White Mold during fermentation please help

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Mujo
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White Mold during fermentation please help

Post by Mujo » Tue May 26, 2020 12:39

Hi guys just after reassurance I’ve just taken my salami out of my fermentation chamber and have noticed white specs of Mold starting, is that normal to occur during the fermentation? It’s been 72hours at 20c as per starter culture instructions. They were slightly sticky aswell? I know it’s probably fine but I’ve never had mould start during fermentation
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Butterbean
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Re: White Mold during fermentation please help

Post by Butterbean » Tue May 26, 2020 14:28

Sounds to me like your humidity is too low. I'd check the pH and if you are on target I'd just pull them and start drying because that's what it sounds like you are beginning to do anyway.
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Re: White Mold during fermentation please help

Post by Mujo » Tue May 26, 2020 22:28

Thanks butterbean, I fermented in a chest freezer (switched off) with a fish tank heater in a water container to provide necessary heat and humidity run of a InkBird temp controller. Hopefully they’ll be ok, it seams the more I try perfect my salami the more issues I get 😩
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Re: White Mold during fermentation please help

Post by Mujo » Sun May 31, 2020 04:11

So after a week I’m developing a white Mold with green blooms? The green Mold always seems to come even if I use store brought white Mold. This year I didn’t use any white Mold it’s started naturally. Does the green look ok? I was at the salami supplies shop last week and hers were covered in this white/green combo. My curing cabinet is set at 13c 80% humidity which I dropped to 78% now.
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Re: White Mold during fermentation please help

Post by Mujo » Sun May 31, 2020 04:24

Another pic
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Butterbean
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Re: White Mold during fermentation please help

Post by Butterbean » Mon Jun 01, 2020 15:55

I no longer worry about the color of the mold as long as it is not slimy or wet feeling after a friend who is a retired microbiologist dropped by and I asked him about some funky colored molds on some meat I had drying. You need to understand that this guy is anal about food safety because he lost his sister to a food borne pathogen so he I was surprised when he gave it a quick look and said it was fine. I asked him how he could tell and he said, "because its not slimy and its growing on meat".

I know you can read all sorts of things on the internet about the color of molds and which ones are good and which one's are bad but I chose to believe what my friend says. Granted, any mold that is not white is not as "accepted" as white and is not as aesthetically appealing as white mold but I think it is the norm for someone to get wild molds on their products when they first start dry curing things but in time these wild molds will be replaced by the whites if you use a starter mold and continue making the product in the same location. After some years now, I have white mold everywhere ....even growing on things I don't wish it to grow on ..... and its very rare to see anything but white.

To speed up getting your environment inoculated with white mold I'd suggest spraying your chambers - if a fridge - down with bleach making sure to spray it into the duct work and fan area. After a day or so, come back and respray same areas with the mold solution. Basically you are seeding "the good stuff" in your environment. In a short time, it will populate and out-compete the "bad mold".

As long as your stuff isn't slimy I'd say its fine but if you don't like the looks of it just wipe it off.
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Re: White Mold during fermentation please help

Post by reddal » Mon Jun 08, 2020 09:42

I find when using Mold 600 the normal white powdery mold can go green if humidity is too high or airflow is too low.

It doesn't hurt the product, but people don't like it, so controlling the humidity more carefully will avoid it.
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