Great video, thanks. I was thinking I could just get by with strips at first but you showed how difficult that would be. You are right, people have been doing this for a long time, but there is also a reason the average lifespan was 35 only 500 years ago.
Thank you Eric as usual very informative and awesome video I remember a while back I asked you about this exact thing and you weren’t sure well now we all know it’s not accurate at all
Need to replace the pH meter I use for home preservation. Might upgrade in the process. Very useful video anyway, despite me already being sold on pH meters.
Dang it man! I had those papers at a solid 5.7. Now I have to bite the bullet and buy another tool! 🙃 definitely learning a lot from your videos, thanks
Just what I needed to know, and yes, a trustworthy pH meter seems to be the only way to go. The only problem is justifying the expense - the non-Bluetooth version costs about $250 in the UK - so a fair bit of money for a purely hobby sausage maker. I did find a similar type of tester on Amazon, of a different brand, at around $170 but then I am not sure how easy it will be to get spare parts for it as it looks as if it is a Chinese import by a company that sells just about anything under the sun. I suppose that I will just have to stat saving up for the right one 😄 I believe that the starter culture does play a very big part in how the fermentation is kick-started and different types of starter culture will likely affect, and require different vigilance during the fermentation process, but being able to accurately monitor what is going on can only be a huge benefit regardless of method of fermentation. Just need to get used to that $250 price tag.
Great video, I always use a ph meter, like you said for accuracy. Also, using a meter has given me tons of data on local and commodity meats and the range of ph. Even different muscle tissues in the same carcass has shown to be different in ph. Just all very interesting to me. Imo a ph meter is well worth the buy if your a hobbyist and especially if your a professional.. cheers ! ❤️🥩
I have just seen your Black Salami Video and got an idea: I don't know if you've done that before, but here in germany you can buy Schwarzwurst (translates to black sausage) it's an air dried salami with blood, making it almost as black as your sepia colored salami, but staying true to land animal products. Would be great to see you try and make this yourself.
When making salami and testing PH, how many individual readings does one normally take? In my case, I'm using t-spx. My salami is based on your saucison sec except for the starter culture, and adding 8% blue cheese. I had two separate balls of mince saved from the stuffer. At 72 hours, I got one correct reading, following by several incorrect readings. I waited until 96 hours (after calculating maximum ferment time based on temperature), and then got one correct reading per ball followed by two that are slightly higher. I'm thinking the blue cheese may be the reason. I got 3 for 3 good readings from the non-blue cheese ones from the same batch at 72 hours. (They all started the same, pulled 1kg, mixed in blue cheese, and then stuffed the blue cheese version last) I'm using an MW 102 pro with the food probe, and calibrate it every time. I could not find sample PH's from any of the recipes I've seen which used blue cheese.
Eric - have you ever tested the pH over the course of the drying phase? I just did it for the first time. Started with a 4.9 at the end of fermentation. About 30 days in my pH was 6.5+ but I allowed it to keep going to 40% moisture loss (50 days). By the end my pH was safe at about 5.7. Does it make sense to you that the pH would go this high while drying and then drop to the safe range at the end? I can’t find any resources that speak to this (Marianski or otherwise). Any insight is much appreciated. Big fan of your channel.
Hey John. After fermentation the ph in your salami will not fluctuate very much. If you are growing mold on it then it might rise a couple tenths of a point but nothing dramatic. You have to remember that fermentation is about lactic acid production. Once the salami has been acidified the only thing that will raise that number is an alkaline influence. Unless there's massive contamination or the ph was inaccurately measured during fermentation, this should never happen. The starting ph of pork is roughly 5.7-5.9. If your ph rose to 6.5 I can tell you that you have a serious problem. Also if the final ph was 5.7 the salami is not in the safe zone. A properly made salami will have a ph that's lower than 5.3. It sounds like you might have an issue. What starter culture did you use? How long did you ferment it? What were the conditions of your fermentation? How old and what model is your ph meter?
@UCdnBWzYQfkql-o460NTL1Tw Thanks for the reply. I used T-SPX, fermented to about 4.9-5.0 (48 hours) on a baking sheet at room temp wrapped in plastic at room temp, and my ph meter is a Hanna Meat pH tester HI981036. Marianski says the pH of a slow fermented finished sausage is about 5.3-6.0 so I thought I would be okay. Trying another batch now to monitor the pH over the drying phase to see if it happens again.
@@johnevans2103 What I think you are referring to is Marianski's perspective on slow fermented salami. These salami will take between 6 weeks and 6 months to dry. He states that the pH after fermentation is generally not below 5.2 and through the drying period the ph will rise but the low water activity will still keep the salami safe. It's been my experience that when you acidify the salami to 4.9- 5.0 the ph doesn't change very much through the drying process. I have a salami that's been drying for 6 months (it's a 190mm salami). I fermented it to a ph of 4.9 and as I am typing this I got up to test the pH of that salami. The ph 6 months after drying is 4.92. So, IMHO I think that if your pH was 4.9 after fermentation and it rose so dramatically during drying something different is going on.
