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fermenting First fermented mash.

DaQatz

DaQatz

Hi Ho,

Short story Long.
I found myself with an excess of chopped peppers (About 9 pounds). They were originally intended for a batch of salsa ,but then we had a frost ,and a family emergency. So turned the tomatoes to soup(They were already skinned and chopped) ,and proceeded to pick everything in the garden that was frost sensitive.
I had been talking with someone on IRC who said he had been fermenting his peppers, and said it could really improve the taste. So I figured What the hell I should try it with my this batch.

After doing a bit of research I found it was a lot like making wine or beer, which I've done plenty of. Different bug mind you(Unless you're making a lambic beer) but same basic rules applied.
I sighed up to ask questions about some aged peppers I already had, and I figured I share this production too.

My peppers.

Peppers-start.JPG


This are just chopped ,not blended. They are a mix of Hungarian Wax, Jalapenos, and Cayenne.
I wanted to give my bacteria plenty to eat so I didn't want to just use peppers. So a decided to use a nice root vegetable that is often fermented, and pickled
around here. The beet ,it has more sugar then any other veggie, and just plan tastes good when it's fermented and or pickled. Not to mention
that I had a lot of beets still growing.

Here is the beet shredded. (Just one medium sized beet)

Beet-shredded.JPG


After I mixed it in with the peppers.

beet-peppers-mixed01.JPG


At this point I added the salt, and blended a portion of the peppers.

beet-peppers-mixed02.JPG


Most of the recipes I saw online had you just "wait" for mash to catch the bacteria it needs. I personally didn't want to take that kind of chance.
Plus I already had some good sourdough starter that I had harvested from some wild local grapes. It had a fair head of hooch at the top ready to use.

Hooch.JPG


I added the hooch to my mash ,and was a little surprised when it turned white on contact. Since it was Yellow, and clear before.

Added-hooch.JPG


I mixed it well, and put it in some mason jars. Here's one just after I put it in.

Day1.JPG


Nice and red, but as the mash becomes more acid the color will(and is) change. Here it is today (Day 2)

Day2.JPG


Turned a bit purple ,this picture was taken a few hours ago. It's even more purple now. I'm thinking of taking a picture
everyday during the fermentation to see the changes side by side. Also even though it's only day 2 small bubbles can
seen. They aren't very vigorous yet though.

bubbles.jpg


I'm not too surprised by that though ,since my starter is well maintained, feed ,and has a good sour taste to it.

I'll give more updates as thing progress.
 
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Oh but pickled beets are so tasty, ;). I also wanted to add a bit(a lot) of garlic, but garlic is antibacterial and could slow or prevent proper fermentation. So will have to wait on adding it till after.
 
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I add garlic to mine with no problems. I use the hooch as well and get the Ph down to 3.3 on the last batch. Problem with adding it later is it can affect the Ph of the finished sauce while adding it at the beginning, it will be a part of the low Ph sauce already.

jacob
 
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jjs7741 said:
I add garlic to mine with no problems. I use the hooch as well and get the Ph down to 3.3 on the last batch. Problem with adding it later is it can affect the Ph of the finished sauce while adding it at the beginning, it will be a part of the low Ph sauce already.

jacob
Click to expand...

Yeah probably wouldn't have hurt it ,but this is the first time I ferment pepper mash so I'd rather err on the side of caution.
 
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Since we're at friday I figure I'd give the update.

Day 3
Day4.jpg


Day 4
Day5.jpg


Day 5 (Today)
Day6.jpg


Can see tiny bubbles working their way through the mash to the top. Some of the other jars actually have a small "foam head" on them.

EDIT: Realized I number the days wrong(They were a day ahead)
 
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Hi I have fermented my mash before with the dregs from a bottle of wine. The fermenting in the bottle results in pressure building up and acting like a thick bottle of beer, with the mash going every where. If you open the bottle after shaking I would be very careful when you open your jars as it could result in the whole thing going up into your face. :eek: when fermenting I would use a air lock that would let pressure out while not letting air in that way they don't explode. :eek: Fermenting does give your resulting mash a really nice flavor and yours sounds like it will be great after it ages.
George W. :)
 
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wildseed57 said:
Hi I have fermented my mash before with the dregs from a bottle of wine. The fermenting in the bottle results in pressure building up and acting like a thick bottle of beer, with the mash going every where. If you open the bottle after shaking I would be very careful when you open your jars as it could result in the whole thing going up into your face. :eek: when fermenting I would use a air lock that would let pressure out while not letting air in that way they don't explode. :eek: Fermenting does give your resulting mash a really nice flavor and yours sounds like it will be great after it ages.
George W. :)
Click to expand...

Canning jars don't really seal on their own. I leave mine finger tight and have never had pressure build up in them and never had much more than a very slight puff of air come out when opened after the fermentation is complete. I would only worry about it if you heat the jars or put a hot lid on the jar when you tighten it down as that will soften the sealing compound on the lid and create a seal. Of course an air lock would be ideal though and I do plan on buying a couple to go with some 1 gal carboys as I have just too many peppers to process 1 qt at a time. :)

jacob
 
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I have some questions.

is the jar a quart or half gallon jar. how many jars did you get from the 9 pounds of peppers.

how much salt did you put in the jar and what kind of salt. did you weigh the salt.

were the beets raw or cooked.

