- Feb 6, 2021
- 244
- 93
I'd been using a tote for a fermenting chamber for the last 10 weeks or so. I had a rack on top to hang the chubs and water in a dish with a fish tank heater in the bottom of the tote. It was working okay, but the tote always ended up on a kitchen counter someplace (where the dog's couldn't get to it) so the thing was always in the way. The funky smell of fermenting meat isn't everybody's favorite, so that was an issue with my wife. Also, at least twice, I knocked a chub off the rack and into the water below while I was trying to remove one of the other sausages - that creates a whole new problem to deal with. A week or so ago I decided It was time for a change.
My first attempt at a curing chamber was by way of modifying a mini-fridge, which turned out to be very hard to control the humidity. Once I moved up to a full size fridge, the mini was left abandoned in a mudroom where it has just been sitting idle for the past few months. I'd originally considered using the mini for a fermentation chamber in the past, but in my mind, I was imagining using a seedling heating mat below a water bath, which would then require a rheostat for controlling the heat. I just never got around to it - once I started using the tote, that idea passed like bad gas. Anyways, after my last batch of Sopressata, I decided to kiss the tote method goodbye, and the mini-fridge fermentation chamber was reborn. I didn't even need to buy any new hardware. I had to modify a shelf rack to fit into the smaller freezer drainage tray space near the top. A Sawzall and 5 minutes later - I was all done. Finally, I just fed the fish tank heater power chord through my previously cut hole. I'm fermenting in much better style now.
My first attempt at a curing chamber was by way of modifying a mini-fridge, which turned out to be very hard to control the humidity. Once I moved up to a full size fridge, the mini was left abandoned in a mudroom where it has just been sitting idle for the past few months. I'd originally considered using the mini for a fermentation chamber in the past, but in my mind, I was imagining using a seedling heating mat below a water bath, which would then require a rheostat for controlling the heat. I just never got around to it - once I started using the tote, that idea passed like bad gas. Anyways, after my last batch of Sopressata, I decided to kiss the tote method goodbye, and the mini-fridge fermentation chamber was reborn. I didn't even need to buy any new hardware. I had to modify a shelf rack to fit into the smaller freezer drainage tray space near the top. A Sawzall and 5 minutes later - I was all done. Finally, I just fed the fish tank heater power chord through my previously cut hole. I'm fermenting in much better style now.
