Are we sure this is Kahm yeast? It is starting to get colorful in the middle like a greenish.
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Kahm?
- Thread starter Fireeater86
- Start date
Thank you that's what I thought. I wonder if I can still just scrape it off. I would hate to loose 12 lbs of peppers
After looking around I believe it is indeed mold. As far as I can tell, I have three options. I could throw the entire thing out and start over. I could wait until the ferment is over and then remove the mold and hope whatever is underneath the tope layer is still good. Option three is to crack it open now remove what is there and add some higher percentage brine on top. Then of course I would have to treat it like an open ferment. Any input would be appreciated. I am wondering if it is safe to consume after removing the top layer.
I decided to pop them open and take a look. They didn't smell bad at all. In fact they smelled absolutely delicious like a good ferment should. I was able to skim the mold off. It was weird like a clear jelly layer had solidified together under with the white spots.. It almost came off in one piece. What was left underneath the layer was a pristine mash. I added a brine topper to reduce head space and put the airlock back on. I am still not sure if is safe to eat.
Fireeater86 said:
Once you've let it run it's course test the pH and provided it is safe try a bit. If you don't barf or die try a bit more.
Maybe I will. If I choose to consume it, I will boil the living daylights out of it first. I also read somewhere that microwaves are sometimes used to denature mycotoxins, so I might microwave it too. One things for sure, this will be a private batch. The fact that there are not a bunch of people saying oh yeah its fine I do it all the time is a little alarming. I will keep you updated or if not you know what happened lol.
I found THP while searching answers on molds....thought my ferment has mold. Learned here it was kahm yeast.
I stirred it in and continued on...that batch was heated etc and has since been consumed.
I found losts of threads and posts on mold....almost all advice was scrape off the mold and process etc.
Hows your mash looking now? Pics would be a help with a current update :-)
I stirred it in and continued on...that batch was heated etc and has since been consumed.
I found losts of threads and posts on mold....almost all advice was scrape off the mold and process etc.
Hows your mash looking now? Pics would be a help with a current update :-)
So far so good. I have not opened the mash since the time I removed the mold. To this point there is no more mold or any other growth.
I had a few batches that got kahm when I was experimenting with lower salt content. Haven't had a problem since I went back up to at least 5%. To me the taste it imparts is kind of beer-like, which makes sense considering it is just yeast.
I believe it was mold and not kham. it has been removed and nothing else grew on it. I am going to let it go until the end of this month and then try it and see if I die
I finally processed the mash today and it tasted really bad so I dumped it. It reminded me of a bitter tomorrow soup. Probably safe but not worth saving.
