Homemade Sausage Making

What is the ideal ph during the fermenting stage for Italian salami? I just bought an Apera ph meter so before I just did things by sight and smell.

Thanks

Hi Carl and welcome to the forum! We are happy to have you aboard. If you are wanting to create a mild, Southern European product, then your target pH should be 5.2 - 5.3, and fermentation should take place in no less 36hrs, ideally 48-72hrs. Fermentation temp of 68-72F works best. If you take it down to 5, you will have a slight tang, but still a very acceptable salami. Lower than 5 will compromise the flavour of the sausage as the micrococci bacteria will be deactivated.

If you are using a starter culture, let us know which one and we can give you a bit more guidance. If you haven't already come across my explanation of how sugars work on lowering the pH, have look here:
http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.ph ... ght=#39827

Hi,

Personally I ferment down to pH 5.15. I used to aim for 5.25 but I did an experiment leaving some of a batch to ferment a bit longer and found I liked the final taste best at 5.15. Going all the way down to 5.0 had a bit too much tang but 5.15 seemed like the sweet spot.

Also its good to have a little bit of a safety margin - ie if aiming for 5.25 its hard to be completely sure that some of the batch isn't a little higher and so not as safe.

I ferment using B-LC-007 and it typically takes 48hrs at 18.5c.

- reddal

Thanks for the replies!

I'm using T-SPX as the starter. I've been experimenting with dextrose and sugar combinations at about .35-.4%. The latest batch is fennel pollen and dried blood orange so I will see when its done. I pulled that one at a PH of 5.12.