Dry Aging Summer Sausage

[GunsAreFun]

I want to start making my own summer sausage and looking to get some equipment for Christmas. Problem is I very much prefer that old school sausage that is dark and harder than others (no pun intended). I believe it’s a German style. It calls for dry aging for up to 8 weeks after smoking at specific temps (50-60 degrees) and specific humidities (80-90% then gradually down to 65% over the first few weeks).

What is out there or can be made to achieve that type of temp and humidity control without breaking the bank? I live in Missouri so temps and humidity in my house/basement are way too hard to manage over that period of time.

End product looks like this:

Venison Summer Sausage Recipe - Old School Style Summer Sausage

Hank Shaw's recipe for old school style venison summer sausage, where you dry age the sausages so they can keep for months in the fridge.

honest-food.net

 

[dieselchessy]

No idea how easily your bank breaks, how handy you are, ect..
I’ve looked into aging cabinets and lost interest.

If you’re handy and dedicated.

Advanced Meat Curing Chamber At Home - Taste of Artisan

Advanced dual-fridge meat curing and fermentation chamber that allows complete control of temperature and humidity for consistent results.

tasteofartisan.com

 

[wytx]

Meat market in the spouse's home town just hangs their dry sausage in the store for days or weeks, they make landjaeger and some dry salami.
We have friend that buys their summer sausage and lets it hang at his house until dry like you posted pic of. Maybe wrap yours in a paper bag and put in the frig.

We'll let the summer sausage we just made sit in the frig a bit before packaging for the freezer, dries it out a bit that way.

 

[fishslap]

Might not answer your questions or meet your needs but check out umai dry to see if their casing membranes might help. There’s probably some info on the site regarding how they work. Maybe give this a try to get your feet wet. I’ve done salami and bresaola with them and it’s quite easy. Everything cured in the refrigerator on a rack set over a cookie sheet with water in it. My humidity was too low otherwise. Before that I did the fermentation in the oven at room temp.

Easy Summer Sausage Bundle

Easy Summer Sausage bundle contains: 1 - Summer Sausage Spice Blend (for 5 lbs of meat) 1 - Premixed Curing Salts Blend (for 5 lbs of meat) 1 - UMAi Dry 70mm Sausage casing 15 ft packet (for 25-30 lbs of meat) 1 - Powdered Dextrose (for 25-30 lbs of meat) 1 - Bactoferm T-SPX Starter Culture for...

umaidry.com

 

[mtnbiker208]

I just hung in my shop, for a month. Wait for the sausage to pull away from the sheath.

 

[Bear_Hunter]

I built a homemade drying/aging chamber relatively cheap/easy. When dry curing sausage, temp/humidity is pretty critical so it's worth doing it right. To low of humidity, and the outside dries creating a crust, preventing the inside from ever drying. Too humid/hot for to long, you can get some icky mold. Read up and follow a recipe. Having said that...

First, get yourself a cheap fridge off craigslist. Ideally it has those plastic covered wire racks as shelves, and not the glass shelves. That way you can hang the sausage, but probably pretty easy to come up with a homemade rack system. Clean said fridge very well.

Second, buy an inkbird humidity controller. With that, you'll need an ultrasonic humidifier and a dehumidifier. These plug into the humidity controller, which will turn each unit on/off to regulate whatever humidity you want.

Third, get an inkbird temp controller. With that, you'll plug in the fridge (to cool the temp), and a heat lamp, to increase the temp.

The slight problem I have is when the fridge kicks on to cool down the temp, it sucks the moisture out, making the humidifier kick on. But after a day or two, things kind of stabilizes and it's not a big deal. Also make sure to calibrate your humidifier controller. I didn't and the humidifier ran non-stop for days, creating quite the mess.

 

[gelton]

I built a homemade drying/aging chamber relatively cheap/easy. When dry curing sausage, temp/humidity is pretty critical so it's worth doing it right. To low of humidity, and the outside dries creating a crust, preventing the inside from ever drying. Too humid/hot for to long, you can get some icky mold. Read up and follow a recipe. Having said that...

First, get yourself a cheap fridge off craigslist. Ideally it has those plastic covered wire racks as shelves, and not the glass shelves. That way you can hang the sausage, but probably pretty easy to come up with a homemade rack system. Clean said fridge very well.

Second, buy an inkbird humidity controller. With that, you'll need an ultrasonic humidifier and a dehumidifier. These plug into the humidity controller, which will turn each unit on/off to regulate whatever humidity you want.

Third, get an inkbird temp controller. With that, you'll plug in the fridge (to cool the temp), and a heat lamp, to increase the temp.

The slight problem I have is when the fridge kicks on to cool down the temp, it sucks the moisture out, making the humidifier kick on. But after a day or two, things kind of stabilizes and it's not a big deal. Also make sure to calibrate your humidifier controller. I didn't and the humidifier ran non-stop for days, creating quite the mess.

What dehumidifier/humidifier did you go with?

 

[Bear_Hunter]

What dehumidifier/humidifier did you go with?

Humidifier:

Crane Drop Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier - Blue/White - 1gal

Read reviews and buy Crane Drop Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier - Blue/White - 1gal at Target. Choose from contactless Same Day Delivery, Drive Up and more.

www.target.com

Dehumidifier:

https://www.amazon.com/Eva-dry-Edv-1100-Electric-Petite-Dehumidifier/dp/B000H0ZDD2/ref=asc_df_B000H0ZDD2/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167142742016&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8243921978988891626&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1012908&hvtargid=pla-305170695489&psc=1&mcid=9f372d49c739361ab876c50d2884ea5e&gclid=CjwKCAiA1MCrBhAoEiwAC2d64cF46tkD6-cKyK-SMjsY3VilM63AUrAsfZMdEMwu4guvcU7-2RvG9BoCN5oQAvD_BwE

 

[Don Qui Puncher]

Mine has never needed added humidity I just control it with dehumidifier. Those ink birds are great. It took some figuring out the right dehumidifier because when the controller is not calling for it the power is off, some units need the power button depressed to activate and when power is off they won’t turn back on again.