Scratching my head
Posted: Wed May 15, 2019 11:41
I've made thousands of pounds of soppressata, and every single batch has come out very predictable. On my last batch, I made 3 batches of 25 pounds each using the same 2 recipes ( 1/3, 2/3) using a LEM mixing box, which is what I always use. I used the same amounts of cure #2, dextrose and BLC-007. I usually transfer them into the fermenting ( refrigerator box), but this time I had a friend transfer them. I did not bother teaching him how to load it, but I wasn't too worried about it. After 30 hours at 70F, I tested the ph and the ph did drop to 5.4 as usual. At 32 hours, I pulled them from the fermentation box, weighed them and transferred them to the regular chamber. I did notice some apparent brown lines down the sides of the soppressata's, but I figured it was possible they were touching while fermentation. As the pieces got more red in the chamber, the brown lines were not turning red. After about 5 days, I pressed them by hand and the while mold started growing. Now it's been 6-7 weeks and alot of them were ready at 48% weight loss. Some were larger, so I left them in the chamber. I rinsed them, brushed them, softened the casings enough to peel them back. There were about 4 soppressata's that was still brown in color. As I sliced into them, they were brown thru the whole center, some even with a hole down the middle,,but I know I stuffed them properly. There are also about 5-6 soppressata where the color is spotty in areas brown/red on the outside, although the centers looked fine. No sign of odors. Any clues what could have gone wrong?