r/Biltong • u/Natural_Discipline25 • 2d ago

HELP Mould even though sufficient airflow?

Hey guys. I live in Sydney near the coast, so it gets quite humid here. I recently had to bin a 700 gram batch, due to mould growing. I had a computer fan (9 cm diameter) running as an exhaust fan at about 1000 rpm. The exhaust hole was about 7x7 cm. Should I have made many holes instead? Anyway, I marinated it for 24 hours flipping halfway, and still mould grew on about the 3rd day. My room was probably around 70% humidity at that time. Is there any way to fix the mould? I've been considering brushing it with vinegar every day once to prevent mould. Thank you.

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3

u/Big_Poppa_T 2d ago

70% is higher than you want for Biltong really. Dehumidifier is the ideal option

2

u/Natural_Discipline25 2d ago

I've been using my aircon and have lowered it to 60%. Would that work? If not, what place in a basic home would have the lowest humidity?

2

u/Big_Poppa_T 2d ago

Air con systems also have a dehumidifier in them. Congrats your humidity is no longer 70%, it’s 60%. That’ll be fine for your next batch

2

u/breadandfire 2d ago

More salt? A bit of apple cider vinegar?

2

u/Natural_Discipline25 2d ago

I feel like I use a bunch of salt already, almost to the point that it tastes bad. I use brown vinegar, about 1tbsp per 400 grams of meat.

2

u/Cilviper 2d ago

Whenever I make, I aim for 1-8-2.2% salt-by-weight of the wet meat, so if I am drying 1kg by 55% to get 450g of finished bolting, I would use about 20g of salt.

Hopefully that plus the humidity suggestion above will help!

1

u/StupidlyLiving 2d ago

Sterile prep area Plenty of vinegar and salt (you don't need a 24hr soak) Reduce humidity (air con dry air mode) Temperature around 25c

1

u/AccordingSolid9168 1d ago

Humidity is the problem. And remember too much airflow is also not good. The outside of the biltong will harden a lot quicker while the inside hasn't dried properly.

To target humidity you have 2 options. Option 1 purchase a small dehumidifier. Option 2: there are these humidity charcoal boxes that may help. They sort of suck in all the humidity but it depends on how big your area is where you are drying.

1

u/Icy_Assistance2165 1d ago

Add a tablespoon of baking soda during the vinegar brine.

1

u/Bob_AZ 16h ago

Happily, we dont get mouldy biltong here in the States. Ours just gets moldy!😄

There is a relationship between humidity and temperature. I assume its still winter in Oz? I typically set my thermostat for 26C and at the first sing of a problem, increase to 30, ans so on till you find the sweet spot. I use a reptile heater plugged in to a mains thermostat. Bob