Coppa/capiocola - too cold, or too humid?

[bernieross]

The only way I have to dry my coppa at the moment is a small old fridge. Switched on to the minimum cooling, it will give me a pretty good humidity (about 70%, sometimes down to 60%), but too cold a temperature (about 46 degrees). Switched off it produces about 55 degrees, but a high humidity in the current damp UK weather - around 90-95%.

I've tried juggling this with a simple on/off timer switch, switching the fridge on for 15 minutes per hour, but it's still quite volatile - too cold, or too damp.

I'm currently drying a coppa, and after 24 days hanging I've lost 17% (against the post cure + beef bung and string weight), or 15% of the orginal starting weight of the meat. So it's still losing weight, albeit slowly.

I've got an impressive culture of nice white mold going, which I got from putting a piece of shop-bought salami skin on the side for a few days. No black spots, no bad smell, it's looking good. Just infuriatingly slow in losing weight.

Given a choice, should I prioritize getting the humidity right, or the temperature ?

 

[pc farmer]

Humidity.

Humidity should be mid to high 70's.

I run 50 degrees but some people run in the 30's. It will dry slower but they say the end product is worth the wait.

 

[bernieross]

Thanks Adam. I guess if low temperature is not too much of a problem, I can leave the fridge on - it usually settles at around 8 or 9 degrees C (46 - 48), and concentrate on getting the humidity up from the 60s to the high 70s by putting a wet towel or something in there. Perfectly happy to wait for this - it's looking good.