lgrass

updated links to grizzly vertical stuffers http://www.grizzly.com/products/h6252 http://www.grizzly.com/products/H7776

In case anyone is interested, I have a vertical stuffer that looks identical to the northern tools model, but is $20 cheaper, from Grizzly Tools: http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2006/main/74

Sounds like it might be worth a try. ← For what it's worth, I used the "LHP" starter from this page http://www.butcher-packer.com/pg_sausage_culture.htm Frankly, their web page doesn't give much detail about the differences between the 3 start cultures they sell. All of the descriptions are very similar. I just rolled the dice & picked one! I guess if I continue to have the mold problem I should switch to the one you suggested, which at least is the only one that mentions mold control. Seems to counteract the acidification that occurs when fermenting w/ other types of starter culture, so you get less tang. Add both & let them fight it out I suppose...

I have a donated mini-fridge (as you noticed) ... I installed my own dual (heating & cooling) thermostat & a hygrostat. I have these din-rail mounted inside the fridge. I also installed a double outlet in the fridge. The cooling side of the thermostat controls the fridge, the heating side controls one of the outlets (I plugged a 75W bulb into that one for now) and the hygrostat controls the second outlet. I have a terrarium air-pump humidifier plugged into that (http://www.thatpetplace.com/MainPro/Itemdy00.aspx?T1=R46JX+0542+0600) I thought maybe the airpump humidifier would give me enough airflow to avoid a fan ... maybe not! I cranked the heat & humidity way up for the fermentation period, then cranked down for drying. I live in Atlanta, and am keeping my house at around 60F (gas prices are sucking me dry), so I cranked the temp on the cooling side way down because using the fridge's cooling isn;t necessary. I've been trying to crack the door of the fridge a little as well to keep the air from getting stagnant.

Tuscan Salami, Day 8 Uh-oh ... green mold! Well there are some small islands of green mold on a few of them ... maybe a fan next time to keep the air moving a bit better.

first try curing: tuscan salami recipe, half with / half without fennel day 4 I'll keep posting once in a while so we can see if they mature normally or bust out Akira-style with strange prismatic fungi

http://www.monicals.com/ God I miss this stuff, I moved south years ago and I can't get my beloved little squares anymore

OK laugh all you want, but: peanut butter