Lots of factors, casing size, collagen or natural casing, average humidity and temperature, air movement 32 mm may be a week or two, large diameters may take 4-6 weeks I would weigh weekly Lots of info on the web under salami or salumi

@Ed_Orum not sure non-working is the way you want to go. If you are trying to cure at a high of 55 and it is 65 you will need the compressor to cool your enclosure. Anyway, I bought to Inkbird controllers one for temp and one for humidity. They both have 2 working outputs that are just plug in so for temp I have the fridge plugged in and then I cut a hole in the bottom and added a lightbulb to heat it and it does a great job when I do the initial 80 degrees for 12 hours. The humidity control i have a humidifier plugged in to one with a tube into the enclosure and a dehumidifier on the inside. Tip here is make sure the units you buy have a switch for on off not a button or they will not automatically turn on once they are triggered off. I bought a small computer fan that I plug in when the dehumidifier runs to. Good luck! It is alot of fun to have a curing set up! [image: 1552180293059-20190309_200319-1209x1612.jpg] [image: 1552180301552-20190309_200325-1209x1612.jpg]

@Ed_Orum I put mine in the chamber as it requires a higher temp usually around 80 degrees and 80% humidity for the first 12 or so hours to incubate. Alot of people use a heat pad and cooler with a bowl of water (if you already are in constant stage 55 deg in the chamber this is a good option). I also use Mold 600…can never be too safe!

@ed_orum As far as I am aware there is no way to make a lower salt dry cured sausage, it plays too important a role in the initial stages. That being said I am going to talk to someone next week and I will see if they have any ideas on how, or if this would be possible! Just spitballing here but dipping it in an antimicrobial might help and make sure your meat is clean and your processing area is pristine.

@Jonathon wow, I followed the thread. I never saw something like that before. Sounds like a combo of everything you guys mentioned…or a tiny mouse.

Thanks, thats what I thought but I wanted a second opinion, like a Doctor of Meat!

@ed_orum 25% Humidity is very low should be more like 75-80 for the first 4-5 days then 70-75 for a week then 65-70 for a while

@jonathon The product tightened up overnight in the fridge and the crumbly texture turned into a more homogeneous texture. Not exactly what I wanted, but much better than the day it was processed. As for the mixing, it was a shot in the dark I kept mixing it until all of the meat seemed to be one large sticky lump. Next time I will check to see that it stretches instead of breaking into two lumps. I did not use any ECA, nor did I use any binder agent. I have used powdered milk in the past, and will add it to the next batch (probably tomorrow). At any rate, it is getting there. I did not expect perfect results overnight, but on a positive note the keilbasa I made yesterday was cooked up for dinner and was the best I have ever tasted. Thanks for all of the advice, I really appreciate it.

@jonathon Thanks!

@jonathon I was hanging them one at a time, so the max weight was 13.5 oz. The casings did not appear dry at all. Maybe just a bad batch of casing?

@ed_orum Does the meat have less firmness than any other type of “normal” sausage? I wonder if you are comparing stiffness and texture to a dry cured pepperoni…? What some people think of as pepperoni is not processed in the same way as other sausages like brats, summer sausage, snack sticks, etc. It can be a true dried sausage that is fermented and dry cured, but not ever truly cooked or thermally processed. That is a lot of what gives pepperoni it’s hard firmness and specific texture when eating. That is just not something that can be completely replicated in a cooked sausage. I think the dryness is a big key there, but the texture cannot be fully emulated if we are comparing something thermally processed to not. Other than that, what I think is one of the best ways to make pepperoni, without doing the old-world dry cured and fermented sausage, is what we go through in our standard pepperoni recipe shown here: https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/545/how-to-make-homemade-pepperoni-recipe I would check out your process compared to that one, and see if there are things you can change to match it. The last time we made pepperoni here, it was amazing!!

@Ed_Orum I think you used the wrong casings. As @joe-hell says, you used “snack stick” casings, but you should use the 21 mm Fresh or Natural Sheep casings for breakfast sausage. If you do that, you’ll be much happier with the result!