Drying Salami: Weight Loss, Humidity, and Knowing When It's Done
Drying is the long, quiet stage that comes after fermentation. BCCDC says it "can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks and is separate from meeting degree-hours" (BCCDC 3.13). Our reading: that line is written for fermented sausages in general. For dry sausages like salami, BCCDC's table gives "4 to 12 weeks at 4-15oC" (BCCDC 3.13). If you haven't fermented yet, start with Fermenting salami. The full recipe lives in How to make salami at home. This page covers the chamber settings, the scale, and why the scale alone can't tell you your salami is safe.
What drying does for safety: water activity
Drying pulls water out, and that's about more than texture. BCCDC says dry sausages go into a drying room after fermentation "to reduce aw to 0.9 or below," and that the final aw "is what defines if a sausage is semi-dry (aw >0.90) or dry (aw ≤0.90)" (BCCDC 3.13). Put together, fermentation, cure and drying give "acidic pH and low water activity that provides process control for product safety" (BCCDC 3.13).
You'll see two water activity numbers around, and they mean different things:
- 0.90 is BCCDC's line between semi-dry and dry. At 0.90 or below, BCCDC calls it a dry sausage (BCCDC 3.13).
- 0.85 is the FSIS shelf-stable line. FSIS says products are dried to a water activity "sufficient to achieve shelf-stability by preventing the growth of microorganisms (e.g., water activity ≤ 0.85), especially toxigenic microorganisms such as S. aureus" (FSIS-GD-2023-0002).
Notice the wording there. Shelf stable means "preventing the growth" of microorganisms. Shelf stable doesn't mean pathogens are gone. That's our reading of the FSIS wording, and FSIS backs it up further down this page.
Temperature, humidity and airflow in the drying chamber
BCCDC says "a temperature range of between 4°C and 15°C is used for drying," which is about 39 to 59°F. It adds that "optimal drying temperatures of 12°C are recommended" in some provincial jurisdictions (about 54°F), while others recommend lower temperatures "for greater safety margins" (BCCDC 3.13).
Humidity is where people get into trouble. BCCDC says "A humidity of 60-90% for drying all cured meats should be used with an ideal range of 75-80% at the beginning of the process," and that it "may be lowered later for removing moisture but not drop below 60%" (BCCDC 3.13). In practice: start at 75 to 80% RH, and never go below 60%.
Airflow matters too. BCCDC says airflow should be kept up to prevent "case hardening (if air flow is too great) and wild mould growth (if air flow is too low)," and that rooms should have humidity controllers and "a fan for air flow" (BCCDC 3.13). Too much air and you're headed for Case hardening. Too little and you may be reading Mold on salami.
What your chamber must control
Whatever you dry in, it has to hold a few things steady. For the drying room, BCCDC says "All drying rooms must be equipped and monitor air flow, temperature, and humidity" (BCCDC 3.13).
Temperature. Our 54°F (12°C) comes from BCCDC's worked example, which says "Hang to dry (80% humidity) at 12oC" (BCCDC 3.13, Appendix 2). BCCDC also states a colder preference: "food safety best practices recommend temperatures below 15oC, closer to 4oC or lower is preferred" (BCCDC 3.13). Our reading: 54°F is one worked example, and BCCDC prefers colder once fermentation is done.
Humidity and airflow. Hit the RH and airflow targets above. BCCDC says "rooms should be equipped with a fan for air flow" (BCCDC 3.13).
Monitoring and logging. BCCDC's summary of critical control points includes "Weight loss and pH of sausage is measured and recorded in a log" (BCCDC 3.13).
Sanitation. BCCDC says "Food contact equipment used throughout the process must be cleaned and sanitized" (BCCDC 3.13). AMI lists "Refrigeration units" as "cleaned and sanitized routinely" and "Blowers and ducts" as "cleaned routinely" (AMI Foundation GMP, via UW-Madison).
