What size room: Fermenting vs. Curing

[ShinerPrairie]

Hi everyone, I want to thank y'all for your insights. After many months of research, asking a lot of questions, I have just a couple that I can't determine. If we're processing about 8 hogs a week, what size room do I need for fermenting and ultimately, what size room do I need to cure the meats? I would rather be on the large size than small, but have no idea how large these rooms need to be to cure that much meat/charcuterie. Realizing that some will be cured for as little as 30 days, but some for as much as 3 years, I don't have a good feeling about how large to make the rooms. We'll be doing everything from hanging hams, to salumi, to the various cuts of sausages, etc... taking a whole animal approach. I know it's a shotgun question... but what size rooms do I need to allocate for the fermentation chamber and curing room/chamber? Thanks, Ross

 

[indaswamp]

How many Kilograms will you rotate monthly? How much product to ferment at one time? IMO, the fermentation room needs to be much smaller than the drying room. The drying room is set up in stages so the cooler drier air hits the oldest product first. As it picks up moisture and the RH% increases, then it travels down to hit the newer product with a higher Aw. There are state of the art drying rooms that have sensors and probes in some salamis and will adjust RH% parameters for the drying room to keep RH% 0.3-0.5 below Aw for optimal drying. All depends on how big you go and how sophisticated you want to get...



I commend you for looking at making salami for retail sale... The regulations are strict. Most producers end up using sous vide to pasteurize their product to ensure safety for e.coli if the product is made with beef. Don't quote me-but I think I read 123 or 126*F for finished salami....like 4 hours. Contact USDA for regulations.

 

[indaswamp]

Another...

 

[indaswamp]

Creminelli...

 

[indaswamp]

When you get your meat shop up and running in Shiner, Texas; I'd love to come by for a tour.

 

[mike243]

3000-4000 sq ft should get you started, 2 levels lots of air handling cooling units for temp and moisture control, make it 2x as big as you first thought about and you might make it for a few years before you have to expand good luck

 

[ShinerPrairie]

Wonderful suggestions/answers/videos, as always. Thank y’all, and yes, when it’s done, I will surely let everyone know! What a project!!! I never thought/knew it would be this involved and require quite this much research. Off we go...

 

[Lawyer Bob]

When you get your meat shop up and running in Shiner, Texas; I'd love to come by for a tour.

me too. We can quaff a brew or two at Howard’s.

 

[indaswamp]

Glad this came back to the top. Here is the place for drying rooms in the U.S.:https://martiniequip.com/making-salami-on-a-large-scale/

 

[SmokinEdge]

First stop is your local FSIS or State regulator. Then make a business plan for what you want to do. The rules have changed huge state by state. Intrastate vs interstate, it goes on. The regulations on “further processed meats” is lengthy. Best do some research on the subject.
I’m actually in the middle of this research. It’s deep, I guarantee.