Wine fridge - curing fridge.

  • So, who's converted a wine fridge into a dry ageing and charcuterie fridge?
    I'm keen to get into some more charcuterie and dry ageing.
    I know some of you lads have done. Looking for some info on what needs to be done to convert!


    Nath

  • I just have a normal fridge. Depending on the size of your wine fridge it may be to small.
    Mine is very primitive, but results are well worth it.

    I bought a fridge for around $50 off gumtree, a $5 computer fan. ...that's it!

    Hang the meat in there, I put a tray underneath with rock salt to help draw moisture, keep the temp at around 4 degrees celcius.

    I see that BM uses a tray with water and a hand towel, which has one end in the water and the other draped over the the shelf. I'm going to incorporate this into my next batch.

    That's it, for me. ..45 days later...its show time.

    Hint- don't let anyone regulate your fridge temp. ....mine was at zero once. ...i done nothing more than freeze the damn thing for 45 days ;(

  • I've got a temp/humidity controller, ultrasonic humidifier, another digital temp and humidity gauge and small fan on its way. :) all for about $100.
    There is a bar fridge sitting in my warehouse that'll being coming home with me.
    Or ideally I'd like a glass door fridge.


    Nath

  • I've got a temp/humidity controller, ultrasonic humidifier, another digital temp and humidity gauge and small fan on its way. :) all for about $100.
    There is a bar fridge sitting in my warehouse that'll being coming home with me.
    Or ideally I'd like a glass door fridge.


    Nath

    Most of the Glass door ones are Fan forced ....could be hard to control humidity maybe?

  • I've got a temp/humidity controller, ultrasonic humidifier, another digital temp and humidity gauge and small fan on its way. :) all for about $100.
    There is a bar fridge sitting in my warehouse that'll being coming home with me.
    Or ideally I'd like a glass door fridge.


    Nath

    Looking forward to seeing how this goes Nath, am very interested in doing something similar myself.



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  • Thats all you need Nath, My glass door wine fridge has a fan that kicks on and off for 20 seconds built in. It replicates the breezes of the Parma mountains LOL.
    I use a SS bowl with water and a fish tank heater to regulate humidity with a controler. It wanders up and down a bit but works.
    Id be better off with an ultra sonic humidifier but that is down the track.
    75% but only for the first few weeks, You can back off after that.

  • Yep thats right, around 12C
    Dry aging is done at 1-2 C so I cannot do that in the wine fridge. Its always got stuff in it going for 6 month stints so could not do both even if it was a normal fridge. Certainly a colder fridge will allow you to do one or the other. My set up is pure for speck type stuff

  • yep looking to use it for multipurpose. Just needa a find a glass door fridge that ain't gonna break bank


    Nath

    Nath, I've seen them at the auctions from time to time, Pickles is the main one I frequent. That's where I would be looking. They have website listings so find it and check from time to time :thumbup:

  • I quit worrying about RH and air circulation years ago. Now, if you can do both, more power to you as the more variables you can control the better. But it just does not seem to matter. Obviously if you are in a commercial environment where loss is money, it would make a difference.

    Salt is good as a bacterial inhibitor. The research I did showed that there really was no consensus on what RH% should be, so I just went with whatever ambient was in the fridge. Some said 70%, others as high as 85%. I have done it in conditions like Las Vegas where it could be as low as 7% to Virginia where it can be as high as 80% RH. All the RH% seems to effect is Age time.

    "‘One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.’”

  • nath - i have a minibar fridge and may 'convert' this to a dedicated curing fridge as i would love to have a crack at making salamis etc.

    however... it is a minibar fridge and fitting in things like a humidifier etc takes up alot of valuable (already limited) space in this thing

  • Thanks everyone for the advice.
    It's not too expensive to set up with a humidifier/fan and a couple of controllers. So I thinks that's the way I'll head. Hopefully being able to hold everything rock solid I'll be able to do things like while prosciutto etc.


    Nath

  • Skuzy, I first tried with a mini bar fridge. Long story short, it just wasn't big enough. I don't know if you have space for a normal size fridge, but go bigger. In my case the normal size fridge actually cost the same X/

    Plus, I only use whole large cuts, if you put like a roast size rib eye, or a cut of anything so it fits your fridge, you'll find you end up with nothing but dried up waste and a sad little dry age cut ;(

    So, go big. ...if you have the space, your going to lose a fair bit of meat, depending on how long you age for. With me , 45 days.

    Wish you all the best, done right it is worth it, and a stripe on your shoulder around mates having beers, humbly explaining your achievement

    Also, nothing beats the chest louder than a fridge with a whole rib eye on the bone hanging in it. .... :rolleyes:

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