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Hey all,   Pickled and fermented garlic will often go either blue or green; in China they call it Laba Garlic, and it's a specialty.   I'm no biochemist, but from a bit of gooling (plus doing a half-gallon batch of garlic/ginger/onion sauce)... I gather that putting garlic with onions increases...

Um. I'm new here and don't to rock the boat or anything... but...   When a web resource says "If the ferment smells just downright rotten and has a layer of mold on top, try removing the top layer and see if the entire batch has the same odor."... I say "Good Lord are you serious?"   If the...

  Hey Jeff,   Using frozen peppers (assuming they're defrosted / mashed to remove the airbubbles?) is fine; frozen peppers have, in my experience, no noticable difference from fresh either in heat or LAB-fermentation.   Tap-water made brine may be an issue - the chlorine/fluorine is going to...

Hi oldsalty,   I use a Milwaukee ph56, that's been running reliably for a couple of years now.    Not the cheapest, but the functions make it very user-friendly:  a very high degree of resolution (+/- 0.01 pH accuracy) with a built in temperature gauge and adjustment (so you don't need to...

Looking very nice!  I second the "don't open it, ever" mantra :)

Sounds fantastic, Halbrust; your portion quantities seem spot on.   Mine's gone from blue to a very serious green!   After much googling, I gather the onion helps create clusters of carbon-nitrogen "pyrroeles" (not chemically unadjacent to chlorophyll); and the greener it goes, the stronger the...

  tyvm Halbrust, much appreciated.   I've never homebrewed before; and I'd think it'd be a great addition tbh.  I've certainly borrowed some cloudy hard cider from a homebrewer before to use in a ferment - and the result was quite spectactular imo.   Your 6% dry cranberry wine sounds awesome...

Looks awesome, patrad.  I've not done the totally sealed/burping method myself (strictly an airlock "never open it once sealed" kinda guy!), but I know many people do.   @Hawaiianero - imo using wine instead of brine provides some extra sugars, as well as a bit of flavour.   You want a lowish...

Hi Halbrust,   I'm making a Rocketman's Theriac "tribute" atm!  :)   My recipe is below.       (I did mention somewhere that I'm pretty retentive about record keeping!)   You could substitute all the liquid for a brine, if that's your preference.   This photo from about a week ago (it's the...

Thanks Patrad, much appreciated!   I've not actually tested in any scientific way, but I'd doubt it.  It's usually pretty high sugar / low alcohol to begin with, and there's going to be a lot of evaporation both during the ferment as well as during the pre-bottling sterilisation / heating...

Recently got a box of choc habs with some white bullet habs from Juanitos.  Very pleased with the quality and heft of the pods - and they're already all into a ferment batch!   He even threw in some dried Paper Lantern pods and Moruga Scorp flakes as well; so I'm a very happy customer!   James N  

Thank, PRF.  Yeah, I tend to get very separated layers through different stages of the ferment, and I do love seeing it happen in the glass jars.   Two new batches started, after yesterday's postie brought a very nice box from Juanito's peppers.     The white one with a tinge of blue (in case...

Just an update - after a 5-day hiatus, the second fermentation has kicked in with a vengeance on Batch #6!   Whilst I find most every ferment is different (in its own special way!) I do usually find the active CO2 bubbling to happen in two distinct stages in the first month - with a 3-7 day gap...

Thanks everyone for the really lovely welcome; much appreciated!     Oh wow, I really wish I could make this...  Sadly I'm crossing the pond for a week, that weekend.   Too bad, darnit :(   Maybe next year.

Thanks HH!   Yeah, I wonder that too re alcohol and Kahm yeasts.   Maybe there's a biochemist or micro-biologist around here who could shed some light?     Currently I spread the mash as thin as possible on baking sheets, and put the oven on lowest possible setting (about 110F) with the door...

  Oh, I really hope it works out for you.  Personally think it's awesome.  You don't have to be picky about the wine tbh... I've found (now that I'm living in the US) that my local CVS sells Moscato and White Zin (a brand called "Grapevine") for $2.99 a bottle.  Yes, it's pretty undrinkable (too...

Hi all,   Sharing some pics and details of my current batch of ferments; please feel free to comment and/or ask questions.  I've been making fermented hot sauce for quite a while now, and have found a general process I'm comfortable with - so I'm now enjoying myself trying out new peppers and...

Hi all - just want to introduce myself!   I'm an ex-pat Brit, now living on the beautiful coast of Atlantic-side Florida, just up from Canaveral.   I've been growing hot peppers, making sauces, shakers, powders, for many years - and I'm pretty much a total convert to the church of fermentation...