Air drying / curing pork foods... in Wales.

[GNJC]

Can't find anything on the forum specifically covering this, happy to be appropriately directed if there is... however, having made all sorts of things from pigs, and most of it very successfully, I'll admit that I have struggled with air drying - am in Carms, West Wales. Whether hams or sausages, we've never had much better than a 50% success rate if done outside - and by outside I mean in or under 'dry' sheds... obviously this improves if done in a house, and more so with an extractor or a dehumidifier.

Despite having had good ideas about many things, which even Mrs GNJC will admit after a drink or two , I can't come up with any way of dramatically increasing my outside curing success rate, and it's going to be expensive and inconvenient to rely on electricity.

So I'll be very grateful for any tested and proven suggestions for successfully air drying / curing pork foods in a pretty damp climate.

 

[FerlasDave]

Great idea for a topic. I’d be keen to know if anyone has any tricks too.

At the moment I make bacon in the fridge, but it takes up a fair amount of space. I have a smokehouse which I’m sure could work but how to convert it temporarily and without using too much electricity is the problem.

 

[xairbourne]

Any old mine shafts about? All about Increasing the air flow. The cheese shop in Blaenavon used to cure their cheese down Big Pit, the mines air draw was a great environment for it.

In the spanish mountains they hang the meat in their chimney's.
1. They can cold smoke the meat if they want
2. Just leave it in there with the increased air draw.

So you need a drunken epiphany to come up with an air draw system to hang ur meat in.

 

[Ystranc]

The humidity has been extremely high this year making evaporation a slower and less reliable process outdoors. Our refrigerator dries meat left open to air quite effectively because it circulates air between compartments and the freezer compartment removes moisture by freezing it before recirculating it back through the fridge section.
There is a method of air convection where the air enters an enclosed space low down on the windward side and exits high up similar to an oast house, this process relies on moderate warmth (possibly solar) to make the air inside warmer than outside.

 

[mikehill]

I have no idea how to do it the way you are seeking .. but am currently looking into how to do stuff in my new Ninja air fryer

 

[GNJC]

Any old mine shafts about? All about Increasing the air flow. The cheese shop in Blaenavon used to cure their cheese down Big Pit, the mines air draw was a great environment for it.

In the spanish mountains they hang the meat in their chimney's.
1. They can cold smoke the meat if they want
2. Just leave it in there with the increased air draw.

So you need a drunken epiphany to come up with an air draw system to hang ur meat in.

I have a smoker and chimneys I could use too, but although I like that for some bacon, I don't want to do it for all. There is an old lead-mine in the valley, but it's into the hillside rather than down, has virtually no air movement and is even damper than outside... and it certainly has rats etc..

Air draw is clearly important, but the question is whether drawing damp air is of any benefit? I don't think it is, much, since hams hanging at about ten feet high under the apex of an airy shed with an open front and Yorkshire boarding at back still don't 'do' well here.

What I want to work out is a non-electrical way / system of progressively reducing the humidity of air along a path (maybe compartmentalised) that ends with the pork being exposed to the driest air that is then drawn away from it, I guess by using a one-way system of some sort.

Using a passive 'draw' system like a chimney seems the obvious choice, the hard thing is to work out a 'passive' way to reduce the humidity. I rather think this is the 'Holy Grail' of home pig-processing.

Maybe resignation to the reality of the local climate and resorting to a solar-powered dehumidifier is the logical and inevitable conclusion...

 

[TeeDee]

I have a smoker and chimneys I could use too, but although I like that for some bacon, I don't want to do it for all. There is an old lead-mine in the valley, but it's into the hillside rather than down, has virtually no air movement and is even damper than outside... and it certainly has rats etc..

Air draw is clearly important, but the question is whether drawing damp air is of any benefit? I don't think it is, much, since hams hanging at about ten feet high under the apex of an airy shed with an open front and Yorkshire boarding at back still don't 'do' well here.

What I want to work out is a non-electrical way / system of progressively reducing the humidity of air along a path (maybe compartmentalised) that ends with the pork being exposed to the driest air that is then drawn away from it, I guess by using a one-way system of some sort.

Using a passive 'draw' system like a chimney seems the obvious choice, the hard thing is to work out a 'passive' way to reduce the humidity. I rather think this is the 'Holy Grail' of home pig-processing.

Maybe resignation to the reality of the local climate and resorting to a solar-powered dehumidifier is the logical and inevitable conclusion...

I have a dehumidifier in my shed to help with winter moisture - I've plugged it into one of the fancy wifi plugs that I can operate from my phone and have set it to come 'on' during the course of the day/night with 4/5 timer sections all coming on for 10-15mins and have found its made a significant impact.


I'm mentioning this as I would think one could do the same with Curing meat - be it with a fan or dehumidifier - have it come on every 5 mins on the hour and see if that works?

 

[Pattree]

I am about to pontificate via the lower end of my alimentary canal having no experience whatsoever of the curing process.

I do however have a fire drum in my garden and four feet of ss chimney liner that can fit on top of it.
Even with the fire out there it’s one hell of a draft blasting up it. Could it be as simple as a louvred cabinet and a decent cowled chimney stack.
Humidity here in the Midlands is rated 60% high and 45% low so drying in an airstream should work on all but a prolonged rainy season. Fog would almost certainly be a problem. How long does the cure take? What season is it traditionally undertaken? A good frost drops humidity dramatically but we don’t get those much recently.

