Using chest freezer for beer *and* sausage -- yea or nay?

[PhilOssiferzStone]

I have a fine deal pending on an old chest freezer, and with the thermostat installed I was figuring on just setting it at about 58 degrees and using it as my all-purpose miniature root cellar. Plenty of room for two buckets of lager or kolsch ale, plus some sausages or hams hanging, plus a crock for the sauerkraut, etc.

Question is: will they all get along with each other? Will the fumes from the ales and beers have some kind of horrible effect on the sausage? Even the most modest of cellars has some sort of air exchange, if only from people walking around in it. Here I'm sticking them in a hermetically sealed closet. Is this a bad idea...?

 

[Clayton]

I dont see why not, root cellars have humidity of 80-90% , but that is too hi to age a ham "Age hams for 45-180 days at 75-95°F and a relative humidity of 55-65%. Use an exhaust fan controlled by a humidistat to limit mold growth and prevent excessive drying. Air circulation is needed, particularly during the first 7-10 days of aging, to dry the ham surface. Approximately 8-12% of the initial weight is lost." http://www.culinary-yours.com/ham.html

So i think you can do this , you will just have to be smart about it , i would put a few 120mm computer fans in there to keep the air moving and a small bucket of DampRid to keep the humidity low and stable. http://www.damprid.com/product/damprid-economy-refill-42-oz-fg30k
btw you can reuse the damprid by evaprating the water out in the oven just dump all the water salt mess in a metal bowl and pop in the oven untill all the water is gone and them back in the kegarator

 

[PhilOssiferzStone]

My thanks.

Now all I need to do is unearth the instructions on how to splice a computer fan into the innards of a chest freezer....

 

[dataz722]

Personally, I would say no. I wouldn't really want the smells of all of them mingling together. I am also not sure but all that co2 could effect the drying of the sausage for some reason.

 

[Hugh_Jass]

I wouldn't want the kraut bugs (lacto) in that close proximity to the beer. It may be fine, but, IMO, it's a recipe for sour beer.