Hello everyone, I posted this question/preamble in the Fermentation 101 "pinned" thread but thought it might merit a thread of its own.
this is my first post on the site and I'm looking for a little guidance and reassurance. Found some great information in this thread and wish I had come across this web site before embarking on my fermentation experiments.
A little background info, I live in the UK and this year I've started growing some chills indoors and in containers, luckily I have a good south facing room with a huge long window at work and a very understanding boss, which is great. I have 21 plants and 8 different varieties which have done pretty well considering we haven't had a great summer.
I had a little bit of a glut a few weeks ago when a whole load of chilis ripened at the same time and after canning some sauces and drying a lot I thought I would try and find another way of preserving and came across the fermenting method. I read a few articles and one in particular caught my attention that used a Reisling wine so I made two different mashes one with Fresnos and one with Paper Lanterns using a 2%, kosher, salt mix and topping up with the wine until it was just and inch over the top. The Fresno mix did produce some bubbles after a day or so but the Paper Lantern didn't really do anything. Incidentally I'm using mason jars with airlock lids.
I had another type of chili mature a few weeks after I started the other batches, this time I used the same 2% salt but I just topped up with mineral water. This jar has been bubbling away very successfully for the past couple of weeks and showing all the typical signs or a good ferment, layer separation, bubbles e.t.c. but the other two are really just sitting there doing nothing much. I have even taken some of the juice out the fermenting one and added it to the other jars, separated whey from some live yogurt and bought a starter culture all without any great success. They might bubble away for a day but then they go back to being still again.
Obviously since starting the little experiment I have read about sulphides in the wine stopping the lacto fermentation and this certainly seems to be what is happening but the two jars that I'm talking about now have a very broken down soupy mash without having any adverse smells or growth.
So my questions are;
1) Do you think they are fermenting?
2) Should I just leave them to get on with it?
3) Should I strain the wine off and see if I can get them to start again with just a normal brine solution?
4) Is there anything I could do with the failed mash so and not to waste it?
Sorry for the long winded first post but any advice will be greatly recieved.
Regards, Allan.
Ok so a little more info.
Last night I decided to take the jars out the cupboard, where they're being kept and put them on the kitchen windowsill. We're having a little bit of an Indian summer at the moment and I though the heat might help a little. Low and behold the Fresno jar looked like it had been fermenting a little, there were a few bubbles and some of the mash had risen to the top of the jar. The Paper Lanterns, however, haven't done anything.
Do your u think it may just be a heat problem? Bearing in mind the third ferment is still going strong in the cupboard. Could it be a lack of sugar in the mash mix?
Regards, carty.
this is my first post on the site and I'm looking for a little guidance and reassurance. Found some great information in this thread and wish I had come across this web site before embarking on my fermentation experiments.
A little background info, I live in the UK and this year I've started growing some chills indoors and in containers, luckily I have a good south facing room with a huge long window at work and a very understanding boss, which is great. I have 21 plants and 8 different varieties which have done pretty well considering we haven't had a great summer.
I had a little bit of a glut a few weeks ago when a whole load of chilis ripened at the same time and after canning some sauces and drying a lot I thought I would try and find another way of preserving and came across the fermenting method. I read a few articles and one in particular caught my attention that used a Reisling wine so I made two different mashes one with Fresnos and one with Paper Lanterns using a 2%, kosher, salt mix and topping up with the wine until it was just and inch over the top. The Fresno mix did produce some bubbles after a day or so but the Paper Lantern didn't really do anything. Incidentally I'm using mason jars with airlock lids.
I had another type of chili mature a few weeks after I started the other batches, this time I used the same 2% salt but I just topped up with mineral water. This jar has been bubbling away very successfully for the past couple of weeks and showing all the typical signs or a good ferment, layer separation, bubbles e.t.c. but the other two are really just sitting there doing nothing much. I have even taken some of the juice out the fermenting one and added it to the other jars, separated whey from some live yogurt and bought a starter culture all without any great success. They might bubble away for a day but then they go back to being still again.
Obviously since starting the little experiment I have read about sulphides in the wine stopping the lacto fermentation and this certainly seems to be what is happening but the two jars that I'm talking about now have a very broken down soupy mash without having any adverse smells or growth.
So my questions are;
1) Do you think they are fermenting?
2) Should I just leave them to get on with it?
3) Should I strain the wine off and see if I can get them to start again with just a normal brine solution?
4) Is there anything I could do with the failed mash so and not to waste it?
Sorry for the long winded first post but any advice will be greatly recieved.
Regards, Allan.
Ok so a little more info.
Last night I decided to take the jars out the cupboard, where they're being kept and put them on the kitchen windowsill. We're having a little bit of an Indian summer at the moment and I though the heat might help a little. Low and behold the Fresno jar looked like it had been fermenting a little, there were a few bubbles and some of the mash had risen to the top of the jar. The Paper Lanterns, however, haven't done anything.
Do your u think it may just be a heat problem? Bearing in mind the third ferment is still going strong in the cupboard. Could it be a lack of sugar in the mash mix?
Regards, carty.
