Curing salami with mold question

[zzax]

Hi, im first time making salami and have might be silly question: how to know when mold fermentation finished? Is it necessary to stop future mold growth on sausages somehow? I understand that 40-45 days with moisture of 80-85%, t-17-18*C required in average. But what then? :-)

 

[daveomak]

% weight loss usually....

 

[indaswamp]

Like Dave mentioned, you want to lose around 35-40% weight during the drying. As far as mold growth, keep the humidity under 85%RH or mold growth will grow to fast, there may be an ammonia smell in your chamber. The mold produces ammonia naturally as it consumes some of the lactic acid in the salami, thus raising the pH in the finished salami. And your temp. range is too high. try to stay between 13-15C.

 

[zzax]

Ok, thank you, will decrease temperature a bit. Just wondering should i remove mold from surface and if so how to do it? Like slightly whipe out with strong salt solution? Cant find anything about post fermentation treatment.

 

[DanMcG]

Wipe off the mold with a vinegar and water mix works, but some molds are good and it's best to leave in place. What does your mold look like and what color is it?

 

[zzax]

Wipe off the mold with a vinegar and water mix works, but some molds are good and it's best to leave in place. What does your mold look like and what color is it?

it looks bit worrying :-) i used for starter BessaSTART and inoculated the surface with Bactoferm Mold-600

 

[indaswamp]

Looking at the picture, I would wipe all salamis down with vinegar and remove all mold, then reinoculate with the mold 600.
What are you using for humidity control? do you have a controller, dehumidifier and a humidifier?

 

[indaswamp]

The fermentation has to do with the culture you added into the meat. If you added enough of the correct type of sugar, the bacteria will have consumed the sugar and produced lactic acid. The fermentation step can be done in the chamber, but it is usually done in a separate box. the fermentation temp. is dependent upon the bacteria culture used. I am not familiar with Beststart.

 

[zzax]

on picture it looks greyish but actually it green in center. For mold 600 it also sayd that colonies are white but can be grey.. oof.. actually i already whiped 1 time but with salt solution 3 days ago.
This chamber is just a fridge with external thermostat. 80% of humidity now maintained by itself thank to wheather. But also i have a humid generator with self regulation. I dont use it now since humidity stays 80-85.

 

[indaswamp]

You will continue to fight bad mold issues until you figure out a way to remove moisture.

 

[indaswamp]

dehumidifier is like $30-35 bucks. Be sure to get an analog not a digital one so the controller can turn it off and on.

 

[zzax]

Hm.. honestly i have no clue how to install dehumidifier in the fridge, not a lot of space. I dropped temperature to 13-14*C and humidity next to it decreased to 70% So i can play with this a bit. Looking on recipe for some salamis it recommended
- Ferment/dry at 20º C (68º F) for 48 hours, 90-95% humidity.
- Dry at 15→ 12º C (59-54º F), 80 → 75% humidity for 45 days
I afraid i deviated from this and sausages was exposed to 85% like.. 10 days.
Do you think it crutial to have very precise humid control? Looking on many recipes on youtube it just said put it to the basement

 

[zzax]

Ok, finally i removed all molds with vinegar and this how it looks at the end.
Weight loss ~42%. Taste despite of my worries was good, no any notes of overfermentation or moldy.

 

[indaswamp]

What were your fermentation parameters? The reason I ask is I see a slight grey rim around the slices, which indicates low humidity during fermentation. This can be caused by the outer edge of the salami losing too much moisture before the bacteria can produce enough acid in the outer edge. High humidity is crucial during fermentation for proper acid drop all the way to the edge of the salami.

Otherwise, the rest of the cross-section on your salami looks great! Good job on your first attempt.

Edit- I should have read your previous post. If your fermentation parameters were 68*F @ 90-95%RH, then moisture is not the problem during fermentation. Did you have your chamber temp. above 59*F for any length of time while drying? This can cause the mold to be too active which can cause a grey rim as well.....

 

[indaswamp]

I afraid i deviated from this and sausages was exposed to 85% like.. 10 days.
Do you think it crutial to have very precise humid control? Looking on many recipes on youtube it just said put it to the basement

High humidity is crucial during fermentation as mentioned already.
After fermentation, for safety, it is best to not allow the salami to rise above 59*F. This is to slow the growth of Staph. aureus bacteria to a crawl during drying so the meat is safe. Also, humidity above 85% will cause the mold to grow too fast. This can also contribute to grey rim.

How accurate is your humidity sensor? If using an analog, most have an error margin of 3-5%, which is a lot when making salami.

 

[indaswamp]

It has been mentioned numerous times already, but the best $20 bucks you will ever spend on this hobby of charcuterie is to buy the Book: The Art of Fermented Sausages; by Adam and Stanley Marianski

The Art of Making Fermented Sausages