Curing Box/Chamber


 
I'm reviving this topic again as we've stopped using our small chest freezer recently so I think I'll convert into a curing chamber. If anyone has converted a chest freezer before, I'd love to hear about it.

By the way, my pancetta was OK....salty. Some real cured coppa, salami, etc is next!
 
I'm considering converting a freezer myself. For some reason, my freezer starting making frost faster than I can clear it out. I need to replace it and thought it would make a good chamber. I can't see why an external thermostat wouldn't work on it like a fridge.
 
The external thermostat will work fine with the freezer. The potential problem with a freezer that is manual defrost is actually developing too much humidity.
That was going to be my vehicle of choice until I read of the problems someone had trying to remove humidity in that situation.
If I had a spare freezer I'd still give it ago. This is what I've been fooling with for an external thermostat . Not as cool as using a PID setup but easy and seems to work well.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">The potential problem with a freezer that is manual defrost is actually developing too much humidity. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

grrrr, now I'm really ticked off that my freezer doesn't work. I was hoping I could use it as a chamber.
 
Jeff, Like I said... If I had one (freezer) just sitting there, I'd give it a try. Buy whatever external thermostat you want to use
(that's gonna be a one time investment no matter what vehicle you use.) Hold off on the humidity controls (but not
a way of monitoring) until you see what happens in your first efforts.
It's possible in the freezer setup that the big (moist) salt pile will be enough to "de-humidify".
Lot depends upon how much and what kind of stuff you hand. ie/ whole muscle versus salami, etc. However, after researching, it seems that adding humidity it a whole lot easier the removing.
icon_rolleyes.gif

Just bought a temp/humidity logger and it's going to to be interesting to record over the course of a cure.
 
Once I get back to the States I've got a chest freezer in my garage that needs cleaning out. I was going to convert it to a curing chamber.

It's a non-defrost model (as most chest freezers seem to be) but it shouldn't present a problem. In the 4 years of continuous use the freezer has never had a frost issue and never needed defrosting. Operating as a closed system with minimal additional water input I cannot see the humidity continually creeping up, and that is something that could be easily fixed by opening the door to "release" the humidity and get an air change with lower humidity air.
 
There are solutions available to humidify or de-humidify any curing chamber within reason. Don't let concerns about the dynamics of a freezer stop you from giving it a shot as a curing chamber, this hobby is very rewarding.

Dave
 
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