@@2guysandacooler makes sense. I must have had an issue with my last batch with the pH rising too high and then dropping again once the water activity was lowered. Not sure what caused it but will toss and try again. Love your channel. You have been a tremendous resource in helping me learn this hobby and I thank you!
Hello Eric First off, thank you for sharing your incredible knowledge I forgot to add dextrose to my dry dry sausage and it's been hanging for 12 days in my Reserve 300 cabinet I just did a PH test on one of them and it came in at PH 6.04 after 12 days of hanging It smells fine, but i'm concerned My mix has the right percentage of Salt, curing salt #1, Bactoferm FLC and a several dry spices, like paprika, black pepper, kosher salt, and bragg nutritional yeast, but I forgot to add dextrose After it sat for 12 hours at at 90% humidity and 88 degrees F It came up at a 5.0 PH reading, and yes my PH meter was calibrated and tested before and after to make sure it was not a false reading and like I mentioned above, it is now reading 6.04PH after 12 day of hanging at 13 degrees C and 77% humidity . Kinda weird, or is it? Should i toss it to be on the safe side? Thank you Regards, Dan C
Dextrose isn't always necessary as other ingredients also contain fermentable sugars. What recipe did you follow? If your ph was within range at fermentation then it should be fine. Also. How old is your meter and what is the expiration date of your 4.0 calibration solution
@2guysandacooler Thank you! I checked the PH testing powder pouch, and there is no expiration date on it I am using a Yinnik YK-2S tester I created the recipe based on several I've experimented with before, including some of your insights. However, as I mentioned, sadly, the only ingredient I forgot was dextrose I ended up tossing the batch as it started to emit a slightly undesirable odor. Also, the saussage was still soft after being in the chamber for 15 days at the time, which i think is not normal. It also started to develop white mold dots with a tinge of green in the center. I have since replaced my Yinmik probe and calibrated it. Fingers crossed I have produced a new batch, and so far, so good. This time with dextrose, lol Thanks for responding. It did help me out Let me know if you'd like to add or share anything Much appreciated Regards, Dan C
Hi Eric. I have been watching your videos for some time now. I have learned so much and appreciate all the hard work you put into them. I have a quick question on using Sodium Erythorbate. I know it can be used as an accelerator in curing sausage, but can it be used on whole muscle meats? If so, how is it used? Would you add it to your cure or do you add it just before you put the muscle in the curing chamber. Thanks for your help.
Hey James. You can add it to whole muscle curing (dry equilibrium cure(). Add it to the cure and rub your meat down with it. Vac seal it and let it do its thing!!
No difference and 5.7 or even darker. Needs to be fermented more. Wow.. for sure need to buy that meter that I have sitting in "save for later" on Amazon.
Thank you for this very informative video. What to do when your pH reading is outside the target range? If the reading is too high, do you let it ferment longer to allow the pH level to drop? If the reading is too low, what do you do then?
It really depends on what culture you are using. The target time to reach pH should be under 72-96 hours. So if you test the ph and it's too high just wait longer. If it doesn't drop then that means you either don't have enough dextrose in your recipe or something is wrong with the culture. Each culture ferments at unique temperatures. If it's too low then take note of what it is and either add less dextrose to your recipe or take it out of fermentation sooner so it can begin drying. Too low is ok (albeit a little tangy), too high is an issue... Your range for Traditional European style salami will be 4.95 - 5.2pH.
Very interesting, are you sure the paper is good and NOT the meter ??? Just asking !!!! got a Milwaukee meter A pain to calibrate with solutions all the time,
oh yeah!! The meter is rock solid. My first meter was a Milwaukee and i also found it to be a pain. I've been using this unit for 3 years now and I love it!! No issues
Hi Eric! great video as always. Ive been kind of worried about this topic because i want to get into the art of sausage, but I already made an investment in everything else i need for this and right now i have a ph meter that is not as good as the apera but it does the job, one of those 20 bucks ph meter you buy on amazon. This ph meter is obviously not design for semi solid food. Do you think I can get away with this ph meter with 1 part sample and 2 parts distilled water for a few months until I can buy the Apera?
Hello Ricardo. We are neighbors!! I'm in Panama 😁. Your pH meter should be sufficient to do the job till you get a meter designed for solid/semisolid testing
@@2guysandacooler wow genial! Si vi que manejaban cosas en español pero no sabía que desde Panamá! Somos hermanos básicamente jajaja. Me ha tocado pedir algunas cosas desde the sausage maker, más puntualmente los cultivos ya que eso no lo manejan acá en Colombia. Es más fácil conseguir ese tipo de cosas en Panamá? Me genera curiosidad...
