Recent content by JamesN

Hey all,   Pickled and fermented garlic will often go either blue or green; in China they call it Laba Garlic, and it's a specialty.   I'm no biochemist, but from a bit of gooling (plus doing a half-gallon batch of garlic/ginger/onion sauce)... I gather that putting garlic with onions increases...

Um. I'm new here and don't to rock the boat or anything... but...   When a web resource says "If the ferment smells just downright rotten and has a layer of mold on top, try removing the top layer and see if the entire batch has the same odor."... I say "Good Lord are you serious?"   If the...

  Hey Jeff,   Using frozen peppers (assuming they're defrosted / mashed to remove the airbubbles?) is fine; frozen peppers have, in my experience, no noticable difference from fresh either in heat or LAB-fermentation.   Tap-water made brine may be an issue - the chlorine/fluorine is going to...

Hi oldsalty,   I use a Milwaukee ph56, that's been running reliably for a couple of years now.    Not the cheapest, but the functions make it very user-friendly:  a very high degree of resolution (+/- 0.01 pH accuracy) with a built in temperature gauge and adjustment (so you don't need to...

Looking very nice!  I second the "don't open it, ever" mantra :)

Sounds fantastic, Halbrust; your portion quantities seem spot on.   Mine's gone from blue to a very serious green!   After much googling, I gather the onion helps create clusters of carbon-nitrogen "pyrroeles" (not chemically unadjacent to chlorophyll); and the greener it goes, the stronger the...

  tyvm Halbrust, much appreciated.   I've never homebrewed before; and I'd think it'd be a great addition tbh.  I've certainly borrowed some cloudy hard cider from a homebrewer before to use in a ferment - and the result was quite spectactular imo.   Your 6% dry cranberry wine sounds awesome...

Looks awesome, patrad.  I've not done the totally sealed/burping method myself (strictly an airlock "never open it once sealed" kinda guy!), but I know many people do.   @Hawaiianero - imo using wine instead of brine provides some extra sugars, as well as a bit of flavour.   You want a lowish...

Hi Halbrust,   I'm making a Rocketman's Theriac "tribute" atm!  :)   My recipe is below.       (I did mention somewhere that I'm pretty retentive about record keeping!)   You could substitute all the liquid for a brine, if that's your preference.   This photo from about a week ago (it's the...

Thanks Patrad, much appreciated!   I've not actually tested in any scientific way, but I'd doubt it.  It's usually pretty high sugar / low alcohol to begin with, and there's going to be a lot of evaporation both during the ferment as well as during the pre-bottling sterilisation / heating...

Recently got a box of choc habs with some white bullet habs from Juanitos.  Very pleased with the quality and heft of the pods - and they're already all into a ferment batch!   He even threw in some dried Paper Lantern pods and Moruga Scorp flakes as well; so I'm a very happy customer!   James N  

Thank, PRF.  Yeah, I tend to get very separated layers through different stages of the ferment, and I do love seeing it happen in the glass jars.   Two new batches started, after yesterday's postie brought a very nice box from Juanito's peppers.     The white one with a tinge of blue (in case...

Just an update - after a 5-day hiatus, the second fermentation has kicked in with a vengeance on Batch #6!   Whilst I find most every ferment is different (in its own special way!) I do usually find the active CO2 bubbling to happen in two distinct stages in the first month - with a 3-7 day gap...

Thanks everyone for the really lovely welcome; much appreciated!     Oh wow, I really wish I could make this...  Sadly I'm crossing the pond for a week, that weekend.   Too bad, darnit :(   Maybe next year.

Thanks HH!   Yeah, I wonder that too re alcohol and Kahm yeasts.   Maybe there's a biochemist or micro-biologist around here who could shed some light?     Currently I spread the mash as thin as possible on baking sheets, and put the oven on lowest possible setting (about 110F) with the door...