Phil wrote:

> Do you have recommendations to control it, such as using a container of
> water, etc?

In order to control humidity, you'll do best with a
dedicated refrigerator, and you'll need to monitor it.

Here's a good hygrometer. It's cheap, reliable and
wireless.

<http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102585&cp=&origkw=hygrometer& kw=hygrometer&parentPage=search>

The humidity inside a refrigerator depends directly
on what's inside it. Since the meat constantly gives
up moisture to the air, the larger the load of meat
the higher the humidity will be. The size/shape of the
product and the amount of surface area factors in
also. As you gain experience you'll get a feel for
what the right size load is for a single box.

It will very with the type of product, but I'd start
with 5-10 lbs or so.

This is one of the main reasons you'll want a dedicated
fridge for drying and curing food products. Your
regular fridge isn't going to be humidity stable
because the contents vary too much. Put in today's
load of produce and the humidity soars out of range.
You'll spend large amounts of time and attention
chasing this around, not to mention the food hygiene
and cross contamination issues.

If the humidity goes too low you have several
options. The simplest is to put in a pan of water.
I've used a half sheet pan because it has maximum
surface area. It bumped it up about 10%.

The other thing I do sometimes is to put in more
meat. Toward the end of my last load of salami
the humidity started to drop, as it tends to do
when nearing completion. Perfect time to start
dry aging a beef roast. Humidity went back up
to 60%.

If it gets too wet, remove some product. You can also
open the door and put a fan on it, but don't do that
for too long.

Keep in mind that it doesn't require all that much
precision. If it goes a bit high for a day it won't
do any damage. Just try and keep it between 60-75%
most of the time, it's pretty forgiving. And I
prefer to err on the low side, if possible. A wetter
environment promotes bacteria and mold, a dryer one
inhibits it.

Don't forget to check out Len Poli's site. He's
one of the masters.

--
Reg