Temperature and Humidity

This topic has 7 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 5 months ago by PETIT.

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

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December 4, 2014 at 7:58 pm #2140

James Vanella
Member

Hello,

I was doing some research and came across the Umai products. I was wondering if using the drybags in the following situation would cause any problems. I have a small wine fridge set up for curing meats. It keeps the temperature around 55 F and have a humidifier set up inside to keep the humidity around 70%. Would there be any problems using the either the Charcuterie or Salumi bags for curing in this environment? The Humidity would be higher than it would be in a normal fridge and so would the temperature.

Thank you.

Jim

December 5, 2014 at 8:59 am #8722

Jim
Member

There is not reason why your set-up wouldn’t work, though not tried this myself. The UMAi Dry material would provide a bit of a barrier to mold, smell, etc. To my knowledge there are meat processing operations that use the UMAi Dry casings in similar environment successfully.

December 5, 2014 at 8:32 pm #8723

Rick
Member

Do you have any pics of your wine fridge?

Reason i ask is a medium humidifier may be to much for the wine fridge.

I use a small wine fridge at times and optimum R/H by using pure salt with just enough distilled water to cover. This is in a small glass bowl. Also a good hygrometer is helpful.

December 6, 2014 at 2:24 am #8724

James Vanella
Member

Hi,

I use a small (personal) humidifier which holds only about 2 cups of water. It is hooked up to a humidity controller which turns the unit on and off. Also have a small usb fan inside the unit. You can find the controllers on AMAZON for about $25.

Jim

July 17, 2015 at 2:29 pm #9405

PETIT
Member

I use a wine fridge but my concern is humidity control.

I may have found a solution by adding some “humidity beads” made to control humidity in cigar cabinets.

These crystals absorb humidity if it is too high and provide humidity when too low, they are made to preserve humidity at about 70%.

They are cheap and may be set in a nylon stocking or in any dish at the bottom of the fridge, they work with distilled water and are cheap.
I bought them at cheaphumidors.

My question is: is 70% humidity correct for a drying chamber?

July 17, 2015 at 8:22 pm #9408

Jan Ooms
Member

I only use Umai bags in my kitchen fridge and they work extremely well for Coppa and Bresaola.
My newly acquired wine fridge does not go down to the temperature of the kitchen fridge so my method will not change. I am thinking of fitting an adjustable inlet and an outlet with computer fan for some air exchange to circumvent mould build-up,
The wine fridge will be used for salami in natural casings though.

July 18, 2015 at 12:21 am #9409

James Vanella
Member

Hi,

In theory, 75% is ideal, but 70% should be just fine. I use a wine fridge also. I set the temp to 55f.

I have found that when you add new meat to be cured, the humidity goes very high and I have to de-humidify to keep the humidity to around 70 to 75 %. After the meat dries for a few week, I have to increase the humidity. I tried the cigar beads, (about a pound of them) with some success, but they were not perfect.

Of course with the dry bags, you can just use a regular fridge, but it’s fun to try and control the temp and humidity also, as in the case of a wine fridge.

A good teaching book if found on Amazon is “Dry-Curing Pork”, by Hector Kent. It has teaching recipes, methods and theory.

Happy curing –

Jim

July 18, 2015 at 10:27 am #9411

PETIT
Member

I bought a wine fridge because my kitchen fridge became too small and we open the kitchen fridge all the day long, light and humidity are difficult to control in thses conditions.

A basic wine fridge is cheaper than a standard fridge and I don’t need a freezer part.

Mine is set at 52°F which seems to me sufficient for a drying chamber.
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Temperature and Humidity

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