Tracking weight loss: green weight × 0.65
Weigh each link right after stuffing. That's the green weight. Log it in the drying tracker. BCCDC's worked example says: "Hang to dry (80% humidity) at 12oC until 35% weight loss from green weight" (BCCDC 3.13, Appendix 2).
A 35% loss means the finished link weighs about 0.65 × its green weight. That's simple arithmetic, and it matches the target on How to Make. So a 1,000 g link is done near 650 g.
You may also see AMI's figure. AMI says dry sausages are dried "to remove 25 to 50% of the moisture" (AMI Foundation GMP, via UW-Madison). Heads up: that's the share of the moisture removed, not the share of total weight lost, so don't read it as a weight-loss range.
How often to weigh? We didn't find a source that gives a home schedule, so we're not giving one.
Why weight loss alone doesn't prove safety
This part's serious. FSIS says "Fermentation and drying alone are not particularly effective as lethality treatments," and "It is not enough to only meet degree-hours, follow a drying or salt-curing method for Trichinella, and achieve a final water activity for shelf-stability" (FSIS-GD-2023-0002). Weight loss is only a rough stand-in for water activity, and water activity itself isn't a kill step. To be clear, that framing is ours, and it matches How to Make.
Size matters here as well. FSIS says "smaller diameter products tend to dry faster than large diameter products, and the shorter drying time is often not enough time to achieve the same reductions in bacteria as larger diameter products even if it is enough time to achieve the targeted water activity" (FSIS-GD-2023-0002). A thin stick can hit its number fast and still not have had enough time.
A crusted link can also hit its target weight while the center stays wet. That's our call, based on how Case hardening works. So cut one open and look. If it never dried properly in the center, don't eat it.
We're not covering home water activity meters or lab aw testing. We didn't find a source we trust for that.
How long drying takes
There's no single answer. BCCDC says "Drying time is dependent on the size of sausages/casings" (BCCDC 3.13), and that the drying period "varies depending on the recipe, the product type, the temperature, level of humidity and amount of air flow in the drying room" (BCCDC 3.13). Its worked example says "Aw should be <0.9 in about 3 weeks" (BCCDC 3.13, Appendix 2). WSU says dry sausages "require drying periods usually ranging from 3 weeks to 3 months" (WSU Extension EB1661).
We're not giving a chart of days per casing width. Our sources don't give one, and we won't guess. For more on how the casing affects drying, see How to choose a salami casing.
What goes wrong during drying
Case hardening. BCCDC warns that "Humidity that is too low or when there is too much air movement will cause case hardening and potential pathogen growth," and that "A too low humidity could cause crusting on the surface and thus harm the internal drying of the sausage meat" (BCCDC 3.13). IRTA describes it as "a dry outer layer on the sausage while the interior remains tender," which happens "When surface drying occurs too quickly" (IRTA 2025). The full story is in Case hardening.
Mold and too much moisture. BCCDC says "Too much humidity could cause excess moisture on the surface" (BCCDC 3.13). If you didn't add a mold culture, BCCDC says mold "will only be acceptable if it is present in a quantity that can be easily removed by rubbing (with vinegar) regularly throughout the drying process" (BCCDC 3.13).
Casing separation. IRTA says "When the casing separates from the sausage during drying (Figure 32), a microclimate forms that facilitates mould development" (IRTA 2025). More on that in Mold on salami.
We're not covering other defects like hollow centers, sour or off smells, or stalled drying here. We didn't find sources we trust for them yet.
Knowing when it's done
Here's what we look for:
- About 35% weight loss, so the link weighs about 0.65 × its green weight (BCCDC 3.13, Appendix 2).
- No crust that's trapping a wet center. Cut one open and check.
- The rest of the safety steps done right, starting with fermentation to pH 5.3 within the degree-hour limit (Fermenting salami).
Only the 35% figure comes straight from a source. We're not offering "firm all the way through" as a doneness test, since we didn't find a source for it.
Keep homemade salami refrigerated. When in doubt, throw it out.
Log every weigh-in in the drying tracker, and see How to make salami at home for the whole process.
Sources
Read our disclaimer. This page is general education, not professional food-safety advice.