Equipment is just the usual sausage gear. Grinder, mixer, stuffer. For a cold smoker this time we used my pop up ice shanty with the smoker set up inside of it and a couple racks we made to hang the meat. I don’t think I’ll ever build a permanent cold smoker again after trying that. A larger tent would be nice so that I can stand up straight and walk around in there but the tent worked great and temps stayed between 35-60.
Now for the question about the aging process. I think it’s first necessary to realize that generations of humans aged meat wherever they had room. Wether that was a cellar or an extra room or even in a cool valley from the tree outside the door as the used to do in Italy. The most important part isn’t the temp, humidity or even the sanitation of the area your hanging, although it goes without saying that we want to keep things clean here. This particular batch has been aging in my basement at a temp of about 65 degrees and 35% humidity per my dehumidifier. Different sausages call for different temps and humidities but these factors are not based on what someone figured out in a climate controlled hanging room but rather on the local temps and humidities of the places where these sausages were developed in generations past. Another words they just hung the sausage where they could. In order to make sure the meat is safe to eat after subjecting you sausage to a controlled rot is all about how the sausage is prepped. I won’t give advice on which cure except to advise that you buy a book that details the rules of charcuterie. But you need to add cute and I also use a starter culture. The starter culture insures that the good bacteria (white mold) gets a head start over the bad (any other color). While hanging if you do get any mold on the meat that isn’t white just wet a paper towel with white vinegar and wipe the intrusive mold off. Checking daily ensures that nothing gets out of hand. Depending on how dry or ripe you want you sausage you want to lose anywhere from 30-50% of the overall weight. For the snack sticks I pulled them at 40% loss and the summer sausage I’ll be pulling at 30%. The summer takes longer while loading less weight because it is thicker.
So in summary: cold smoker is anything that holds smoke and you can hang them just about anywhere you have room but I’d stay below 70 degrees and you want to eliminate sunlight as well in most cases.
Pm me if you have any more specific questions.
