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Dave, you can always just click the “Club News” button on the top of the site, the newsletters are archived there. I just added your email to the club email list. Hope to see you next week!
No, I do things the hardest ways, I might be slightly retarded, but please don’t make fun of me for it. It is a learning curve, me vs. the general concensus on how to do things. I would also like to add being stubborn is a positive trait.
Dave,
Welcome to OTMP. We would love to meet you and share beers with you at a meeting. Totally cool setup you have there. We are really big on the face to face type situations and a little less on the virtual in person connections. Check out the newsletter to see if our next meeting might fit your schedule.
OTMP
Chuck, I am happy that this box will go to a good home, and of course you are awesome!
Nate, consider it yours till Ryan needs it. 😉
Also have a CO2 tank and a jockey box. Same terms and conditions.
I am more than happy to throw down $100, as well as offer up a home for it to live at. As I am sure that there is a big difference in consumer grade vs. commercial grade, I am thinking comparing this to cheap grain mills that last a few years and more expensive mills that tend to get much heavier use and constantly perform due to higher build specifications. I am looking for guidance as far as brands go, would entertain if we look in used markets for a product like this. If the price gets high I could throw more I to it.
Granted, this all comes from a guy that just buys expensive homebrewing equipment just to gaze at the shiny stainless.
I have linked the entire magazine as a pdf here for anyone to download and read the article.
Nice work again Ryan, a true milestone for an avid homebrewer.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vUNTxwIey2zKyuSkyNxVoyQwz24fsFlR/view?usp=sharing
You can also add information on this post about your beers you are going to share. This can make it easier for us to know what everyone is sharing and what your grains, yeast, and hops are for your brews.
Looking forward to sampling some amazing brews this month!
Thanks Colter for getting this going!
We are doing virtual meetings once a month at the moment. Are you receiving the newsletter currently? if not email oldetownmashpaddlers@gmail.com and let me know you want to be added. If you are wanting to host more meetings or virtual activities we can discuss this further.
I am cracking up at this because this morning I decided to refund everyone’s money because we had not made significant progress on getting this project off the ground.
Where are you getting your kits/parts from? Sounds like Colter and I need to see your setup. OR even better if you have the documentation you followed to get yours working. All of this is good to see posted here.
Here is the update on the hard cure salami’s.
So this project somewhat fell off the table for me as I didn’t check in on it as often as I thought I would. I did probably let these meats dry out a week or two more than I typically should have. My losses of weight were in the 42%-48%; where as ideally they should have been around 35-38%. So the meat weighed less than ideal; so it is a little more hard than it should have been.
This was also a test of faith in some ways as I didn’t have a god way to check the PH of the meat. This is the largest indicator if your starter culture is working with you or against you. The alternative to give time the benefit of the doubt and let the nitrogen do its work and convert in the nitrogen cycle. Basically meaning that the nitrates have to turn into nitrites for it to be safe to eat. The reason we have to use nitrogen is so that it will kill the potential for botulism. The term botulism roughly translates from latin to meaning Sausage-pathogen.
In letting these salami’s go a little longer than expected which means they have to be safe to eat at this point. Consuming pink salt #2 can have adverse effects if consumed in its original state. So I knew I was safe to eat the meat. Although, there is a always a lingering feeling of “Am I going to die” when consuming homemade charcuterie.
Removing the collagen wrapper from most of the salami was simple; in the folds where it really dried out proved to be difficult as the wrapper would get pinched in the folds.
You could also see the transfer of the protective culture to the outer layer of the meat where I poked the holes to dry out. I thought this was sort of interesting.
Then the slicing started, think to win was the goal.
I then packed them in mix packs, labeled and sealed them up. Honestly this was the most fun meat project to date. All of the meats ended up tasting great. The salami was the most true to form in texture and taste but the spanish chorizo was the gold medal winner here, dynamic taste and explosive flavor.
So a little late to post this now. This project was finished recently and stored in vacuum sealed packages for freezing over the coming months.
All recipe information is stored here.
The corned beef ended up looking like this when it was finished with the wet cure. The color really changed when it came out. We debrined it for 2 days in clean water to pull some of the salt out.
We cut the slabs of corned beef in half so they could be cooked easier.
We cooked these up for St. Pats. We didnt boil them in water but rather add some beef broth to the bottom of the pan and let the maillard reactions happen. The end result was that fat cap got nice and crispy and an amazing cut of meat. This easily was the best corned beef I have ever had. This made the store bought corned beef at St. PAts taste like generic crap.
The end of the corned beef story. It is all gone now; I can’t wait till next year to do it again.
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Now for the story of the pastrami.
We maintained the beef in the brine for 3 more weeks till we could get to it. We followed the de-brine method to pull excess salt out and let the cured flavor rest a bit. Then we dried and seasoned them and let them age with the seasoning bark on them for 2 days in the refrigerator.
Then into the smoker they go for a 14 hour smoke/cook.
Once completed cooking we wrapped in foil tightly and then let cool in the refrigerator for 2 more days. This let the meat rest while slicer repairs were in action. Which I did learn finding belts for a 60 year old slider is rather difficult. Once all of the meats and slicer we did a Saturday slicing/packaging party.
The pastrami loss about 40% of its weight over this process. Thus making it not money saving at all. But in comparison to the best deli meats you can get this blows them out of the water. Each of our takes in the end was 8 lbs of pastrami; which is a lot of sandwiches. Hoping to figure out how to make some amazing rye bread in the future.