I think it better to have just a little less mash in the jar so it does not come out the top.

did you add water to the jar with the salt. if so how much water went into the jar.

I agree that a air lock is not as good as a solid lid. air locks are a gimmick for this kind of fermenting. the jars & lids are designed to release pressure so as not to explode.
 
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That's a half gallon.

I didn't use all the same sized jars, I also used odd sized pickle jars etc... they just weren't as photogenic.

It's a total of 4 jars.

Yes I weighed the salt ,I put is 12%(a fairly salty amount) for a little over 1 pound.(1.08)

The beets were raw, I personally like raw pickled beets better then cooked pickled beets.

Do to the salt content, and the rooms temperature the bubbles are very small. So they don;t come out the top.
Also the small "head" of water helps keep things clean. Which answers the next question, yes I add extra water
it was really measured. It was just enough to cover the last inch or so in the jar. Though I do have to "tamp" down
the mash every now and then.
 
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I should have asked my question better. What I am wondering is how much it takes to fill say a gallon jar. I have a couple of used gallon pickle jars. I am thinking that 9 pounds peppers would about exactly fill a 1 gallon jar. I guess my real question is did the 9 pounds fill one gallon or more than one gallon of jar space. Anyway not that important. some day I will find out.

Sometimes I think it should take about 9 pounds to fill a gallon and sometimes I figure about 5 pounds should fill the gallon jar. I was hopeful that your using 9 pounds would help me get the correct answer to how much it takes to fill a gallon jar.

Yes the 10% to 12% by weight of salt seems enormous to me. Can I ask why you use so much salt. I dont think it is necessary. So I figure you have a good reason.
 
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I have some beets I will harvest very soon. I want to ferment them raw. Do you have any advice. do you peel the beets. how about spices for the beets. I guess you shred them. do you do them separate as pickled beets or do you mix them say with cabbage for a mix ferment. I assume you do them at 12% salt.

Pretty soon I will have to harvest them and get going on fermenting some beets.

I really want to add them to my hot sauce to make the hot sauce more red. I wonder if it works.

I like to add carrots to my hot sauce so I figure the beets might improve the color.
 
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Ok to be clear my only real experiment with fermenting vegetables for preservation in the past was making franco style "salted herbs". I listed the topic as "First fermented mash." because I had never done
it before. It was just a way to use the 9 pounds of chopped hot peppers that had been originally charted for salsa before they went bad. I also figured documenting a "first time" mash may help others looking
to do it as well.

9 pounds would fill more then a 1 gallon jar. I would guestimate 5-7 pounds for a 1 gallon, but that's once it's already "chopped/mashed" so the pepper caps are removed which makes a weight difference.
I put in 12% because after doing my research most sites said 10% to 15% by weight for mash. It did seem odd to me because when they were doing brine pickles the ratio was 2 to 3tbls(1 oz to 1.5oz) for to
1 littler of water(33.81oz) which is roughly 3% to 5% by volume. Plus the difference do to dry vs liquid measure. I stuck with the 10-15% for mash because pretty much every site said that's what it should be,
plus I figured people who had done it before knew better then I do.

When I pickle beets I normally make vinegar pickle. Simply for speed reasons. I slice them in "rounds" put them in a sanitized jar with with vinegar wash and seasonings. Then we can the jar. So it does
end up a little cooked. As to spices I like black pepper, mustard ,garlic ,and sometimes a little bay. I tend to avoid fennel and coriander with beets though. You could also try throwing in a cinnamon chip
or two(very little) it gives them and edge that's interesting. Though it does leave a "film" at the bottom of the jar.

The beets will make your sauce red to purple. Right now my mash is looking very red, by day 3 it looked almost royal purple to my eye. Mind you that I choose beets in the mash because I thought the taste
would better then with say carrots. The mash should end up a little sweeter ,and a little "fuller".

If you want to move the sauce more towards red beets will do the job over carrots.
 
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DaQuaz:
Very nice post and pictures.
Thanks for taking the time and getting into the details.
Personally...I love beets, and using them in place of carrots sounds like a good idea to me.
I'll be interested in finding out how the mash turns out....I might try them myself in a future batch of mash.
CM
 
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Ok it's friday again so here's the update.

Day 6
Day6.jpg


Day 7
Day7.jpg


Day 8
Day8.jpg


Day 9
Day9.jpg


Day 10
Day10.jpg


Day 11 : The bubbling was sticking to much to the lid so I removed some from the jar.
Day11.jpg


Day 12
Day12.jpg


Day 13
Day13.jpg



It's begining to smell/taste fairly sour at this point. Though I've noticed that each jar has a different smell and taste from each other.
 
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DaQatz said:
The beets will make your sauce red to purple. Right now my mash is looking very red, by day 3 it looked almost royal purple to my eye. Mind you that I choose beets in the mash because I thought the taste
would better then with say carrots. The mash should end up a little sweeter ,and a little "fuller".
Click to expand...

Hey DQ,

I find this whole beet thing very interesting, both from a flavor and a color point of view. Can you comment on that yet, or is the ferment still "on".

Thanks. Great thread by the way. :)
 
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