The PH20 is a nice meter but the glass bulb probe is designed to read water solutions. The PH60S (amzn.to/2KXmuTR) with the swiss spear tip is a better choice as it's built to take the pH of soft solid samples and it can take the pH of liquid samples as well. It can accurately test the pH of meat, salami, cheese, kombucha, yoghurt, soil, pools, or hydroponics. The step up from that one would be the PH60S-Z (amzn.to/3rRow8P) which has Bluetooth capability and lots of other features. Both will do the job well. For salami I would go with a unit that has the spear tip.. You'll have fewer headaches along the way
@@2guysandacooler thank you for the super quick reply! The 250 price tag is a hard pill to swallow, I'm leaning more towards the PH60, I like your slurry method, from what I could see it was fairly accurate
@@schumyschumy It would work as long as the PH of your distilled water is neutral. If you distilled water is acid or alkaline then it will throw your reading off.. This would at least get you comfortably in the safe zone.. Be aware that cleaning it is a delicate task..
Hi Eric, I noticed the distilled water said made in Panama, are you located there? if so how do you get the starter cultures from Sausage Maker? I'm in Costa Rica but I can't order them because it takes too long and I guess it will be dead by the time it gets here without freezing.
I am loca ted In panama. I get all my stuffed mailed to a freight forwarder in florida. Generally It takes about 10-12 days to get to me. Anything under 15 days and you should be fine 😁. As soon as I get them I place them in the freezer. Never had an issue..
@@2guysandacooler So we are neighbors!!!! I'm originally from Argentina so I grew up with charcuterie but not much of this around here. So I starting making my grill sausages and then I moved into salumi. I also order from SM via a freight in Miami but it takes roughly a month so I never ordered cultures. So far so good but I'm intrigued about them specially that flavor of Italy. Anyway... I you cross the north border sometime I'm in SJO would love to share a glass of wine and some meat! Fernando
If taken care of properly these meters have about a 18-24 month life span. Then the sensor starts to deteriorate and its time to replace. This is true for all pH meters
Hi Eric I have bacterial culture that have been stored in my freezer for a while. I have some unopened bags and vacuumed bags but the expiration date has passed. How crucial is the expiration date for me to use?
@@tony22226 It's hard to say. If each culture was stored in an airtight container in the freezer there might be a chance that they are still ok. I would test some on a small amount of meat to make sure. Add double what you normally would and increase the dextrose a little bit.
You could make a salami with out a starter culture but i would suggest testing the ph to see when you should start drying it. The critical number is 5.3ph. once you get lower than that you are good to go
So i bought a cheaper ph meter that is for liquid. You do calibrate it with three solutions. My question is could you get by for a while doing this slurry test?
Sure. You just need to make sure the distilled water you add is neutral (ph 7) otherwise it will alter your readings. Using that meter will at least get you pretty close..
Thanks for the idea I thought for sure I had to break down and buy an expensive ph meter. I would rather buy other things first like a good sausage stuffer that is not part of my meat grinder. And a bigger meat grinder. And get my cheese cave/ salami chamber set up. Then maybe buy a better ph meter.
@@2guysandacooler Thanks Eric. My meter was on the blink during fermentation of some chorizo, so I ordered a new one while it dried. Once it reached 38% moisture loss it measured 6.08 pH. It otherwise looks and smells great. Is there any way to save it?
How long does the probe tip last on your PH meter as shown in the video? I just read your reply from other posting...24 months..this becomes an expensive tool to maintain/use...I wish there was a much cheaper option..maybe other ph meters (soil type of simple the water/liquid type used on the slurry maybe?)
@@kevinbarteaux1717 but you are unsure as to what the pH was when you started fermentation? Hard to say. Depending on the rest of your process and recipe. If everything else was done correctly it could be ok.. Ph is just one of several safety hurdles in salami making so if your meat was super fresh, the right amount of cure and salt was added, and the appropriate weight was lost and it was very firm to the tough i should be ok..
@@2guysandacooler Thanks. Yes, I do not know for sure what the pH was when I started. Would cooking the finished chorizo like is done with semi-dried sausages eliminate the risks?
5.5ph Forget to add dextrose!?!?! Oh No, you would never do that!! When I first started, I tried using the Apera ph20 that I already had for my aquaponics. Not good for semi-solid product.
Amazing vídeos. But I have an important question. In my country is very difficult to get my hands on starter culture for salami, but it's very easy to buy yogurt starter culture. Can I use that one?
LOL!, Just stick your salami in the ground and use a cheap soil pH tester😂😂😂. But you made this video so why not try a number of cheap testers. I seen single probe soild tester types that i might buy and try. If they fail then i still have a soil tester.
