fermenting "Lacto" Taste in Fermented Sauces?

[jblo]

I've done 3 successful ferments now (two more finishing up), but what I find I don't like is the lacto smell/taste.
 
So at the end of the ferment when the sauce is opened up and being process, the smell of the aged peppers/onion/garlic smells great, but there's a "lacto" smell that I'm just not digging.
 
I just processed a 1/2 gal, 90 day orange hab/onion/garlic/carrot ferment that the flavor of the peppers/garlic have melded and mellowed nicely, but I find I don't know how to proceed with processing the sauce to mask that lacto smell/taste.  It's mild, but it's there and I don't think I like it.  Once out of the ferment, I boiled then simmered for 1hr, then blended, simmered 45, blended again.  Then added white wine vinegar, honey, lemon juice to finish.  Found myself trying to cover the lacto flavor with the honey and lemon.
 
Ferment was 1/2 gal growler of veggies, 4T whey from active yogurt.  4% sea salt.  Bottled water brine (4%).
 
Am I doing something wrong?
 
FWIW, I didn't notice the lacto flavor as much with my first two ferments after processing.  I've got 2 more ferments finishing up this weekend so I'll see if they've got the same lacto taste.

 

[stickman]

Raw consumable sugar would be quickly gone. some small diced carrots or sweet potato would be good. Keep it in the fridge and then say 24 to 48 hours prior to wanting to use it take it out and add something like some V8 juice and additional brine to bring it up to about 1000 ml's and allow the the bacteria colony to build up so that your pitching a higher number of living active cells to the fermentation jar. Same principle as used in homebrewing to get your yeast build up. I say V8 juice because it's vegetable based and the same as they'll be getting in the mash. 

... Or the in-house experts... Thanks Bill!

 

[RocketMan]

Sounds good, please take some pics and post up what you do and what results you get. I'm sure there are going to be others who will be interested and will be wanting to try this also. Would also be interesting to see how long you can keep the culture alive and viable. Maybe even see if you can keep a culture going for a month or 2 in the fridge and then get it to successfully ferment a mash.

 

[jblo]

Sounds good, please take some pics and post up what you do and what results you get. I'm sure there are going to be others who will be interested and will be wanting to try this also. Would also be interesting to see how long you can keep the culture alive and viable. Maybe even see if you can keep a culture going for a month or 2 in the fridge and then get it to successfully ferment a mash.

Sounds like a good experiment.  Will do!

 

[Philip]

I'm on my phone, so I didn't read the whole thing. Just wanted to pitch in and say that yeast is not very desirable at all in the mash. Also, all the bacteria you need is already in the vegetables unless you cook them first. Just give them about 2% salt by weight to live in and they will start to take over from other nasties within a day or so
Just made a batch 12 hours ago. No starter. Already bubbling.

 

[jblo]

Started a new ferment last weekend from brine from an active ferment.  It started bubbling by the next day.
 
I have not yet processed the batch from which I pulled the active brine; it's hanging out in my fridge.  I may pul a little more brine out of it before I process to see if I can keep it active as a starter for another batch down the road.
 
I'll try to update with pics this weekend.