rgautheir20420 (Feb 18, 2015)

chewmeister said:


> Me too. I didn't have any case hardening problems with the soppressata, so I'm hoping these will be okay as well. I did check the ph after 2 days and it was at 5.56. I may check it again in a couple days just to see how fast it's dropping.


I'd thought they were already in the fridge by now right? If so, you won't see anymore changes because of the cooler environment I'd think.


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## chewmeister (Feb 18, 2015)

rgautheir20420 said:


> I'd thought they were already in the fridge by now right? If so, you won't see anymore changes because of the cooler environment I'd think.


Yeah, thought about that. I'll keep checking the weight to see if the weight loss slows down now that they're in the fridge.


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## chewmeister (Feb 26, 2015)

Update. The sticks reached 40% loss, but I had to pitch them. Cut one open and it smelled like old meat and tasted like it. Not sure what went wrong.


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## kc5tpy (Feb 26, 2015)

Hello chewmeister.  PLEASE post your ENTIRE PROCESS.  DETAILS!  Let's see if we can figure out what went wrong.  From my little knowledge seemed like you were on to a winner.  The errors are just as important as the successes!  New ( to this type curing; folks like me ) need to learn the pitfalls.  Let's try to get this process dialed in so that everyone can follow your process.  Where do you think it went wrong?  Just my thoughts.  Keep Smokin!

Danny


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## daveomak (Feb 27, 2015)

chewmeister said:


> Update. The sticks reached 40% loss, but I had to pitch them. Cut one open and it smelled like old meat and tasted like it. Not sure what went wrong.




Did they case harden ????   You got pictures so we can look to see what was the problem, and maybe find a solution....


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## chewmeister (Feb 27, 2015)

DaveOmak said:


> Did they case harden ???? You got pictures so we can look to see what was the problem, and maybe find a solution....


Sorry, no pics. I was so disgusted I just tossed them. I don't believe they case hardened as the color and firmness was the same throughout. They just smelled and tasted like meat that had been in a reefer too long.


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## chewmeister (Feb 27, 2015)

KC5TPY said:


> Hello chewmeister.  PLEASE post your ENTIRE PROCESS.  DETAILS!  Let's see if we can figure out what went wrong.  From my little knowledge seemed like you were on to a winner.  The errors are just as important as the successes!  New ( to this type curing; folks like me ) need to learn the pitfalls.  Let's try to get this process dialed in so that everyone can follow your process.  Where do you think it went wrong?  Just my thoughts.  Keep Smokin!
> 
> Danny


Pretty straightforward. Mixed the meat(pork and beef). Mixed dry ingredients and then mixed into the meat. Added bactoferm mixed in water and mixed into the meat. Between all the mixing steps the meat was chilled for 30 minutes before proceeding to the next step. Stuffed into Umai casing. Fermented at room temp for 2 days and then into the fridge. The only thing I didn't do was grind the pork. It was store bought ground pork.


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## BGKYSmoker (Feb 27, 2015)

Sorry your didnt turn out good. I been using the UMAi for few years and have had no problems.


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## chewmeister (Feb 27, 2015)

nepas said:


> Sorry your didnt turn out good. I been using the UMAi for few years and have had no problems.


Thanks, nepas. Not sure what happened. The only variable was the use of store bought ground pork. Next time I will grind all the meat myself so I know how fresh it is.


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## rgautheir20420 (Feb 27, 2015)

That stinks Chew. It's clear you know the process from reading and from past results. I would have to agree with you that the likely culprit is the mystery meat. Was it one of those sealed tube type containers or a saran wrapped version?


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## chewmeister (Mar 1, 2015)

rgautheir20420 said:


> That stinks Chew. It's clear you know the process from reading and from past results. I would have to agree with you that the likely culprit is the mystery meat. Was it one of those sealed tube type containers or a saran wrapped version?


It was saran wrapped. I should have known better, but didn't want to buy an entire shoulder and grind it for a small batch. I haven't bought ground beef or ground pork from a grocery store in over 2 years. I prefer to grind my own so I know how fresh it is and what I'm getting. I may try again with some fresh ground pork and beef.


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## rgautheir20420 (Mar 1, 2015)

I think that's the best idea. You've got the grinder...might as well use it. There's no way knowing how clean everything was when that meat was ground so. Ohwell, chalk it up to a lesson learned.


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## BGKYSmoker (Mar 9, 2015)

These pics taken this morning at 10 days. Notice how the UMAi bags have pulled away from the meat. Pepperoni is getting firm.

UMAi bags are doing their thing. Not getting all Rocket Science on these with weights. Going to go another week then take a taste test.

Absent is the over powered red paprika look like you get in the nasty pepperoni at Wally and such













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## BGKYSmoker (Mar 9, 2015)

chewmeister said:


> It was saran wrapped. I should have known better, but didn't want to buy an entire shoulder and grind it for a small batch. I haven't bought ground beef or ground pork from a grocery store in over 2 years. I prefer to grind my own so I know how fresh it is and what I'm getting. I may try again with some fresh ground pork and beef.


Chew

Do you hand mix or use a mixer? Could be the meat got to warm, mixed to long. Try to keep the meat cold. Use a double bowl, bottom bowl with ice with the meat bowl sitting in the bottom ice bowl.

Nothing wrong with using store bought meat, just look for the meat to fat ratio. Most of use here can just about judge without getting into the rocket science end of it.


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## chewmeister (Mar 9, 2015)

nepas said:


> Chew
> 
> Do you hand mix or use a mixer? Could be the meat got to warm, mixed to long. Try to keep the meat cold. Use a double bowl, bottom bowl with ice with the meat bowl sitting in the bottom ice bowl.
> 
> Nothing wrong with using store bought meat, just look for the meat to fat ratio. Most of use here can just about judge without getting into the rocket science end of it.


It was hand mixed one step at a time with 20 to 30 minute intervals in between steps where it went back into the fridge to stay cold. Still perplexed as to what happened.


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## gary s (Mar 9, 2015)

Looking Good

gary


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