Has anyone noticed that this is now a secure site (https). I hadn't, but when I looked at the bookmark that I use to open the forum I saw that it was not a secure (https) address. I then left the site and typed https:wedlinydomowe.pl/en into the address bar. The site then opened with me already log...

bobrap wrote:Guess I don't see how to control the temp in a MES

Maybe I made a wrong assumption . . . are you trying to control temperatures greater than 200ÂşF? If so, what I posted is not applicable.

Can you expand on this a bit more? I have a MES 40 and would like better temp control You can get one of these, but check the wattage on your heating element. This is only good for 1200W. https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Max-1200W-Temperature-Controller-Greenhouse/dp/B01HXM5UAC/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid...

Orange color worked, or at least fooled me.

Thanks again Bob,

My family won't touch anything with more than the mildest hot . . . thus the ancho.

Sausage was 35% weight loss.

What are the "orangish" colored particles in yours? I would have assumed orange zest.

Hint: use orange extract at the rate of .15% by weight Hi Bob, Thanks for the hint. I tried a small batch of redzed's orange fennel salami back in July (pic below). I followed redzed's recipe except: - There are no oranges ripe in July so I used 0.1% orange extract instead of 0.3% zest. - Black pep...

Bob,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I'm going to give redzed's orange fennel salami a go in a few weeks when the oranges are ripe enough to make the zest. I'll use pork boston butt for the pork.

Bob K wrote:If you use shoulder, either picnic or butt, you will definitely get better color, flavor, and texture.

When you use shoulder do you dissect it to obtain very lean meat (class I?), or do you just use it the way the pig grew it?

I think that the issue is the amount of water you're putting into the fridge when you load up with 30 pounds. The most I've ever done at once is about 10 pounds. Let's get a little nerdy: Raw pork is 65-75% water depending on fat content, let's assume 70%. 30 pounds meat therefore has about 21 pound...

Maybe lowering that will do it. With your controller set to shut the fridge down at 55°, the fridge thermostat will always be in the run condition since even at its warmest setting, it will be trying to make the temperature probably around than 40° or so. I assume that the heating pad is not doing ...

Have any of you experienced the frost build/up in your chambers? I don't want to cut through the freezer floor and risk hitting a coolant line or wire if there is a better way to deal with this. This seems an odd problem. The defrost timer only runs when the fridge is running, but the evaporator co...

The only grouse I have with the Apera pH meter is that the KCl solution leaks out of the cap if it's stored on its side. Simplest fix is to store the meter in its carrying case vertically on a book shelf. If you can get a size 018 o-ring, that also helps.

Do you calibrate before each measurement session, or less often I've had the Apera/meat probe meter for almost a year now. I check the calibration at the start of each sausage making operation, but I've only actually had to recalibrate maybe twice. I have found that the meter is fairly slow to reac...

As to your final pH being 5.1 it means that you fermented it to 4.8 or maybe a tad lower Thanks redzed and Bob K You're right about the pH after fermentation of the Poli sausage . . . checked my record and it was 4.85. (I actually used B-LC-007 starter, reduced the corn syrup solids from 0.4% to 0....

I procrastinated for several months, but finally got around to my second ever trial batches of dry cured sausages. Did two of Len Poli's "favorite" salami, one stuffed in fibrous casing and the other in beef middle. Third sausage was according to cajuneric , recipe for Finocchiana. Fermented then dr...