PH Quandaries
Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2021 19:03
Hey All,
I made a batch of Finochiona last week, the last batch I allowed the PH to drop too far, so it ended up being quite tangy. So this time I was absolutely meticulous with my process in an attempt make the “perfect” or at least less tangy Finochiona. I measured PH before and after and also took temperatures to make sure my meat was still cool during the process. I re calibrated my PH meter just in case which is a Hanna Instruments HI-981036
The recipe was from The art of making fermented sausages but I did lower the salt as the last batch were also a little salty for my liking and drop the dextrose by 0.05% from the original recipe.
Pork lean to fat 70/30
Salt 2.25%
Cure 2 0.25%
Dextrose 0.2%
Sugar 0.2%
White pepper 0.2%
Black Peppercorns 0.5%
Whole fennel 0.3%
Garlic Powder 0.2%
Red wine 2.4%
PH Meat - 5.64
PH Mix - 5.76
PH End of fermentation - 5.18
PH After a week - 5.04
Temp Meat - -2.4
Temp after Grind - -1.5
Temp after Mix - -0.9
It was fermented at 21.5c 95% RH for 38 hours, I then reduced the temp/humidity of my chamber to 12c 78RH. My assumption was once the temp was reduced the salami would stop fermenting, so I left my test piece in to monitor whether this was correct.
As you can see it continued more than I was expecting.
I suppose what I am asking is should I undershoot the PH knowing it will continue fermenting. Is there something wrong with my process, ie too high fermenting temp, too much dextrose.
Any Help would be really appreciated I’m not a fan of overly tangy salami and my other concern is that the PH drops too far for the flavour aroma bacteria to be active.
Many thanks
Lee
I made a batch of Finochiona last week, the last batch I allowed the PH to drop too far, so it ended up being quite tangy. So this time I was absolutely meticulous with my process in an attempt make the “perfect” or at least less tangy Finochiona. I measured PH before and after and also took temperatures to make sure my meat was still cool during the process. I re calibrated my PH meter just in case which is a Hanna Instruments HI-981036
The recipe was from The art of making fermented sausages but I did lower the salt as the last batch were also a little salty for my liking and drop the dextrose by 0.05% from the original recipe.
Pork lean to fat 70/30
Salt 2.25%
Cure 2 0.25%
Dextrose 0.2%
Sugar 0.2%
White pepper 0.2%
Black Peppercorns 0.5%
Whole fennel 0.3%
Garlic Powder 0.2%
Red wine 2.4%
PH Meat - 5.64
PH Mix - 5.76
PH End of fermentation - 5.18
PH After a week - 5.04
Temp Meat - -2.4
Temp after Grind - -1.5
Temp after Mix - -0.9
It was fermented at 21.5c 95% RH for 38 hours, I then reduced the temp/humidity of my chamber to 12c 78RH. My assumption was once the temp was reduced the salami would stop fermenting, so I left my test piece in to monitor whether this was correct.
As you can see it continued more than I was expecting.
I suppose what I am asking is should I undershoot the PH knowing it will continue fermenting. Is there something wrong with my process, ie too high fermenting temp, too much dextrose.
Any Help would be really appreciated I’m not a fan of overly tangy salami and my other concern is that the PH drops too far for the flavour aroma bacteria to be active.
Many thanks
Lee