Fermented on wire rack, seems like a mistake

[Blackdogbbq21]

Earlier this week i started making fermented pepperoni for the first time. I hung most of the batch to ferment but i stuffed a little bit of the batch into sheep casings, the sheep casings were laying on a wire rack while they fermented. Last night i hit my target PH and was moving the product to dry. I noticed the side of the casing that was touching the wire rack has some small blotches of dark grayish discoloration on it.

I'm thinking the casings must have pinholes in it and the discoloration is a reaction of the meat touching the metal rack? Just curious if anyone has had this happen and if i'm on the right track with my theory of what happened. I'm thinking i'll have to toss the stuff with discoloration but i kept it at least till i figure out what happened.

 

[WaterRat]

Aluminum rack? Oxidation would be dark grey... basically aluminum rust... could discolor your casing.

 

[Blackdogbbq21]

Looks like the one i used is chrome plated,

 

[73saint]

It happens all the time when I make bacon (albeit not fermented). It's a reaction to those crappy wire racks. Unpleasant looking but should not affect product. I've all but stopped using those wire racks for that very reason.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

How bout some pics?

You know what they say?

 

[SmokinEdge]

I wouldn’t toss it just yet, pictures or it never happened.

 

[Blackdogbbq21]

This is it. Since I noticed it I moved the links to another rack until i figure out what happened. I used coarse black pepper in the mix so the black flecks are just that. It’s just that bruise looking spot from the rack that I’m concerned about being safe

 

[WaterRat]

Looks like the one i used is chrome plated,

Yeah... salty, moist and acidic is a tough combo for that, wouldn’t use it in the future.

 

[Blackdogbbq21]

Yeah, i should have known better and totally overlooked it. Time to get rid of the chrome racks and switch to stainless steel.