 

[GNJC]

I have a dehumidifier in my shed to help with winter moisture - I've plugged it into one of the fancy wifi plugs that I can operate from my phone and have set it to come 'on' during the course of the day/night with 4/5 timer sections all coming on for 10-15mins and have found its made a significant impact.


I'm mentioning this as I would think one could do the same with Curing meat - be it with a fan or dehumidifier - have it come on every 5 mins on the hour and see if that works?

Have considered something like that, but perhaps being triggered via a sensor, so that anything over a given humidity percentage starts it. Being clockwork I shall probably avoid any 'phone work...

I am about to pontificate via the lower end of my alimentary canal having no experience whatsoever of the curing process.

I do however have a fire drum in my garden and four feet of ss chimney liner that can fit on top of it.
Even with the fire out there it’s one hell of a draft blasting up it. Could it be as simple as a louvred cabinet and a decent cowled chimney stack.
Humidity here in the Midlands is rated 60% high and 45% low so drying in an airstream should work on all but a prolonged rainy season. Fog would almost certainly be a problem. How long does the cure take? What season is it traditionally undertaken? A good frost drops humidity dramatically but we don’t get those much recently.

Louvred panels and a decent stack were my first thoughts, but it's the humidity that is the pain, no point in encouraging even more moisture in!

Time depends upon size of the meat / ham and desired result. Typically about twenty days in salt for a full ham, and then clean it off, wrapped in muslin and hang for at least or eight or nine months, usually more.

Temperature isn't a real problem, it's just the bl**dy humidity!

 

[TeeDee]

Have considered something like that, but perhaps being triggered via a sensor, so that anything over a given humidity percentage starts it. Being clockwork I shall probably avoid any 'phone work...


Louvred panels and a decent stack were my first thoughts, but it's the humidity that is the pain, no point in encouraging even more moisture in!

Time depends upon size of the meat / ham and desired result. Typically about twenty days in salt for a full ham, and then clean it off, wrapped in muslin and hang for at least or eight or nine months, usually more.

Temperature isn't a real problem, it's just the bl**dy humidity!

Indeed.

As much as I want to think there is a clever way to do this using natural or directed air flow in your neck of the woods I can only think ( as you have done ) that by funnelling or redirecting the air flow its just going to increase the amount of ambient moisture , not diminish it.

 

[slowworm]

With something valuable an electric dehumidifier might be the way to go if you can restrict the space.

An idle thought from someone who also lives in the damp west. Our water comes from our spring and is cold all year round. The pipes and cold storage tank get very wet when it's humid and the water vapour condenses out of the air. If you had access to free cold water you could try and make a diy dehumidifier.

 

[GNJC]

With something valuable an electric dehumidifier might be the way to go if you can restrict the space.

An idle thought from someone who also lives in the damp west. Our water comes from our spring and is cold all year round. The pipes and cold storage tank get very wet when it's humid and the water vapour condenses out of the air. If you had access to free cold water you could try and make a diy dehumidifier.

We have a deep well / borehole and the house's old source of water... a spring about fifty yards up the hill. I hadn't thought of our suggestion, I'll do some research and see if it's already a 'thing'.

 

[TLM]

If you have enough (and cheap) pressurized water an ejector pump for reasonable vacuum does not cost much and at low pressure most things dry very fast.

 

[santaman2000]

@Pattree i can answer at least one question (what time of the year is it traditionally done?) At least for over here. Commercial hogs nowadays are slaughtered and processed year round but back in the day when small farmers raised their own they were traditionally killed at the first frost (hence the still oft used saying, “It’s cold enough to kill hogs today”) Presumably they’d begin the curing process Immediately.

 

[GNJC]

@Pattree i can answer at least one question (what time of the year is it traditionally done?) At least for over here. Commercial hogs nowadays are slaughtered and processed year round but back in the day when small farmers raised their own they were traditionally killed at the first frost (hence the still oft used saying, “It’s cold enough to kill hogs today”) Presumably they’d begin the curing process Immediately.

Yes, I forgot to mention season; typically we get pigs in the early Spring and slaughter them from mid-Autumn onward.

 

[Pattree]

That makes sense. Frost = low humidity.

 

[TLM]

Frost = low humidity.

Well yes and no, lower absolute but often higher relative.

 

[santaman2000]

Frost also means no pesky bugs and a time to reduce the herd before having to feed them through winter.

That makes sense. Frost = low humidity.

 

[Toddy]

Right now, Halloween, the humidity is 83% outside and 58% indoors, the outside temperature is about 4˚C, inside around 20.

We don't like to see mould, but the white penicillin mould is normal on hung salami type meats.

This fellow recommends just doing the curing in the fridge. He says he gets consistently good results doing so.

At-Home Temperature and Humidity for Dry Curing Fridge

Discover the optimal temperature and humidity for your meat curing chamber. Achieve perfect conditions for curing your meats.

eatcuredmeat.com

 

[GNJC]

That makes sense. Frost = low humidity.

And then we come on to the next problem... we don't get a reliable period of frost nowadays. Great in one way, since not having such low temperatures means less inputs for livestock, but not so great when you want a bit less humidity.

Right now, Halloween, the humidity is 83% outside and 58% indoors, the outside temperature is about 4˚C, inside around 20.

We don't like to see mould, but the white penicillin mould is normal on hung salami type meats.

This fellow recommends just doing the curing in the fridge. He says he gets consistently good results doing so.

At-Home Temperature and Humidity for Dry Curing Fridge

Discover the optimal temperature and humidity for your meat curing chamber. Achieve perfect conditions for curing your meats.

eatcuredmeat.com

Interesting.