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Couple of questions before processing

Ozzy2001

Ozzy2001

So my 3 ferments are reaching 30 days this week. I had 2 green and 1 orange. The orange one is still bubbling quite a bit so I'm going to leave that one alone for awhile. The 2 green ones are barely bubbling so I am probably going to process them next week. Before I pop the top open I wanted to check a few things.
I will probably check the ph first thing to make sure it's ready. If it's not low enough, do I just add some extra brine and close back up? I just don't want to ruin my mash if it's not ready.
Assuming it is low enough I believe I remember reading that you leave the brine in floating on the top when you process? If there is anything else I'm not thinking of feel free to comment. I'm not as concerned with the processing. I just want to be prepared be fore I open the lid.
Thanks in advance.
 
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My 2 cents: if it hasn't reached the right pH in 30 days, you probably won't get that much more reduction. and adding more brine probably won't do much to help it, unless there are a lot of ingredients floating on top of the mash, you might stir it up to release the CO2 and get the ingredients back under the brine. honestly, if the pH isn't low enough at this point, I'd consider just adding some lime juice or rice vinegar to get it where you want it (shouldn't take much), then process it.
 
not sure what your question is exactly regarding leaving the brine in floating on the top when you process? it should be included in the processing, but you don't have to do anything special with it.
 
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Ozzy2001 said:
So my 3 ferments are reaching 30 days this week. I had 2 green and 1 orange. The orange one is still bubbling quite a bit so I'm going to leave that one alone for awhile. The 2 green ones are barely bubbling so I am probably going to process them next week. Before I pop the top open I wanted to check a few things.
I will probably check the ph first thing to make sure it's ready. If it's not low enough, do I just add some extra brine and close back up? I just don't want to ruin my mash if it's not ready.
Assuming it is low enough I believe I remember reading that you leave the brine in floating on the top when you process? If there is anything else I'm not thinking of feel free to comment. I'm not as concerned with the processing. I just want to be prepared be fore I open the lid.
Thanks in advance.
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I agree with hoibot about pH after 30 days.  It should be pretty well down to where it's gonna get to by now.
 
Regarding pH testing right away-
If you open the jars and test pH, you'll be testing the brine, which may not represent the final pH after all the pulp/brine is all ground up together.  I honestly don't know as I've never tested just the brine and then after blendering.  I have 2 ferments going that we'll be processing on Tuesday, so I will make a note to check and post back. 
 
re: leaving the brine in-
Most leave the brine in and blender it all up.  If there is a lot of liquid on the top and you think the sauce may be too thin after blendering, you may want to pour some off to the side and reserve it.  Blender everything up, cook it a bit and see how the consistency is.  If needed, add a bit of brine back in.  Or, some like the bite of vinegar, so add some vinegar back into the sauce to loosen it up. 
 
Hope that helps~
 
Have Fun!  Post Pics!   
 
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2 good answers for you Ozzy. I usually let my ferments run for either 45 or 90 days depending on the sugar content of my ingredients. Once the LAB have finished their consumption of the sugars your just letting it age, mellow and the ingredients to get all happy in there. There are some that will let a fermented sauce age for a year or more. It adds lots of character to the sauce and really kicks it up a notch. I've never been able to let one go that long though, I keep needing more sauce :) In the end, once the LAB have finished it's all up to you as to when you process it.
 
if your concern about the brine is that is will make the sauce to salty, you can always add a whole raw, peeled, potato to the pot while it simmers and it will soak up a lot of the salt in there for you. 
 
Ph testing - When I started fermenting my sauces I used to check it in the jar and again after the first trip around the blender. If I found a difference it was only + or - .1 and not enough to warrant taking any action.
 
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Thanks for all of the responses. I'm still waiting for my woozy bottles to arive before I can process anything yet.
RocketMan said:
I've never been able to let one go that long though, I keep needing more sauce :)
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Yeah, my green sauce is the first sauce to process so I am pretty anxious to try it out, as I have no sauce now. I'm going to let the orange one go longer though, since it had more sugary ingedients. I will be closer to 45 days by the time i have a chance to process the first. I'll definitely post some pictures after I get done.
 
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well i think i'm now going to wait longer.  The green sauce that I thought had slowed down is now more active than it had been at any point.  Fortunately, I've been making some jelly and been busy potting up seedlings or the waiting would be driving me crazy  :crazy:
 
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DownRiver said:
Well Ozzy, how are these doing? Process them yet? Don't forget pics!
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Yes I did. Under a different thread. First 2 processed or something was the name. They turned out pretty good I think. I like the Orange one and my wife likes the green one more.
 
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