Curing Meat Vessel

I have a crawlspace in our house that's tall enough to stand up in and the humidity is perfectly 70%, however when I tested the environment with apple cider, it molded very fast. Alas, I shall not hang meat in there.

I know someone who uses an unplugged fridge as an aging vessel, another that hangs off the rafters in his garage.

I was wanting a more closed environment, so I was thinking of something like a 5 gallon bucket with the meat hanging from the lid. I could store it in the garage for temperature sakes, or even in the crawlspace.

anyone have thoughts on this? I'm thinking for bresaola, prosciutto, salami, etc

*someone else just makes sure to wipe off mold when it happens*

Hi

Maybe line the crawl space with "stuff". What sort of stuff depends a lot on how easy it is to get things in there.

Bob

That would be a lot of stuff. It's pretty much a small basement, except it's exposed to the outdoors through the screens at the bottom of the house.

I think a bucket would be too small, plus you need some airflow. How small are your batches? Also spacing will help you out too. Not knowing your budget, I've been thinking of setting up a keezer with humidifier and dehumidifier hooked up to it and a control for the humidity for quite some time. That would give you the two most important factors in curing atmosphere, but it can be a little pricy. If I build it I'll let you know, I just need the humidity controller at this point. Happy smoking!

i have the keezer for my beer. don't want another one just for meat though lol

That's probably a wise choice, I've just got the charcuterie bug bad and I want to improve my sausages with more humidity. I've heard of using salt water and a fan in a large container. The salt water provides the moisture while resisting growing any unwanted bugs. That may work well with your bucket.

so just having salty air? sounds simple enough

The air will pick up the water making it more humid. The salt is to help prevent the liquid water from growing a culture or bacteria.

I use a trash can with holes in the lid and sides. Just check the color on the mold. White is ok. Black, green or red is bead.

CHefJohnboyardee said:

I use a trash can with holes in the lid and sides. Just check the color on the mold. White is ok. Black, green or red is bead.

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Will you please post a few pictures of this set-up?

red mold ugh. sounds nasty. maybe I'll experiment with a trash can with salty water in a tray. or if I find a cheap humidifier, i can set it up in there

No mold sounds tasty.

mendozer said:

That would be a lot of stuff. It's pretty much a small basement, except it's exposed to the outdoors through the screens at the bottom of the house.

Click to expand...

Hi

Frame up a closet with some 2x4's and particle board. Nothing fancy or expensive. Put a simple hatch on it for a door. That way you would have plenty of room for what ever you decided to do, but could control the environment pretty well.

Bob

My trash can rig is just a 35 gallon rubbermaid with the lid. I have holes drilled near the handles for a broom handle to slide through and I use that to hang the meat from. It barely holds three whole rolled hog bellies for pancetta. My attic in from October to March stays at 65 and humidity is awesome. My basement at my house stays at 65 and with a dehumidifer it stays around 60%

bringing it back from the dead here...anyone use the beads or sheets for humidity control like for humidors? how long do those last?