So, I've made 7 different batches of salami in my new chamber and have monitored it over the last year or so to see how it runs. I've noticed that when I fill it up with product, the salamis losing a lot of moisture in the first 7-10 days will spike the humidity and the evidry 1100 dehumidifier can barely keep up. The refrigerator running pulls a lot of moisture out on the evap coil while it is running, but when the set point temp. is reached and the refrigerator shuts off, the humidity climbs fast and the dehumidifier runs the entire time the refrigerator is off. This speeds the cycling time becasue the dehumidifier uses heat to dehumidify the air. So the chamber warms faster, which increases the amount of time the system fan is running.
Long story short, I have too much air flow at the start of drying-even though humidity is high and temps. are good. So....I've been thinking of ways to address this issue. My salamis are good....no severe case hardening enough to stop drying and lose product, but I would like to lessen the dry rim on the salamis, especially on the ends. I do realize that drying will be more pronounced on the ends because of the tapered shape, but IMO I have too much drying on the ends. I could install a rheostat on the fan to slow it down, but that might affect the performance of the refrigerator. I had an idea hit me late last night. So I went with it to try out...
I have a bunch of used canning lids that I have saved for when I need to use a canning jar just to put odd and end stuff in. I took a bunch of those and drilled a small hole in the center, just large enough for the salami hanging string to fit through. I slid one lid on each salami string about 3/4" from the top of the salamis. I'm thinking this will do 2 things-It will protect the ends from direct air flow coming down on them from the return at the top of the chamber, and it will increase turbulence inside the chamber for better, more even drying. We'll see how this goes....
I used regular size canning jar lids. I may need wide mouth lids....we shall see...
Long story short, I have too much air flow at the start of drying-even though humidity is high and temps. are good. So....I've been thinking of ways to address this issue. My salamis are good....no severe case hardening enough to stop drying and lose product, but I would like to lessen the dry rim on the salamis, especially on the ends. I do realize that drying will be more pronounced on the ends because of the tapered shape, but IMO I have too much drying on the ends. I could install a rheostat on the fan to slow it down, but that might affect the performance of the refrigerator. I had an idea hit me late last night. So I went with it to try out...
I have a bunch of used canning lids that I have saved for when I need to use a canning jar just to put odd and end stuff in. I took a bunch of those and drilled a small hole in the center, just large enough for the salami hanging string to fit through. I slid one lid on each salami string about 3/4" from the top of the salamis. I'm thinking this will do 2 things-It will protect the ends from direct air flow coming down on them from the return at the top of the chamber, and it will increase turbulence inside the chamber for better, more even drying. We'll see how this goes....
I used regular size canning jar lids. I may need wide mouth lids....we shall see...
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