johan, the meat is cold smoked, under 20 degree celsius…in the ash seems not dries out more. only a bit of ash that stays on the meat shows umidity,
i think drying out happens more where air can circulate. our cellar is not really fly-thight, and also in the old walls are a lot of ants inside, further the cellar in the summer is to warm here.
hot smoked meat i have never tried to make because i have read it is generally not for longer conserving…
if you or someone other is interested how to make your own rennet, from lamb milk-stomach, i can explain…
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tom, i agree , the internet is a big source for informations…the dark side for nature and at least ourselves are the electro-magnetic waves…5g, 6g, …since here in our area comes up always more and more cell. phones since about 20 years ago, the healt and fertility of nature decreases always more…actually are dying our apple trees, the pear trees are nearly gone or very sick, grass for hay is only a quarter part as before…also the problems with the bees come from there, my sight, or from chemtrails, or from both…technology must be used in a wise way,how we use motors with our gasifiers, … but their only goal is profit maximizing and depopulation.
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Yes, internet has definately made the world smaller and lots of very good info among the vast pile of useless timeconsuming non-info.
Some technology I’m happy to have for instance, like SteveU said, the internal combustion engine. It sure made life easier for lots of people.
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Just raw meat in the casings and directly in ash or do you hang them first to develop the lower pH throughout the salami? Or when I think a bit on that a bit more why wouldn’t that develop in the ash as well as in the air…
Do you add any culture to the salami?
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Good info, I would have thought the ash would ’draw’ moist out of the meat but instead it holds it in. This needs testing next time I coldsmoke.
No, hot smoke does not have the same qualities for preserving, it is helping a little bit but not adding more than tops a week against other cooked meat in my experience. It is more a way of getting stuff cooked and smoked at the same time. Very tasty eating though
Edit. As for rennet @giorgio I would very much like to know how to make it.
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No, the salami gets fully dryed before the ash storage.
I think its 3% salt, and just a bit of red wine blended with garlic and strained. I guess this introduces some cultures… then they go in the cellar to slowly mature, dry and collect some white mold, to get the taste more funky.
Oh, l forgot about a couple of hours of dry, cold smoke before curing.
We uses to vacuum seal them but this year l decided to try the ash method.
I do however have this to preserve… l have no idea how to put that in ash… maybee wrap in paper first?
Its spiced cured back fat. A fattyer version of panceta l guess.
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It kind of like the russian version of back fat… the name eludes me at the moment…
Perhaps a bit of butchers paper around a small piece and give it a shot in the ash too? Then not so much gets spoiled if it doesn’t work. I’m guessing the higher pH of the ash helps to preserve the surface of the meat and the lack of oxygen, or is it a lack of oxygen? Ash is kind of fluffy even though its packed as tight as possible.
Are you supposed to pack the ash too when you put for instance the salami in or just pouring the ash over?
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yes, they have wrapped in paper, the old man told me, i prefer without, because no problem to clean it, but your speck piece maybee is better wrapped in paper…they used the kind of paper from bakery…
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@KristijanL It just came to me, it’s called salo, the russian version of cured back fat. Does it have a name in Slovenian?
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Ha, thanks for that. Interesting. Salo is usualy reffered to the iner fat here, kidney fat. But is sometimes used interchangably with just fat in general.
If done right, this is a delicasy. Melts in the mouth like butter and also great for cooking
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Well, perhaps I just misunderstood the name and it means fat in general there too
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Neverthelss. Its good stuff 
And probably the simplest cured thing you can make. Burry fat in salt for a month, wash, add spices to taste, hang to dry and enjoy.
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I really have to make that too, perhaps some black pepper, paprika and garlic would be a nice blend to start with
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I make 2 versions, one with just plain paprika (usualy for fattyer cuts) and one with a blend of pepper, thyme bayleaf and juniper.
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I would love to see some pictures of your operation
Conveyor belts…hmmm i have hundreds of feet of these sitting here at the shop. Slam together some raised beds i think now…
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In one of these 27 gallon totes you can grow either 50 beets or 50 carrots. In a 5 gallon bucket you can grow 12 beets or carrots. If need be they can be easily loaded in a truck and transported while still growing. My experience is growing carrots in a garden is too much effort. The weeds will always come up before the carrots sprout and you cannot pull the weeds without also pulling up the carrots. YMMV.
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Are you adding drainage holes to them? Are you just using dirt or do you have special media?
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I’ll try post some pics but it’s nothing much. I utilize what I have lying around mostly.
Google Chop & Flip IBC aquaponics. Relatively simple and takes up little space. Raised beds are good and I incorporated Hügelkultur Gardening because our soil is so bad.
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I use a drain tube in the bottom side of the tote Sean because I have these tote sitting on a concrete slab in the greenhouse. I put about a inch of char in the bottom and cover that with a piece of screen. I don’t use regular garden soil. I fill the rest of the tote with a mixture out of the Square Foot Gardening book.
This makes 16 cu ft of mix.
6 cu ft of peat moss,
4 cu ft of vermiculite
3 cu ft of sand
5 gallons of wood ash.
3 cu ft of of compost
Not in the SF book but I add 5 gallons of charged bio-char and a gallon of worm castings.
What I want to avoid is any errant weed seeds. Every week I water with compost or worm casting tea charged with a little yeast and sugar and try to maintain a moisture content that is fairly even through out the mixture without much drainage needed. A little fussy, but I’m trying to find what’s optimum. I’m using this greenhouse as more of a lab.
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With all that stuff I bet after you plant seeds they grow so fast you have to jump out of their way 
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