Dark spots in fermented sausage

[checkerfred]

I made some summer sausage sticks using 32mm hog casings. I used the right amount of cure 1 and used LHP culture. Let me first say the culture is about a year and a half old but I just made some landjager and it worked. I had this happen before and didn't know why... When the culture was less than 6 mths old

I fermented the sausage at 95 degrees F for about 16 hrs. Most of it turned pink/red and I took a pH reading. It dropped to around 4.8. However I had spots that I could see on the outside under the casing that were a brownish color. I cut out a spot and it was a pH of 5.2 or higher. Why would I have those spots? I know I used enough cure. Is the sausage OK to cook/eat? I'm assuming it didn't ferment but cured since the meat was brownish and cured meat usually turns that color.

 

[dward51]

Let me first say the culture is about a year and a half old .....
 

Cut and pasted from the #19077 Bactoferm LHP Dry culture info pdf on The Sausagemaker's website:

"When not in use keep culture sealed and frozen. Shelf life of frozen cultures is 6 months, while unfrozen cultures will last a matter of weeks."

If it was 1 1/2 years old, I don't think the storage method would have mattered.  I suspect this is the cause of your problem.