Dry curing soppressata @ 55 degrees

[gino mazzaferro]

has anyone tried drying sausages or sopressata with UMAI bags @ typical drying temps and humidiity used with natural casings?
It seems like the cooler refrigerator temps will slow down the drying process.

[K Haberer]

I just hang them up for 72 hours at 68 – 72 degrees F and then pit them in the refrigerator for four weeks. Mine have been finished, most often, in three weeks.

[Joe]

I am very interested in hanging salulmi and coppa in my wine cellar also. 55 F
50 percent humidity. Did you hear from anyone that tried it? Seems to me that it would work. I have hung coppa and lomo that are cased in brown paper at 55 to 60 with OK results in the past.

[Jim]

I am curious as to why you would like to use UMAi Dry if you have space that stays at 55F and 50% humidity and have had good results using brown paper.

[Joe]

Umia is my compromise on natural casings. Natural casings are hard to work with, especially for large whole cuts like copa. The brown paper is dicey, case hardening happens often and is not suitable for sausage or large copas.
The umia product yields very good, very consistent results.

[gino mazzaferro]

I am trying an experiment now. I cut one coppa muscle in half. Vac’d and sealed in UMAI bags. Put one in the fridge, one in curing chamber. I am tracking rate of drying. Been a week so far. Drying rate seems about the same. Will update in another week or so

[Joe]

That is a great idea, I have suppressant and salami hanging, half in the fridge and the other half in the wine cellar. Let’s chat in a few weeks.

[gino mazzaferro]

I can report as follows so far. It doesn’t seem to make much difference (fridge vs drying chamber) in how much moisture comes out of the coppas I’m drying. I’m thinking that the UMAI plastic must limit or control the release of moisture from the meat regardless of the temperature and/or relative humidity. In the past, using UMAI in the fridge, it has taken at least 8 weeks to loose 30%.
The one that’s in the drying chamber seems to be going a little faster…but not by much.
Assuming the meat doesn’t spoil or get ruined in any way, the drying chamber is better for me, since I have more room in my fridge for everyday food.
My drying chamber is pretty well controlled…55 degrees and about 60% relative humidity.

[Joe]

Here are my preliminary test results, comparing fridge vs wine cellar for two small sausages and two 50mm by 10 inch salami. After ten days the small sausage were almost the same, 29.63 % loss fridge vs 29.35%loss wine cellar . The salami were close 18.04 fridge and 19.87 wine cellar. Looks like we have similar results!

[gino mazzaferro]

Jdsint,

So now I’m thinking…why even bother with chilling it at all? If the UMAI will be the limiting factor, why not just cure it (if a coppa) and leave it in a closet somewhere at +-65 degrees?
Not sure if that would work for sausage because you could be fermenting too long, especially if you’re using culture.
I may try that this week. I have a coppa that’s cured now. I may just bag it and leave it in the house.

[Jim]

Gino,

I would strongly advise against doing this. 65F is too warm for any drying of meat. There is a strong possibility at 65F temp your Coppa will spoil, mold or worse will not be safe to eat due to growth of pathogens. 50-55F is normally max. temp for dry curing of meats. The reason we developed UMAi Dry® is that not everyone has an environment that stays at 50-55F temp for two months and most peoples homes are kept at 65F+ (which is not safe temp for meat).
Sausage fermentation is timed at room temp just enough to provide a drop in ph to ward off bacteria growth. It is controlled so as not to exceed the period when the conditions will no longer be safe.
https://youtu.be/Pdh0ZoPR6bU

[gino mazzaferro]

Jim
Thanks for your input. No one (me included) wants to make a product that spoils or worse makes someone ill.
I am very much aware of the fermentation process, the temperatures required, and the how the pH makes the product safe.
As you know, whole muscle curing is a simpler process.
Nevertheless, no reason to take unnecessary risks.
I’ll stick to the drying chamber.

[Jim]

Gino,
I didn’t want to sound condescending, but it may have come out that way. I was pretty sure that you know the process well. I just didn’t want anyone else reading this, who may not be as informed think that it was ok to dry coppa at 65F.

[Mike]

I specifically made an account in order to get in on this discussion. Please reply as I am new to charcuterie and to Umai. I have successfully created pancetta and filletto downstairs in the basement over the winter months. I have just made a wine chiller into a drying cabinet because the summer months are coming and I do not want to stop this new addiction. The reason I made the cabinet is to save the space in the everyday fridge.

The cabinet goes as low as 43 and as high as 55. Temps have been double checked with various thermometers, I noticed a difference in top rack to bottom so I installed a 5″ fan as well. Humidity is controlled by a small humidifier and a humidistat that I have set to maintain 60%. I can adjust it to whatever I want if there are other suggestions.

I purchased the UMAI dry because it seems to give me stability and that should result in more consistent results. I make this food to share with family and friends and the very last thing that I would want is to hurt someone. If a batch turned out bad I can throw it away, if I hurt someone I will be seriously disappointed.

Ok…..that was the setup….here is the question. I have filletto, bresaola and coppa in UMAI bags now. I did not use pink salt in the bagged charcuterie. I also have soppresata (with pink salt#2) fermenting now in UMAI. Do I risk botulism in the cabinet at lower temps like 43? And is it only a worry in the product without pink salt?

In my head I go back and forth with the fact that 50 degrees is no worries, but since UMAI was designed for the lower temps of the fridge the recepies in the package did not call for pink salt on the whole muscles. Once I get this smaller stuff to work I would love to try dry aging big primal cuts of beef. Would that be refrigerator only or would the chiller/cabinet work?

I didn’t see a way to attach pics, if there is way to do that I can send pics of the setup.

[Jim]

quote MMM_Sushi” post=8096:

In my head I go back and forth with the fact that 50 degrees is no worries, but since UMAI was designed for the lower temps of the fridge the recepies in the package did not call for pink salt on the whole muscles. Once I get this smaller stuff to work I would love to try dry aging big primal cuts of beef. Would that be refrigerator only or would the chiller/cabinet work?

UMAi Dry is not exactly designed for lower temps, but it does work well at those temps which are available to most people. If you have a 50-55F controlled space, you can certainly use UMAi Dry with lower humidity levels.
Curious why you mention that the recipes in the package of UMAi Dry do not call for curing salt for whole muscle dry cured meats. They definitely have Instacure #2 as part of every recipe, except for dry cured duck breast and Instacure #2 is included in the UMAi Dry Charcuterie kit.
As for dry aging beef steak cuts, it is always done at temps of 34-38F and never at higher temps. Otherwise the meat will spoil, because it does not have any curing salts in it.

[Author]

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