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fermenting Strawberry-Rhubarb Habanero Mash

C

ComradeQ

So here is what I'm planning, would love some opinions before I commit. Nephews went strawberry picking and I just harvested some rhubarb from the garden so I figured why not combine them? Recipe is a work in progress, will assemble and start the ferment tomorrow ...

3/4 lb Habaneros
1 lb Strawberries
1/2 lb Rhubarb
1 Small Sweet Onion
7-8 Cloves Garlic
3-4 tbsp Whey from Yogurt
2 Cups brine to cover

Anything I'm missing? I was debating doing half the habaneros and using a red pepper (thai, cayenne or something) but I think the fruitiness of the habs would play well. This will be my first hot sauce ferment so please hit me with suggestions/thoughts. I will post pics when I start to assemble.
 
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ComradeQ your ingredients look fine.  I can't speak to how rhubarb does in ferments but your ratios look good.  Plenty of sugar in that, so I might let it go a little longer than normal - 60 days or more depending.
 
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Thanks for the input! So I didn't get round to making this Monday, recently fractured and dislocated my elbow so it takes ages to do anything! I have all the ingredients ready with the only change being I could not find enough habs so ... ratios are roughly 1/3 of each pepper by weight to make 3/4lb ... using red habs, crimson hots, and red jalapeños. Will absolutely assemble and post pics tomorrow as the strawberries won't wait any longer.
 
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Updated with pics ... used the same ratios above just had double the amount.

The lineup:
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The Mash in Jars:
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My only question ... the brine on top is 2 cups water and 2 tbsp pickling salt. Despite weighing down the mash, one of the jars had a small amount of debris. I tried fishing out most of it, will there potentially be in issue because of that?

Also, the jars to the right are kimchi, the barrel to the left will be used to barrel age another hot sauce later.
 
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A small amount of debris is usually fine imo.  I'm assuming you're talking about the jar on the right in the pic though, and that looks pretty clouded.  Your brine is strong and chances are good you'll be ok.  For next time I'd advise you fill one jar almost to the top (like 2 max inches head space) and then top with a touch of brine instead of the 3-4" that the current ferments are sporting.  I fill mine up close to the top and use as little brine as possible before the cap goes on.  
 
I've had a strawberry-rhubarb pie in my day, and I thought it quite good.  Your sauce is going to be interesting indeed.  I look forward to the results!  
 
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Help! Been a week, inspected when I got home from work today and saw this ...

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There is a small green speck in the center so I'm assuming it is mold and not yeast. Is there any way to fix this or is it ruined? I boiled and disinfected everything so not sure where I went wrong. Haven't broken the air lock either and brine was 2tbsp salt in two cups water. Do I just chuck it?
 
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No! Don't chuck it! It's just some type of surface mold but I'd say you should just scrape it off carefully, make sure you've got it all off, then stir the mash. After that, powderize some salt with a grinder/mortar pestle and sift some over the top of the stirred mash.
 
Stir every few days after this. Have you been stirring the mash up to this point? I guess not since you haven't broken the seal. It's pretty imperative to stir the mash here and there. Like I'd advised sirex in an earlier post, my chosen method is to brine large chunks of fruit and vegetable until the pH starts to lower then employ the immersion blender to create a mash for a secondary ferment. This has been a successful method for me after dealing with the pain of fermenting straight mashes.
 
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hotstepper said:
No! Don't chuck it! It's just some type of surface mold but I'd say you should just scrape it off carefully, make sure you've got it all off, then stir the mash. After that, powderize some salt with a grinder/mortar pestle and sift some over the top of the stirred mash.
 
Stir every few days after this. Have you been stirring the mash up to this point? I guess not since you haven't broken the seal. It's pretty imperative to stir the mash here and there. Like I'd advised sirex in an earlier post, my chosen method is to brine large chunks of fruit and vegetable until the pH starts to lower then employ the immersion blender to create a mash for a secondary ferment. This has been a successful method for me after dealing with the pain of fermenting straight mashes.
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Thanks for the advice! I have not been stirring as I did not want to break the airlock. My understanding is that the brine should cover and act as a barrier to oxygen and pathogens. The one with the mold was also the one I had concerns about before as there was debris floating on top ... sure enough, each patch of mold was where there was floating debris.

Anyway, scraped it off carefully, skimmed all sign of any debris, added some pulverized salt and recapped. I still have reservations about agitating the whole batch as I want to maintain the barrier between brine and mash. Maybe I'm totally wrong here but my intuition tells me to do it this way.
 
