T-SPX Starter Culture

[Phil]

I have made a few Umai recipes using T-SPX starter culture and each of them has had a sour flavor. The only common ingredient other than salt and cure is the starter culture and the sour flavor has been the same in them all. Is the flavor imparted by the starter culture controllable?

[Jim]

Hi Shuswap, you might know more about this than I do, but my understanding is that the acidity/ph is dependent on several things: Type of bugs that are in the starter culture, the amount of food (dextrose) they have in the formulation, the length of time they get to eat the food (length of fermentation) and the temperature of fermentation (the higher the temp the faster they convert dextrose to lactic acid).
Given those variables one can control the acidity of the sausage by putting less dextrose into the formulation, fermenting for shorter time or at lower temp. In general T-SPX is a milder type of culture used for European style dry sausage.
Some straight forward reading I found of this is from our friend Stanley Marianski:
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-types/fermented-sausage

[Bob]

Phil-
JIm is right on with hs Post. But the ONLY sure way is to monitor the Ph during fermentation. For a non tangy tradition flavor stop fermenting when it drops to 5.3. A Ph below 5 will result in a tangy sausage. Depending on the temp you actually ferment at it will be somewhere between 24 and 72 hours using T-SPX and around .5 % total sugar.

[Phil]

Jim and Trebor thanks for the replies and Merry Christmas. Early on in the Umai experience having to measure Ph was thought to be unnecessary. However, that appears not to be the case if the natural sour taste of fermentation is not desired. I wonder if it is too late to add a Ph meter to my Santa list. I’m now thinking that I should not hang the chubs for 72 hours but rather 48 hours before refrigerating. Thoughts are welcome.
Phil

[Jim]

Phil,
I have never used a ph meter outside of a laboratory. My understanding is that the results may not be very accurate for the home units. They may give you a relative reading though if the same procedure is followed every time. For the most part doing shorter fermentation will create a milder flavor. As long as the ph is not too high like in high 5’s or 6’s, the product should still be safe.

[Bob]

Well almost all Ph testers are easily calibrated prior to each use using inexpensive calibration solutions and are quite accurate. :cheer:
Low range Ph papers are another inexpensive option, but for the color challenged like myself can be difficult to interpret 😳 .
If you wish to fine tune your sausage making measuring Ph is a definite advantage.

Liken it to testing meat to med rare without a thermometer.

[Author]

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