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fermenting First fermented sauce attempt

S

Sr. Beaver

Well as the title says I started my first attempt at a fermented sauce today, this is waht I started with

1 lb Jalapenos
5 large carrots
5 stalks celery

shredded all mixed 3 Tbls pickiling salt, put in jars with lids loose to let gases to escape.

anything I should have done different or added?

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100_3843 by Sr. Beaver, on Flickr
 
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Yeah as it is, there is no way for the peppers to get "infected" with a lactobacillus. You can do a controlled infection with some thing like acidophilus(From a pharmacy) or a "live" yogurt.
 
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Thanks guys, I completely forgot about that and Rocketman's 101, I had read through that when I first joined months ago. Just skimmed trough it again and used some of the liquid out of my last batch of Rotkraut that I just finished and canned last week.
 
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I have to beg to differ about the needing to infect your mash with a starter bacteria.... I'm going on my third year of making mash and all I do is make a salt water solution of 3.5% salt by weight then add enough just to make everything wet. So far I have made 30-40 jars of mash and only had 2 go bad. Of corse I always check my mash with a p.h. meter just to make sure every thing went as planned :) on a side note if I was adding anything other then hot peppers to my mash I would bump the salt solution up to somewhere around 5-8% just to be safe
 
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you shoudl buy some airlock that would be easyer and assure you have no oxygen going in once ferm as started.

best is mason jar with plastic lid that you drill and add a rubber grommet and you put that airlock in via the grommet.

easyer setup and you have different mason jar size if you want to go big :)
 
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You can use a starter or not use one only difference is not using one will take a bit longer to get going. As I have High Blood Pressure I try to control my salt as much as possibel. I use a starter so that I don't have to go 5 to 8 percent. I can use 2 tablespoons for a 1 gallon jar add my starter and i golden. Oh and while I haven't hit the 30 + mashes I have done 15+ with none going bad.

Cheers
 
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Great help for this newb, I have learned a lot from just posing a couple ?s and browsing the past posts on here. I do like the idea of no needing as much salt for no other reason other than I just care for the taste of it. And when you say Hooch are you talking about the liquid that raises to the top of sourdough starter after sitting for awhile or ste starter itself as if you shake it up before you are ready to make a batch of bread? I did use about 10ml of liqid from sauerkraut for each of the jars I started yeasterday and seems to working pretty well, been looking at it when I walk by all day(part of the reason I used the clear glass instead of my ceramic) I'm a visual type so if I see it I can understand whats going on a little better.
 
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Well you "do" need to infect it some how. Either with a starter, or exposure. If you cooked what's in the jars, and the jars are sterile. Then it will rot not ferment.
 
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Yes the hooch is the brownish liquid. It has the lacto and the other part has the yeast when they seperate. If you dont have a sourdough starter then use the whey from a tub of unflavored yogurt.
 
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thats waht I thought, I always have some starter in the fridge. And as far as cooking the mash, I get you don't cook it, but did sterilize the jars first, that shouldn't cause an issue, right?
 
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You can cook it as long as you inoculate it, or leave it open long enough to catch it's own lactobacillus afterwards. The jars being sterile is also fine in fact it's preferred.

Basically if the mash is sterile(From cooking etc...) and the jars are sterile, then it will not ferment. Because lactobacillus needs to get in to it via some vector. If you just leave it open to the air awhile it will likely catch some on it's own. Since yeast, and lactobacillus are very common. However if you do this, you will need to have more salt. Because the salt creates an enviroment where molds, and many bad bacteria can not grow. The lactobacillus however can survive in a high salt environment fine, it also loves a low ph. If you want less to no salt. Then sterilize everything and inoculate it with lactobacillus yourself.
 
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I'm about to do my first mash (brewing beer & cider is the same gig more or less) and instead of an airlock, I'll use glad wrap and and elastic band with a couple of pin pricks. You can see how the ferment is going really easily and the concave/convex dome or dip of the cling wrap will tell you where it's at ... like an airlock.

S.
 
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The pin pricks are not needed, and they would in fact let things in. The pressure should push past an elastic fine. Two things to keep in mind though. Simple changes to the room temperature can cause concave/convex so using it as a check will give you poor accuracy. Also if you use acidophilus as your lactobacillus, then it will not cause a dome at all. This is because it's homofermentative, and produces only lactic acid no CO2.
 
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So a much different type of fermentation - thanks for the infor DaQatz - no pin prick were put in. Great explanation - thank you :)

DaQatz said:
The pin pricks are not needed, and they would in fact let things in. The pressure should push past an elastic fine. Two things to keep in mind though. Simple changes to the room temperature can cause concave/convex so using it as a check will give you poor accuracy. Also if you use acidophilus as your lactobacillus, then it will not cause a dome at all. This is because it's homofermentative, and produces only lactic acid no CO2.
Click to expand...
 
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As said before in this thread you should get an airlock they are really cheap and can be found at most grocery stores or at homebrew places. Plus you get the excitement of watching the bubbles escape! :party: :party: :party:
 
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