Homemade Sausage Making

Sorry Gus,
I see on review that you have already found Redback.
They are an hour from me, and prices are great for cures.
Ursula

Another one that has surfaced here in Perth is
www.butcherquip.com.au
These guys are the WA version of Butcherathome

Cheers

Steve

I've posted this info elsewhere but since it is relevant to Oz/NZ i thought it should be here as well.
I visited the guys at Princi Small Goods - http://www.princismallgoo...roducts/salami/ today as they are just round the corner from work.
Talked to the production manager on the phone (he was out at the other factory) and he said all they used was the F1 starter. (Chr Hanson) Available from MBLSA. http://www.mblsa.com.au/Retail_Catalogu ... cat_id=32H They don't use a mould starter like the Bactoferm 600 at all.
I then talked to an Italian guy who showed me some salumi hanging around out in the breeze and he said that if the mould comes, then it comes. If it doesn't, he no worries. If he gets green mould, just brush it off.
So there you have it. Straight from the horses mouth although i suspect there are differing views on all of that across the world and i'm just repeating as was told to me.

Cheers

Steve

Hi Kiwi and Jan,
There´s nothing wrong with BIOBAK or OPTISTART but as I´ve mentioned in another post, quite many ingredient producers don´t produce their own cultures.
They buy from outside and blend the freeze dried strains themselves, and both Wiberg and Raps belong to this category.
Raps buying their cultures from either Chr.Hansen or Danisco (makes me proud to be halfway Danish! ) just as SACCO is supplying a. o. Italian and German ingredient blenders (enough unweiling for today guys ).

Also, if the distributors provide data sheets on these cultures you can check the total cell count and compare it to CH´s or SACCO´s own stuff. One trick of the trade is to offer starter cultures with the "right" strain combination but with a lower concentration of cells as compared to the producers own starter cultures. And many users won´t notice.

Can you try to dig up some prices on the Raps and Wiberg cultures?

Another couple that I have used are Sausages Made Simple near the Vic Market in Melbourne. They are great for salami and sausage making supplies. They are also part of Cellar Plus and sell sauce, cheese, beer and wine making equipment and preserving kits.

http://sausagesmadesimple.com.au/

Start Food-tech near Geelong is another good source of butchers supplies

http://sausagesmadesimple.com.au/

Some others that make and supply ingredients and butchers supply that I have not used but have found are :

http://corona.com.au/

http://www.neild.com.au/

http://www.cqbutcherssupplies.com.au/

Was wondering if anyone uses this culture Sacco Lyocarni VMB-02 dv found a site in nz where its available

Found a site where CHR cultures are available in NZ The cultures in stock are from Chr Hansen - RM2000 (fast) 1 packet for 200 kg meat, F-SC-111 (fast) 1 packet for 150 kg meat, and T-SPX (traditional) 20gm packet for 100 kg meat, if you use less reseal seal and keep the rest in the freezer. ($38.00)

Bactoferm Mould 600 25 gm for 10 litres of water where you submerge the salami before fermenting. (I use a small sprayer with 1 or 2 litre of water to mist the salami which works fine, which makes it go further) keep the rest in freezer. ($42.00)
Avaliable from Netroplitan anyone have any thoughts on the abovementioned cultures cheers jeffrey

Hi Jeffrey,
Thanks for posting that info. We can get here in Australia Biobak Ultra plus for $ 15.75. T-SPX is $ 12.90
Suppliers website: www.mblsa.com.au.
The price difference is probably due buying power. We have no suppliers here for the Mould 600 as far as I know.
Congratulations on making some great looking charcuterie and sharing it with us.
Cheers Mate,
Jan.

crustyo44 wrote:We can get here in Australia Biobak Ultra plus for $ 15.75. T-SPX is $ 12.90.

Isn´t that an eye opener folks?: two cultures with almost similar strains; Pediococcus Pentosaceus as acidifier in both. Staphylococcus xylosus in T-SPX, while Carnosus in the Biobak Ultra. And with a total cell count in the Biobak that is (probably) 30% lower than T-SPX (or weaker, if you want to put it straight) it seems curious that the Biobak Plus should cost 22% more and not less than the T-SPX (...!?)

Well, it´s not really that curious at all: A spice blender like Wiberg (and in that dicipline Wiberg offers products of an admirable quality) will never be able to sell starter cultures at prices as favorable as the culture producer himself.
Not that I want to act suspious towards the suppliers of cultures who sell their stuff to Wiberg (it could even be Chr.Hansen for that matter), but given the choice I´d always prefer to drink fresh from the source when I have the chance, rather than buy it bottled from a water carrier (who has to earn his share).
So why pay more for less ?

Hi Guy & Girlz,

firstly I would like to say how excited I was that I finally found this forum. So hard to Australian related materials and where you can buy them.

I'm new to this forum, but I live in Melbourne and been making cured meats (mainly from Michael Ruhlmans books) for a yr or so. In my travels I have found

http://www.homemakeit.com.au/

to be reasonably good and helpful store operators.

Welcome Mac, nice to see you here !

I emailed Andrea at (the former) Misty Gully, and let her know of our frustration at not being able to obtain the Chr. Hansen cultures here, and the sizeable potential market in Oz.
She has kindly indicated that she will try to follow up for us after the New Year, and see if it is viable and possible to import them.
So watch this space!
Ursula

This should perhaps be in the smoking section, (mod; just move it if so...), but since it is an Australian product I'll pitch it here first;
Does anyone have experience with Hark smokers?
http://www.hark.com.au
I do not have the space for a bigger unit.

Jan L

Hi Jan,
Are you thinking of buying a gas or electric model. The electric version will have better temperature control.
Very important to produce consistent good results.
Are you in Albany WA. We have a few very experienced members there.
Cheers,
Jan O. crustyo44

Hi Jan,
My advice: Don't go near this company!
I bought the Hark electric model in May and have had nothing but trouble. I too bought it because I thought it was Australian, and therefore a good design. It is however made in China and has the worst temperature control you can imagine. Even set at 43 C the temperature gets up to almost 100C before the thermostat kicks in. It has a huge dead zone. I can't tell you how many batches of sausages have been ruined. This is fine for a cooking machine, but for a smoker? It's terrible.
I also had the worst customer support from this company. Emails sent repeatedly were ignored, the remote thermometer had to be returned, and two months later, I finally got the replacement, and it too does not work.
The only answer is to replace the thermostat and put in a better temperature controller, which I have purchased but not got around to. I won't use this contraption again until it has better controls.
Hope this helps, Jan. Perhaps others on the Aussie side can recommend a better brand?
Anyone have a Masterbuilt perhaps? I believe they can be purchased here.
Regards Ursula