Salami... White mold and sticky cases??

[indaswamp]

Tagging this for chef jimmyj to read....I know he is fascinated by the dry curing process...and might have some perspective on the safety side...

 

[indaswamp]

M mike k.

Would really love to see some pictures of some of your stuff!!

 

[chef jimmyj]

Reading this reminds me of my days in Electronics. Here I am a Hardware Guy listening to a couple of Software IT Guys.
I understand whats going on but got nothing to add. Everything I know on the subject has already been discussed and/or resolved. ...JJ

 

[indaswamp]

A friend puts 100 pounds of 23 mm sausages in a 4x4x4 box with good success. Garage temps are perfect in Jan thru Mid March in Missouri - 30 to 60. Rainy days sometimes and sunny days sometimes. Just put in a Humidity gauge in the box and close or crack it during the day... night temp bring up the humidity and leave it open and watch the weather. Sunny warm dry day in Feb.. close it or crack it to keep humidity from going to low too fast.. Cooler rainy days.. open it up. It all averages out.

23mm salami is very forgiving and easy to dry. Very hard to get case hardening because the diameter is so small. The larger you go, the more case hardening becomes a problem.

 

[haeffnkr]

Checked my sausage today, was going to throw it all out, to my surprise it was still looking, smelling and tasting good.
The ends of the 23 mm dry a bit fast and funky.

 

[indaswamp]

Looks like a tad of dry rim, but not bad. Looking back at your chamber set up, I see what looks to be two computer fans on the floor of the chamber. Are those running continuously? If so, what speed? Salami needs less and less airflow as it dries. If the airflow is more than 4 inches per second than I would try to slow it down or turn them off. Too much airflow can cause dry rim/case hardening even if temp. and humidity are optimum.

 

[haeffnkr]

Looks like a tad of dry rim, but not bad. Looking back at your chamber set up, I see what looks to be two computer fans on the floor of the chamber. Are those running continuously? If so, what speed? Salami needs less and less airflow as it dries. If the airflow is more than 4 inches per second than I would try to slow it down or turn them off. Too much airflow can cause dry rim/case hardening even if temp. and humidity are optimum.

They are computer usb fans and yes they were a bit to fast... I turned them to low a few days ago, but the bottom of the 23 mm already dried too fast. I was thinking about putting them on the top of the box to force down moist air vs push up and dry out the bottom of the small sausages too fast?

 

[indaswamp]

IMO, if you have a fan that turns on to push dry cold air in every now and then, you probably don't need the fans to circulate air. That one fan will move enough air often enough.