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tutorial Fermenting Peppers 101

So a cracked one of my ferments one month in.  Absolutely amazing sweet aroma, and the taste is nothing like I have had before.  Here's a pic in the blender.  A little white vinegar added to get the pH right, and cooked with a potato for 20 minutes.  Haven't taken a shot in the bottle but here's one in the blender. 
 
I
 
am
 
converted. 
 
IMG_0758_zpsbqyi14gk.jpg
 
Just put another ferment on.  
 
This time 7 pot Jonah's from Aussie.
 
IMG_0773_zpsts3oygbh.jpg

 
20 7 pot jonahs
2 red bell peppers
1 brown onion
4 medium carrots
4 large cloves of Argentinean garlic (big sweet cloves)
Wombok to cover and brined at 3.6%
5 caps of lactobacillus
 
Man these guys are another level to work with.  Fumes were hitting the back of my throat and my eyes towards the end. Thinking this will be the base of a sauce rather than the final, it's going to be  :onfire:
 
This post has become very long indeed and hard to find specific information...so I hope some of the original posters are still following it!
 
My question is regarding starters.  Page one mentions several starters but I found packages of dried Lactobaciliis in a store here and have been using them to make yogurt.  Can these packages also be used as starter?  And if so, just add them straight to the mash?
 
KJ
 
Not an original poster, but I think they should be fine.  Might be worth rehydrating them in a little water approx 27c for 15 minutes first.  I use lactobacillus but store mine in the fridge, perhaps pitch a bit more than you usually would just in case they are less viable.  
 
kjwalker said:
This post has become very long indeed and hard to find specific information...so I hope some of the original posters are still following it!
 
My question is regarding starters.  Page one mentions several starters but I found packages of dried Lactobaciliis in a store here and have been using them to make yogurt.  Can these packages also be used as starter?  And if so, just add them straight to the mash?
 
KJ
Click to expand...
I have taken a lacto pill that I take for myself, ground it up and put it in a batch and it performed wonderfully. So, yes, you can use it as a starter.
 
hot stuff said:
I have taken a lacto pill that I take for myself, ground it up and put it in a batch and it performed wonderfully. So, yes, you can use it as a starter.
Click to expand...
 
I've had great luck with just putting 2 spoon fulls of juice from a jar of kimchi I keep in the fridge.
 
Hello. Long time reader here. First time poster. Apologies if the below seems a tad daft.
 
Partly inspire by this thread I've become really in the fermentation process and making some fermented hot sauces. I had a couple of questions that I haven't been able to find the answers to in this thread before I get started (though it is rather long so apologies if I missed them).
 
Firstly I wanted to ask if there is a requirement for cooking the post fermentation sauces prior to bottling? If I had an acceptable PH level, could I simply blend and bottle?
 
Secondly I'd quite like to experiment with a few flavour combinations, potential ingredients and ratios. I'd had one idea how to do this. Running a pure pepper fermentation alongside a number of smaller separate individual fermentations for each potential sauce ingredient. Then to create small sample sauces by mixing different quantities of the different potential ingredients. I imagine the flavour profiles of the final sauces would differ slightly compared to fermenting all the sauce ingredients together, but would there be any other issues?
 
Thanks.
 
James A+E said:
Hello. Long time reader here. First time poster. Apologies if the below seems a tad daft.
 
Partly inspire by this thread I've become really in the fermentation process and making some fermented hot sauces. I had a couple of questions that I haven't been able to find the answers to in this thread before I get started (though it is rather long so apologies if I missed them).
 
Firstly I wanted to ask if there is a requirement for cooking the post fermentation sauces prior to bottling? If I had an acceptable PH level, could I simply blend and bottle?
 
Secondly I'd quite like to experiment with a few flavour combinations, potential ingredients and ratios. I'd had one idea how to do this. Running a pure pepper fermentation alongside a number of smaller separate individual fermentations for each potential sauce ingredient. Then to create small sample sauces by mixing different quantities of the different potential ingredients. I imagine the flavour profiles of the final sauces would differ slightly compared to fermenting all the sauce ingredients together, but would there be any other issues?
 
Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
Hey James!  Welcome to the posting side of things here at THP.  
 
Cooking after fermentation is not necessary at all but I cook anything I am going to bottle in order to stop fermentation.  You don't want to bottle a ferment that's still active because it can explode - continued off gassing with a closed/sealed hot sauce bottle will end up gushing out all over the place when its finally opened.  
 
Regarding individual ferments for the purpose of later blending - that's fine.  Not every ingredient ferments very well on it own though, so perhaps something to keep in mind.  It's like both sides of the equation; 5lbs of peppers can be fermented on their own and blended with other ferments or you could do 5 batches of 1lb each with varying levels of ingredients.  Sometimes the journey is just as important as the destination - all I'd ask is that you photograph/document such an experiment here for all to see.  :)
 
SmokenFire said:
 
Hey James!  Welcome to the posting side of things here at THP.  
 
Cooking after fermentation is not necessary at all but I cook anything I am going to bottle in order to stop fermentation.  You don't want to bottle a ferment that's still active because it can explode - continued off gassing with a closed/sealed hot sauce bottle will end up gushing out all over the place when its finally opened.  
 
Regarding individual ferments for the purpose of later blending - that's fine.  Not every ingredient ferments very well on it own though, so perhaps something to keep in mind.  It's like both sides of the equation; 5lbs of peppers can be fermented on their own and blended with other ferments or you could do 5 batches of 1lb each with varying levels of ingredients.  Sometimes the journey is just as important as the destination - all I'd ask is that you photograph/document such an experiment here for all to see.   :)
Click to expand...
 
Thanks very much for the welcome and detailed response.
 
I should probably have realised that the cooking was to halt the fermentation. Are there are any other ways to stop the fermentation without changing the the flavours drastically? I guess cold temperatures may pause it but obviously this wouldn't be practical for any large batches.
 
And yeah, it's a tough call. I'm definitely a bit impatient, wanting to try as many possibilities in the least amount of time. I'm due to move house in the coming months, but once I'm at the new place I'll get the project up and running and documented on here for all to see. Exciting times!
 
Could be just me, but I don't think the cooking changes the flavor of ferments much at all.  Least not the ones I do.  The only thing that really changes them is time - cooked or not they evolve over time.  
 
SmokenFire said:
Could be just me, but I don't think the cooking changes the flavor of ferments much at all.  Least not the ones I do.  The only thing that really changes them is time - cooked or not they evolve over time.  
Click to expand...
 
Sorry I think my brain skipped ahead of my typing there. I'm not against the cooking method at all, and I'd imagine any changes to flavour caused by it would be pretty subtle. I'd just done a bit of googling and read something about adding vinegar to halt fermentation, which was something I'd ideally like to avoid (unless needed to lower the PH further).
 
I was just curious as to what alternatives there were.
 
SmokenFire said:
Could be just me, but I don't think the cooking changes the flavor of ferments much at all.  Least not the ones I do.  The only thing that really changes them is time - cooked or not they evolve over time.
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. I was worried about this too, but am still surprised how fresh my cooked ferments taste a couple of months in the bottle
 
if you use yogurt, how long does it typically take for the whey to settle?  is using greek yogurt any different or change the flavour?  or does it have to be a plain regular one?   and fridge or not?  :)  
 
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