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The only barrier is the surface of the mash itself, which in this case seems to be exposed to the latent air left in the container. Unless you're somehow submerging the mash in the brining liquid (with beaded plastic mesh bags with glass beads [which seems blech to me because of the plastic leaching into the product] or some other more palatable solution like stiff cabbage leaves) the mash surface itself will be your natural barrier. Since the mash hasn't yet yielded a defensive pH level, it will be the battle line that you have to deal with. This is precisely why I recommend largely cut pieces of veg/fruit. They are easily sequestered beneath the brine and you can let them do their thing until pH levels are sufficient for the mash.
 
I'll also frequently "feed" a mash with largely cut fruit/veg's if I feel it needs more product or a more complex flavor — or if I'm just psyched to see more bubbling action. Here's a picture of a yellow mash that subsided and I added Yellow Hungarian waxes to. The lactobacilli started to digest those fresh peppers up within a matter of hours and large pieces of fruit kept the mash sufficiently submerged.
 
Viola!
 
It's all about bending those little acetic-creating bitches to your will. Pimp your peppers.
 
UH48ZsQ.jpg
 
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hotstepper said:
The only barrier is the surface of the mash itself, which in this case seems to be exposed to the latent air left in the container. Unless you're somehow submerging the mash in the brining liquid (with beaded plastic mesh bags with glass beads [which seems blech to me because of the plastic leaching into the product] or some other more palatable solution like stiff cabbage leaves) the mash surface itself will be your natural barrier. Since the mash hasn't yet yielded a defensive pH level, it will be the battle line that you have to deal with. This is precisely why I recommend largely cut pieces of veg/fruit. They are easily sequestered beneath the brine and you can let them do their thing until pH levels are sufficient for the mash.
 
I'll also frequently "feed" a mash with largely cut fruit/veg's if I feel it needs more product or a more complex flavor or if I'm just psyched to see more bubbling action. Here's a picture of a yellow mash that subsided and I added Yellow Hungarian waxes to. The lactobacilli started to digest those fresh peppers up within a matter of hours and large pieces of fruit kept the mash sufficiently submerged.
 
Viola!
 
It's all about bending those little acetic-creating bitches to your will. Pimp your peppers.
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I am using some porcelain weights that are designed for this purpose, food safe and dishwasher safe. Those are holding some cheesecloth down to prevent the mash from rising, hence the reason I am hesitant to break the barrier. Sorry I guess I should have mentioned that first, you can't really see it in any of my pics.

I will have to try your method next time though! :)
 
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The mold keeps coming back. I don't know if I should keep opening and scooping it out or what but this is disappointing. I know with this style of ferment you are not supposed to break the airlock, should I just leave the mold until I open it in a month or more or should I continue to keep scooping it out? This is a bit frustrating as I have increased the salinity of the brine but that still doesn't help.
 
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hotstepper said:
My gut it that it's from your cheesecloth barrier. Too much surface area for nasties. If that mold's endemic time to play taps.
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Agree.  Better safe than sorry.  A wasted batch early in your pursuit isn't a bad thing.  Most here have had batches go bad once in a while.
 
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SmokenFire said:
Agree.  Better safe than sorry.  A wasted batch early in your pursuit isn't a bad thing.  Most here have had batches go bad once in a while.
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So it looks like I didn't have to bin it. Took a suggestion from a friend of mine and scooped out the mold, took a disinfected cloth that I had boiled and soaked an edge of it in white wine vinegar then rubbed the rag around the inside of the jar above the brine, along the thread and lip, and around the base of the airlock lid and thread. Not enough to really affect the brine but just enough to potentially kill off any bad mold. Repeated this for two days straight. Afterwards I have not had any more mold show up, the ferment is still burping and everything seems to be chugging along nicely. Anyone ever try this or see any potential problems with doing this?
 
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Quick question: is it possible for mold to grow beneath a brine? Just curious as there is some slightly fluffy looking mash beneath the brine on the top but I seem to have got the brine surface mold under control so not sure if it is ok or not.
 
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Well despite all my early problems I did seem to get the mold under control. Placed all my bottles and other cooking supplies into the disinfect cycle on the dishwasher. Grabbed my brand new unused digital PH meter and went to calibrate it while the washer was on. Well guess what? It doesn't work! With my early contamination problems my luck was not on my side and I realized that the probe was contaminated with something! Keep in mind I have never used it, arrived a few weeks back and I have only verified that everything was there. So now I have no way of testing PH and have a hot sauce ready to go that needs to go on the back burner for at least another week! Sent an email to the supplier and am hoping they fix the problem asap. I'm cursed, lol!

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