Construction day was finally upon us! After months of dreaming and planning and buying parts online, we were finally ready.

Step 1 (Air circulation):

Air circulation is vital for curing meats, so we decided to insert a computer fan into the top of the refrigerator door and a hole at the bottom, in order to generate air flow in the chamber. We removed the door of the refrigerator in order to better access what we needed. We measured the area that we needed to cut in order to saw the holes.

The hole at the top was cut for the size of the computer fan, and was square.

The hole at the bottom was circular, in order to insert a piece of PVC pipe into the air outflow hole.

After these holes were cut, the computer fan was inserted into the top square hole and the PVC pipe was inserted into the bottom round hole.

We then added wire mesh and dryer vents to both holes.

At this point, the door was done!

Step 2 (Power):

The next step was to add a power strip to the inside of the fridge. We drilled a hole for the power cord, and then glued an outdoor power box to the side of the fridge.

We screwed on the outer portion of the outlet and it was ready to supply power to the inside of the fridge! We were able to plug the computer fan into the outlet at this point.

Step 3 (Temperature):

The next thing we did was insert the temperature probe. This was done by drilling a small hole and feeding the probe wire through the hole. The probe wire was placed  roughly in the middle of the fridge, while the control box was adhered to the outside side of the fridge and plugged into an external power outlet. The probe wire senses the temperature and sends that information to the control box on the outside of the fridge, which has a control switch for you to control the set point. When the sensor reaches the set point, the fridge turns off/on in order to maintain the proper temperature.

Step 4 (Humidity):

The last step was to get the humidity right. We bought an ultrasonic humidifier that we filled with filtered water. We plugged it into the hygrostat which we then plugged into the outdoor power outlet on the inside of the fridge. The hygrostat monitors the humidity and turns the humidifier on/off as needed.

VOILA! And with that our curing chamber was all set up and ready for its first trial: Bresaola!

Resources:

And, again. Here are the sources that were so useful for our endeavors!

http://curedmeats.blogspot.mx/2007/07/key-equipment-piece-3-curing-chamber.html

http://benstarr.com/blog/how-to-convert-a-refrigerator-for-curing-meat-or-aging-cheese/

http://pickledpig.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/the-curing-chamber/

http://mattikaarts.com/blog/charcuterie/meat-curing-at-home-the-setup/

Disclaimer: All information stated on this website is for information purposes only. The information is not specific advice for any individual. The content of this website should not substitute electricity/engineering/building advice from a professional. If you have a problem, speak to a professional immediately about the issue.

And so the adventure begins.  It would be hard to say where the idea of curing our own meats came from originally, but once it was there, it became an obsession that was never far from mind. There are so many appealing aspects to curing your own meat, from the self-sufficiency it affords, to the ability to create un-tasted and commercially non-viable delicacies, to the intellectual challenge of understanding and optimizing the chemistry behind what is going on.

There are many different styles of cured meats, from sausages made from ground meat to prosciuttos made from whole muscles. In addition, there is a wide range of materials and methods that are used: from caves in Tuscany, to refrigerators in New Jersey; from natural bacteria, to Bactoferm M-EK-4, it’s all been done (and if it hasn’t been done yet, you can bet that someone is thinking about trying it as we speak).

Due to our lack of a cave with low temperatures and high humidity, the first step in our journey was to create a curing chamber for our meat. The goal for a curing chamber is to create an environment that has the relatively cool temperatures of  50 F/10 C and the relatively high humidity of 70-80% RH. The best way for us to do this was to outfit an old fridge with all the necessary trappings.

We were able to find a used fridge on Craigslist that was suitable for our purposes, larger than a traditional dorm fridge, but smaller than a regular sized fridge, and lacking a freezer section meaning that we could use all the available space to hang our meat.

There are 4 important aspects you want to be able to control in your curing chamber; air flow, humidity, temperature, and power.

Air Flow: Achieved through inserting a computer fan into the fridge door. Air gets blown out from the fan, which is inserted at the top of the door. Air comes in through the bottom of the door, which has a dryer vent on the inside of the door to block backflow through the same vent. The bottom vent should be covered by wire mesh to prevent rodent/insect entry, while the computer fan should be covered with a dryer vent for the same purpose.

Humidity: Achieved through the use of a humidifier, attached to a hygrostat to regulate the humidity. The RH in a fridge is much lower than needed, so we added an ultrasonic humidifier that needs to be refilled about once every two weeks or so, depending on different factors.

Temperature:Achieved by inserting a temperature sensor into the fridge, and attaching that to an on/off switch for the fridge. The fridge will naturally run colder than the desired 50 F/10C that we want, so the temperature sensor will detect when the fridge is at the correct temperature and switch off power to the fridge.

Power: Power for the internal accessories achieved by mounting an outdoor power strip on the inside door-side side wall of the fridge.

Our finished product looked like this:

Resources:

Of course, we never would have even known where to begin with this construction without the help and guidance of other like-minded bloggers.

http://curedmeats.blogspot.mx/2007/07/key-equipment-piece-3-curing-chamber.html

http://benstarr.com/blog/how-to-convert-a-refrigerator-for-curing-meat-or-aging-cheese/

http://pickledpig.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/the-curing-chamber/

http://mattikaarts.com/blog/charcuterie/meat-curing-at-home-the-setup/

Disclaimer: All information stated on this website is for information purposes only. The information is not specific advice for any individual. The content of this website should not substitute electric/engineering/building advice from a professional. If you have a problem, speak to a professional immediately about the issue.