Gooood day @Liketu hope you have been well,
Hope you're following along with my home made Salami curing where I have turned my home gym in the garage into a makeshift Salami curing facility! This is an annual thing for me and something I have been doing for as long as I have been alive and longer.
This year the Salami looks great also which I am really excited about and we will go into that a little more soon.
Over the passed few years we haven't had the space to do a full blown production due to shifting homes and construction issues. Having moved into our home just recently I haven't been able to set up proper hanging locations which I will do for next years season. Which means I have also been using smaller skins, which I made the crap mistake of going to a different butcher to get the skins and I think he has sold me some that were too small. This just means there isn't much meat in each Salami and they will be alot smaller in size.
But in relation to the hanging and location I think we hit a winner. A large part of home curring relies on weather needing to be under 14 degrees to ensure botulism doesn't grow inside your meat. The high acidity of the capsicum and salt content while being encased in hog casins helps ward off bad bacteria.
You'll notice the first week there will be quite a bad smell as the skins on the outside are most likely attacked by bacteria but a regular vinigar wash helps keep the external moist and kills off bacteria.
Humidity also plays a role in ensuring an even curing process which in my last image you can see occurring with the meat shrinking rather than just drying out large leaving holes in the middle of the salami which can also be a bad sign as bacteria can grow inside cavities.
Due to the lake across the road this would be increasing overall humidity in the area and retaining moisture in the air and with proper air flow in the garage the cool air would be providing the perfect climate for curing. You can also see the development of white mold occuring on the outside of the skins. This is a further indication that the salami is healthy and curing well.
Another week or two and these bad boys will be ready for harvest!