So I posted about Franken-Fridge (humidity/temperature controlled chamber for to cure meats) the other day. As I stated, we are firmly in the prototype/testing phase here so I thought I would share a couple of design updates I implemented over the course of the past few days. I know that the interest in dry-curing is sort of confined to a niche market but I hope to illicit some ideas/improvements from those out there who may be more expert than me on the subject.
The first change I made was to move the humidifier outside of the chamber onto a little platform attached to the door. The humid air is fed into the chamber by means of a tube now. I initially thought I was going to have to put a small computer fan inside the tube to force the air upwards, but the little unit's tiny amount blowing power seems to do just fine. This set up gives the benefit of much more space inside the chamber, the humid air isn't blowing right on the meat, and now you don't have to open the door to replenish the water supply.
The next thing I did was to add a pretty strong cabinet fan to the bottom of the wine fridge that produces the Franken-Fridge's cooling power. The sort of wine fridge that I utilized tends to cause a bit of condensation inside the fridge under the humid conditions we are trying to maintain. I hooked the fan up to the temperature controller so they kick on together. This seems to have mitigated the problem for now, but I think ultimately I am going to have to rig up some sort of catch basin/drip tray outside of the unit.
I am currently waiting for a small, laptop cooling pad that has a couple small fans to come in the mail. I am going to put that inside of the actual curing chamber to run pretty much constantly just to keep the air moving around a bit and to distribute the humidity.
Everyone laughed at my temporary duct tape construction, but I am happy that I didn't button up the hatches to permanently. I have had to make all sorts of adjustments and tweaks to the design and not having things glued/screwed together has helped a lot. I think I am begininning to close in on a very good solution given my available resources at this time. The salamis that I have going now seem to be doing just fine. Their casings are remaining pliable and the chubs have lost about the expected amount of weight. I am going to add some petit hams in the next couple of weeks.
My ultimate goal (someday) is to build an actual curing room in my basement (shhh! don't tell the wife).
I don't have anything near the time/patience/spare cash to do that right now, so I like to think that I am sort of in the journeyman phase of my meat curing hobby. The Franken-Fridge project is giving me a firm grasp of the fundamentals.
Are you sure you need that much air flow? I would have thought the air flow from small temperature swings and one of the small fans would have been enough. I've been meaning to take a closer look at the case in Roofs with the teewurst to see what kind of airflow they have in there. Plus that kind of research is a good reason to go back to the store.
ReplyDeleteNot exactly sure where you are getting condensation...any chance of catching it with the humidifier? If you cut the base off the bottle it could just drip in. Depending on what's dripping, you might not want to recycle the condensation.
Have you ever seen some of the dedicated beer cellars people have built? I thought about something like that but for curing. Maybe in the next house. Not enough space in this one Although I have an idea for a disposable "curing closet" or box. We'll have to see how stir crazy I get this winter.
Also, as per the Rolf's teawurst fridge. I don't know if they actually dry cure in that thing. It is connected right to the soda cooler which you can open at will. Maybe the volume of meat they keep in their keeps the humidity up, I don't know. Plus, I don't think they are really dry curing in there. I think it is more for just holding without excess drying...
DeleteYeah, the condensation is from the wine fridge. I forget what the cooling process is called but basically it moves air over a cold plate that attracts condensation. It doesn't have a drip tray like your normal fridge. The tiny, lap top type fans I am going to put in are a better solution I think, I will prob. move the bigger fan out when they come. They will just kind of keep the air moving around. You need to kind of get the air to push through the humidity controller or it tends to over humidify.
DeleteI didn't look to closely at the teewurst cooler, I just made a mental note to check it out more thoroughly during my next visit. I thought it was a stand alone unit. I know the Troy Pork Store dry cured venison pepperoni for customers from a rod hanging from the ceiling.
DeleteAt the very least, Frankenfridge has got me thinking about that curing box again. In a very half assed way, that box got redesigned 3 times today. Progress!
I stopped by Rolf's earlier today. You are correct about the coolers being connected. The soda racks and teewurst cabinet make up one wall of a walk-in cooler. The woman waiting on me said it was just a cooler.
DeleteI took the fan out of the wine fridge, put two very small ones in the center of the main chamber on the same circuit as the humidifier. I have had it steady at 70% humidity and 55 degrees all day so far.
DeleteYeah, the condensation is from the wine fridge. I forget what the cooling process is called but basically it moves air over a cold plate that attracts condensation. It doesn't have a drip tray like your normal fridge. The tiny, lap top type fans I am going to put in are a better solution I think, I will prob. move the bigger fan out when they come. They will just kind of keep the air moving around. You need to kind of get the air to push through the humidity controller or it tends to over humidify.
ReplyDelete