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tutorial Fermenting Peppers 101

Well this thread inspired me to give it a shot. Thanks for all the info on here from everyone. I made 2 batches of sauce. A green and carribean sauce.

The green is jalapeños, serranos, tomatillos, cilantro, poblano, onion, garlic, lime, and a Granny Smith Apple.
Carribean has carribean red and orange habaneros, mango, yellow bell peppers, ginger, garlic, carrots, an orange, and thyme.

I had to refill the airlocks back to the line this morning. Seems like I read somewhere that that is pretty common the first day? Can't wait to taste the results in a couple months. Both were delicious going in the jars.
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Nice! I'm about to restart my ferment. This jar sat on my counter for a month back in September before I sealed it and put it in the fridge.

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I'm thinking I'd blending a green apple some garlic and maybe a mandarin orange into it and letting it run on the counter for a few weeks before finishing up. What do you think?

Originally was made if some sour baccatum, để Arbol, and Tepin x Lemon Drop
I have more peppers in the freezer I can add to it as well.
 
I'm getting a couple ferments started to use at a Making Hot Sauce 101 class I'll be hosting in about a month at the local Grange Hall.  It's part of a series of cooking classes being offered by local folks for things like making cheese, pie crusts, bread, other baked stuff, fermenting veggies, maybe a beer class.  A couple weeks before my hot sauce class, another lady is hosting a Fermenting class for making kimchee etc.  So this is a perfect tie-in between the 2 classes.
 
I wanted to do a Sriracha-style sauce, but milder and hotter.  Here's how it's starting-
 
 
First thing out of the gate, I couldn't find all the pieces for the bubbler lid, the bubbler was loose in the hole and wasn't making an air-tight seal.  So I took the rubber top out of a dropper cap, and cut the top off.  The ridge fit right into the hole in the lid and with the bubbler pushed in tight...BINGO!  Back in bidnis!
 
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Ingredients-
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Hot-
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Not Hot-
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I wanted to make sure this got kickstarted, so I used a brine from a local kraut company-
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Ground up-
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Sealed up-  For the large crock, I put down 2 layers of cling wrap and a layer of wax paper, pressed the crock lid down firmly.  I'fe used this system before and it works to keep the air out and allow the gasses to escape.  The kitchen isn't as warm as ferments like to be, so I put the jars on an electric hot plate.  I'll check temps over the next couple days to get it into a Happy Temp. 
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Hello, do you keep yours in a dark place and does a salt brine really need cooked? I have two batches in jars and three needing few more months thanks for any tips ☺
 
Here is my first ever ferment. No idea how this will turn out.
 
I cherry smoked a bunch of mixed frozen pods, red bhut, red fatalii, Indian P-C1, Naga, 7-Pot Primo and some Brown Congo.
 
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Smoked for an hour.
 
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I added a pound of strawberries and some onion and carrots. 
 
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I blended everything with the Ninja between two pitchers.
 
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The whole mix has the contents of five of these capsules for the starter. I also added about three tbsp of pickling salt and some warm water.
 
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I vacuum sealed the jars. My plan is to pop the lids often to gas off, then re-vacuum each time.
 
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@greenguru- the salt brine doesn't need to be cooked, most just make sure it's dissolved in water.  Some don't even use water, just mix the salt with veggies and let the moisture come out.  Kimchi is make this way, but I don't think most chiles have enough water content without adding a bit more. 
 
As for the dark place,  I'll let others answer that.  The place where mine are usually doesn't have lights on, but does have some daylight from a couple windows. 
 
I wouldn't pop them open unless I was checking the ph in 6 weeks or so. Since you vacuumed sealed them, I'd lightly finger tight the lids and let the co2 just push itself out an then let the vacuum pull the lids back on without letting in too much O2.
 
Chili Monsta said:
A strong brine(5.4%) is generally recommended for fermenting cucumbers/pickles as they are prone to mold growth.
A 3.6% brine should be used for all other vegetable lacto-fermentation recipes, such as:
peppers, carrots, garlic, mixed vegetables, sauerkraut, beets, green beans, broccoli

Brine Formulas (by volume measurements):

5.4% brine formula = 6 tablespoons salt to 8 cups water.
3.6% brine formula = 4 tablespoons salt to 8 cups water.
2.5% brine formula = 1 teaspoon salt to 1 cup water
(use 2.5% for supplementing sauerkraut & beets which are considered self -brining)
 
 
I am sure I am not the only one that keeps coming back to this thread over and over again.
 
Great stuff.  Getting ready for three more ferments!!!  Fatalii, TS Yellow, and BMJ
 
Finally found something useful to do with those 2' x 3' Scovie award banners..... insulating the warmer and jars!
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BUBBLES!
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Looking good and there's about a dozen people signed up for the class so far.  I'll start a thread later with pics and descriptions of the class.  Should be a ton of fun!  I'm going to shanghi the 'Kid for pics and help.  SSSSssshhhhhh!
:lol: 
 
 
 
Hey all, quick question. I took my first ferment out of the fridge a couple of weeks ago. (capped back in Sept, but not cooked)

Was thinking I would get the ferment going again before finally processing it, so I ran some carrot and Apple through the food processor and mixed it into the jar and threw the airlock back on.

The ferment doesn't seem to have taken off at all and is been a couple of weeks. I opened up the jar today just to check if it had gone bad, but it still just smells like it did before. Should be okay right?

I thinking I'd go ahead and just blend it up and cook it down. What do you think?
 
I'm by far one of the pros on this board but...back then did you toss some vinegar into it when you first bottled it?  If not, I'd use a starter and see what happens.  
 
I'm by far one of the pros on this board but...back then did you toss some vinegar into it when you first bottled it?  If not, I'd use a starter and see what happens.  

Nope. I let it ferment for 30 days. Then swapped the airlock for lid & band and popped it in the fridge. Ph is between 3 and 4 if my strips are too be believed.

I might just have to do that, we have some kimchi here so mayhap I'll use a little of that juice. Or mayhaps I will just process it. Been so long now haha; it webt in the fridge on 9/30/2014.
 
Start er up again just for kicks! ha ha
 
I see we're neighbors....and probably the only ones up at this time on this board.  Wait for one of those guys to read and give some suggestions.  I just reprocessed my Thai Tribute sauce cause the lemongrass made it sour.  I added two more mangos and gonna try it out tonight on some folks.
 
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You could add some more starter to it a maybe kick it up again but my thought is if your Ph is good, process it. The carrot and Apple you added to it might be just the touch of sweetness it needs to be perfect.
 
You could add some more starter to it a maybe kick it up again but my thought is if your Ph is good, process it. The carrot and Apple you added to it might be just the touch of sweetness it needs to be perfect.

Turns out it was active already! Noticed the airlock was floating last night while I was making tacos. Seems perhaps I was just catching it at the wrong time Haha. Also noticed some tiny bubbles inside so I think I'm good. I'll probably let this go for another week or so, then process.
 
I Ask. I can freeze my peppers and after put to fermenting?
 
My plants give a bit each day. I thought collect a lot of peppers of each variety to put to ferment to season end.
 
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