I did it! I built my curing chamber! (Massive amounts of Build-View)

fagesbp · Feb 27, 2013

jarjarchef said:
Looks great....now I want one.....just need somewhere to put it.....

When you're done you can put it at my house :sausage:

tennsmoker · Feb 27, 2013

Hey Xutfuzzy,

Great drying curing chamber,

you done an excellent job on the Q-View pictorial for any SMF member to follow in your footstep and build one,

thanx for sharing your time and patience,

al

got grits · Feb 27, 2013

Real nice. Good work, looks like you plain a long time to make it. That is my next project building one in a year. First I have to learn how to cure before starting on one.

Glyn

goingcamping · Feb 27, 2013

fagesbp said:
Inspiring build. I'd love to make 1 nearly identical. Something else to keep a look out for on craigslist.

fagesbp...here's a nice unit up for auction...it's a bit of a drive, but these typically sell for less than $100.00. LINK

I didn't want a curing cabinet until I saw this post! Badazz!

~Brett

fagesbp · Feb 28, 2013

Yeah san antonio is a pretty good ways from here, like an 8 hour drive.

roller · Feb 28, 2013

Outstanding build...

pops6927 · Feb 28, 2013

Great build and excellent tutorial! It's going to convince me to clean out the other half of the garage! lol!

johgre078 · Mar 1, 2013

Great build and very good job. Congrats!

spartan1967 · Mar 1, 2013

Looking good now , now it time to put it to test , let us know how it works

BGKYSmoker · Mar 2, 2013

michael ark · Mar 2, 2013

Looks great!

spartan1967 · Mar 3, 2013

looking good buddy keep up the good work

vecchiobob · Apr 14, 2013

Thanks xutfuzzy for the photos.
I have my fridge and my shopping list ready.....just need a few euros to get started
I have made salami and chorizio in the past but my last batch the cases hardened and I had to throw away 5 kg of salami...
So I decided its time for a curing chamber.

bear55 · Apr 14, 2013

What an amazing build.

greg g · Oct 31, 2013

Great job, my one questions is about the temperature controller: Do you plug (or hardwire) the frig to the temp controller?

xutfuzzy · Oct 31, 2013

Greg G said:
Great job, my one questions is about the temperature controller: Do you plug (or hardwire) the frig to the temp controller?

The fridge plugs into the controller which plugs into the wall. Here is a picture of the setup.

2013-10-31 19.45.16.jpg

xutfuzzy
Oct 31, 2013

The grey power cord is the fridge, which is plugged into the black cord which is the temperature controller. The copper wire you see is the long wire that is the thermometer wire that runs into the fridge.

pblrdom · Jun 5, 2014

Question regarding your chamber.

Is there an excessive amount of airflow with the two fans? I have a smaller Fogel CC-7 21" fridge that I am just gearing up to convert into a chamber. In your opinion would you recommend multiple fans like you did in your display case, one in and one out? I have a few fans exactly like yours and don't mind putting holes in the fridge to install in a similar fashion. My hesitation is that the cooler is much smaller and i don't know if it will cause too much airflow.

here is a pic of the cooler.

photo 1.JPG

pblrdom
Jun 5, 2014

xutfuzzy · Jun 5, 2014

My build actually has only one fan, just two holes. The hole in the top left has the fan that removes air from the chamber, and the second hole in the lower right just has a screen and filter, but no fan. I did the math and calculated that the fan would could completely exchange the air in the chamber in 10 minutes, so I set it to a timer to run for 15 minutes twice a day. That seemed to work, even for long term cures like my salamis.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/159228/4-salamis-with-pics-and-charts

Other members have suggested purchasing a voltage regulator and having the fan run at lower r.p.m.s for a longer duration, or even constantly. That might work as well, and the lower r.p.m.s would help prevent drying out the surface of the meat too quickly, even though I haven't had that issue. The humidifier seems to kick on right away whenever the fan does its thing.

But to answer your question, I think 1 fan with two holes seems to work great.

pblrdom · Jun 5, 2014

xutfuzzy said:
My build actually has only one fan, just two holes. The hole in the top left has the fan that removes air from the chamber, and the second hole in the lower right just has a screen and filter, but no fan. I did the math and calculated that the fan would could completely exchange the air in the chamber in 10 minutes, so I set it to a timer to run for 15 minutes twice a day. That seemed to work, even for long term cures like my salamis.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/159228/4-salamis-with-pics-and-charts

Other members have suggested purchasing a voltage regulator and having the fan run at lower r.p.m.s for a longer duration, or even constantly. That might work as well, and the lower r.p.m.s would help prevent drying out the surface of the meat too quickly, even though I haven't had that issue. The humidifier seems to kick on right away whenever the fan does its thing.

But to answer your question, I think 1 fan with two holes seems to work great.

Thanks so much for the reply. I'm curious how you calculated the timing at 10 mins a day. I'm not a math guru :-(
In my scenario I just don't know about cutting the holes in the cooler because of how much smaller my cooler is than yours. Any suggestions?

xutfuzzy · Jun 5, 2014

PBLRDom said:
Thanks so much for the reply. I'm curious how you calculated the timing at 10 mins a day. I'm not a math guru :-(
In my scenario I just don't know about cutting the holes in the cooler because of how much smaller my cooler is than yours. Any suggestions?

Thankfully, when I purchased the fan it stated on the box how many cubic feet of air it moved per minute. That was helpful. From there, all I had to do was calculate the interior of my chamber (length x width x height) and then divide.

For your sized cooler, the simple answer is to just open the door every day or two. However, that doesn't lend itself to being as low-maintenance as you might prefer. You may not have to cut large holes, just drill a couple of 1/8 or 1/4 inch holes with a drill, and then mount the fan on the outside. It will draw the air through the small holes. Drill some small holes on the other side, cover them with a screen or filter, and you are good to go. If they don't work out, they would be easier to fill than a large hole.

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