DIY sausage/cheese aging space

[Bedbug]

Not sure if this is something that would interest you all but I recently started a project to build a better mini aging space for my sausages and cheesemaking. I used a wine fridge with built in lighting. Drilling a hole in the side for a water line to the travel humidifier, power line for the fan, humidifier, and humidity sensor. I particularly like that I don't have to open the fridge to add water to the humidifier or mess with anything and the fridge maintains a perfect 55 deg by itself without any relays. Probably need a fridge thermometer to guarantee temp accuracy.

 

[passedpawn]

Well... let's see some product in there!

 

[GoeHaarden]

Aww man. I saw "sausage/cheese" in the title and got too excited for some food porn to read anything else...

Pretty Cool tho!

 

[passedpawn]

Aww man. I saw "sausage/cheese" in the title and got too excited for some food porn to read anything else...

Pretty Cool tho!

Here you go. Started 20# salami this weekend. I'll post a thread elsewhere later once they take off.

 

[GoeHaarden]

Here you go. Started 20# salami this weekend. I'll post a thread elsewhere later once they take off.

Wow! Just...wow! Those are beautiful. How much to ship to 37205? Lol.

I've always wanted to get into making my own sausages. I need to start reading up about it. Is that just a temp controlled chest freezer?

 

[passedpawn]

Wow! Just...wow! Those are beautiful. How much to ship to 37205? Lol.

I've always wanted to get into making my own sausages. I need to start reading up about it. Is that just a temp controlled chest freezer?

I don't want to hijaak the guys thread (too late maybe), so this is my last comment here. Yea, it's a chest freezer. I have a heater and ultrasonic humidifier in there, and a controller for all. Needs to be warm and humid at first to encourage the culture in the meat to start to ferment and to start growing good mold on the outside of the salami, and later to keep the meat cool and at the right humidity to avoid case hardening (too low humidity where the outside hardens before the inside can harden). Should take several weeks. Go here for my last make: Dry Curing Sausage

Sausage making is much simpler. You just need a way to grind meat, then to stuff it into casings. Then, you cook it. Salami (and pepperoni and other hards) is aged and never cooked. Two very different processes.

 

[GoeHaarden]

Drilling a hole in the side for a water line to the travel humidifier, power line for the fan, humidifier, and humidity sensor.

This has got my wheels turning...

Did you just get lucky missing the coolant lines, or is the cooling confined to the back of the unit?

I think my parents have the same unit that they don't use, which may get hi-jacked now. I've never really checked it out because I think it can only go like 20F below ambient, but I guess that is cold enough for this...

 

[passedpawn]

This has got my wheels turning...

Did you just get lucky missing the coolant lines, or is the cooling confined to the back of the unit?

I think my parents have the same unit that they don't use, which may get hi-jacked now. I've never really checked it out because I think it can only go like 20F below ambient, but I guess that is cold enough for this...

Wine coolers like that don't have the coolant lines running through the walls.

They are pretty awesome for making cheese and sausage. Yea, grab it before they give it away to the neighbor. My cheese cave is a converted wine cooler. Got it for $35, made new groovy wood shelves for it, works great! Not quite big enough for the salami's I posted above... they are about 2' long!

 

[GoeHaarden]

Wine coolers like that don't have the coolant lines running through the walls.

That's kind of what I figured. I'm going to call the rents tomorrow to see if they still have it.

Really impressive, sir. I really need to step up my fermentation game. Do you keep those fridges/freezers in the garage or basement or where? Wondering how hard it would be to control the humidity inside a fridge in the garage ~80% humidity.

 

[passedpawn]

That's kind of what I figured. I'm going to call the rents tomorrow to see if they still have it.

Really impressive, sir. I really need to step up my fermentation game. Do you keep those fridges/freezers in the garage or basement or where? Wondering how hard it would be to control the humidity inside a fridge in the garage ~80% humidity.

All in the garage. I've a big one. They are a closed environment, so with the right controls and mechs you can have whatever you want. Go for it and feel free to PM me for advise, I've probably been there.

 

[GoeHaarden]

All in the garage. I've a big one. They are a closed environment, so with the right controls and mechs you can have whatever you want. Go for it and feel free to PM me for advise, I've probably been there.

Gotcha. I don't control humidity for my brews so I didn't know if it posed any increased challenge. I may be sending some PMs in the near future, going to do some research first...thanks

 

[Inkleg]

Here you go. Started 20# salami this weekend. I'll post a thread elsewhere later once they take off.

Please PM me any house listings for sale in you neighborhood.