32mm casing sausage drying issue/question

[Mike DiLuca]

Hello all,

So after having successfully used UMAI bags to dry capocollo, pancetta, and lonzino, and having dried and cured sausage for years using traditional hog casings, I decided to try the 32MM UMAI casings to do some sausage.
I started with 3270G ground pork shoulder and added 2% kosher salt by weight, as usual, some good paprika and hot pepper.

Then I mixed in :
.30% pink #2 (approx. 10G)
.40% Dextrose (approx. 13G)
.11% Bactoferm TSPX (approx. 3.5G)

-filled the 32MM casings, zip tied and hung to ferment in an unused refrigerator for 48 hours.

On March 11, I removed the sausages from ferment. I noticed there was little color change after fermentation. Hung them in the cantina which has been maintaining 47-50 degree temp and mid 50s humidity. We have successfully dried there for years. Yesterday was day 25 and I cut one of the sausages which seemed to have adequate weight loss and found it to be somewhat brittle, it actually broke in half in my hand. Hmm.. The color was not that nice deep salami red throughout, but more brownish on the outside and red inside, and still not fully dried. The aroma was good, but obviously something is off. I did have the Bactoferm TSPX in the freezer for 18 months. But I have read posts here that folks have had Bactoferm for 2 years with the same great results as when they first got them, so hopefully that’s not the problem.

Are my dextrose and BTSPX amounts off? Fermentation time? Maybe these sasicc don’t like my cantina temp/humidity?

Any thoughts from my fellow salumieri are appreciated.
Thank you.
-Mike

[john moran]

I probably don’t have an answer for you but I’m curious what the expiration date was on the bactoferm?

I had some in the freezer and when i looked for this last batch I was right on the expiration date and chose to spend a few bucks as an insurance policy and bought a new batch of it, especially since I had to put in an order anyway.

Your results don’t sound right. I did a 32 recently and had perfect results in just 12 days. Perfect crimson red like you’d expect. Brown sounds bad. Mine were hung in the arctic entry in March which means around 40-45 degrees pretty steady (no sun, staircase down to basement).

Just my .02 worth.

[Mike DiLuca]

John, thanks for the reply. 12 days eh? That’s good to know. What was the weight loss after 12? If you don’t mind what %’s do you use for pink salt, dextrose, culture?

I ordered some fresh culture today.
Best,
Mike

[Jim]

UMAi Dry® system is designed to dry the sausage in the refrigerator and not in 47-50F space with 50% humidity. I believe your problem lies in the space you are using which you probably used with natural or other casings.

[john moran]

I have to dial back the 12 days…It was really 23 days. I was looking at notes from a log I started after they started getting down to target. The dates I logged were from 3/5(11 days – 66.8%) to 3/17(23 days – 58.9%).

For 5# of pork/beef –
Salt 130g
Instacure #2 (pink salt) 10g
Dextrose 8g
Sugar 12g
Bactoferm 1g(in 4T warm water).
secret herbs and spices(haha-really just basic pepperoni recipe that I probably doped up a little)

For fermenting I hung them from the floor joists in my laundry room that is warm place of the house. Near furnace and directly over in-floor heating(all radiant heat-no ducted fans or anything). I hadn’t seen where anyone suggested fermenting in a closed space like a fridge. You might look at that. (again…I don’t know…just throwing things out there). Mine definitely changed color noticeably in the 3 or so days of fermentation.

Initial fermentation

CLICK >>> Initial Fermentation

Looking at the picture, I’m thinking they were 50mm casings…I really should take better notes.

[Mike DiLuca]

Great Feedback, thanks for this info.

John, I noticed you use 130G salt for approx 2250G meat, or 5.7 %

I’ve never gone more than 2.25% salt on sausage and about 3.75% on muscle meats like capocollo.

I’m curious what the final prod tastes like also with the added sugar. Always interested to learn how other folks do their cures.

Best,
Mike

[Bob]

quote ilCapo” post=11214:

John, I noticed you use 130G salt for approx 2250G meat, or 5.7 %

I’ve never gone more than 2.25% salt on sausage and about 3.75% on muscle meats like capocollo.

Best,
Mike

Seems like the salt and cure amounts have been doubled? With salt and salt in cure thats 6.14%
also the cure amount is .44%

2.25% salt is low for a fermented sausage

[john moran]

For the active ingredients (everything but spices) I followed a recipe, I think straight from the Umai folks.

As for how it tastes….I’ve been making sausage in various forms for 25 years or so and this was the best I’ve ever made. In other posts I recently bumped up to the 70mm with roughly same recipe. I put some of it on the bar at the local mecca and it lasted all of 5 minutes. Very nice & red with that zing I’ve been chasing for years. I sliced it wafer thin and it has more flavor on a cracker than a thick slice of summer sausage.

Sending you a PM.

[john moran]

Maybe it was 10#…crap…I should stop posting without facts. If my numbers are double what the umai recipes suggest then that’s what it is. It was a year ago and my beer addled brain have limited accurate recall.

[john moran]

icapo (is that a guitar reference?) Looks like you have PM turned off. PM me if you want me to send you a sample. I’m slicing up and vacuum packing today.

[Mike DiLuca]

Trebor you’re right, 2.25% is low for fermented. I use that % for non-fermented traditional dried sausage.

Thx.

[Bob]

quote ilCapo” post=11249:

Trebor you’re right, 2.25% is low for fermented. I use that % for non-fermented traditional dried sausage.

Thx.

Well if it’s not fermented and dried, the higher salt content is more important as a safety hurdle.

[Mike DiLuca]

When I was kid, I watched my father and grandmother make sausage and of course, they never measured or weighed anything. Dad still doesn’t. Years later I decided to take some weights and found that the amount of salt they used was typically in the area of 2.25 %. But I understand your point, and that 3% is the norm so I am adjusting going forward.

[Mike DiLuca]

Hi John ~ like you said maybe it was 10# that would seem right on.

-m

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