fermenting Fermenting mash but no fermenting going on...

[Jeff H]

So, this was my first foray into fermenting. Several weeks ago I diced up an onion, carrot, garlic, quite a handful of bhuts and a couple teaspoons of yougert whey. I put it all in a 12 ounce mason jar with a saran wrap lid, covered it with a towel and put it in the grow room where it is nice and warm (76 deg).

It has been at least 3 weeks, maybe 4 and there has been no bubbling to speak of. Maybe a few small bubbles, but really nothing. I pushed the saran wrap lid down so I could see if it was getting pushed out and nothing yet.

I haven't opened it and it certainly looks good, but I would expect to see some fermenting by now. Maybe it needs some sugar.

 

[stickman]

That plastic wrap cover held down with the screw-on lid isn't particularly tight. Any gas resulting from fermentation might be bleeding off if its volume is more than the space between the liquid and the lip of the jar. The results will be more quantifiable if you modify a tight-fitting lid to accept a fermentation lock. That way excess gas can still bleed off, but it has to bubble out through the water in the fermentation lock.
Rocketman or SalsaLady could steer you right.

 

[RocketMan]

Saran Wrap I think allows gasses to pass through but I'm not sure on that one. The other thing is that the gas bubbles could be trapped in the mash.

The other thing to consider is that the mash might be fermenting but there may not be enough sugar in the mash to give you an aggressive fermentation.

 

[PIC 1]

Quite alot of liquid for not adding any salt......hmmm

 

[RocketMan]

Good eye there, also not any ingredients that i would associate with containing a lot of liquid like tomatoes.

Jeff, did you add any water to the mix? If so where did you get it form?

If you used sink water then I have to ask if your on a well or city water. City water often contains chlorine, chloramines, or fluoride from the water treatment facility that must be removed for some cultures to work well. Also water that is too hard or too soft can cause issues with the fermentation process.

Chlorine is very unstable in water, and if you boil the water or put it in a blender for about 20 minutes, the chlorine will percolate out. Or, you can leave water to stand for 24 hours to accomplish the same thing. Filtering water through activated charcoal is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to remove common pathogens such as bacteria, chlorine, chloramines, etc. Charcoal filtration does not eliminate fluoride though. There are several types of water filters that will attach to your faucet of come as a pitcher that contain the Activaated Charcoal and well as some advanced filtering material that will remove calcium and even the fluoride.

RM

 

[Jeff H]

Quite alot of liquid for not adding any salt......hmmm

I put about a tsp of salt in there. I must have forgotten that in the OP.

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Jeff, did you add any water to the mix? If so where did you get it form?[/background]

Yeah, I added probably about a 1/4 cup of water, straight from the tap. We don't have hard water here, but there was chlorine for sure.