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fermenting Mash STINKS

PrimeTime

PrimeTime

So i have a mash of orange Habs, cayenne, garlic, onion 3.6% salt, started with whey, ran good but did develope kahm yeast. When i processed it sunday after 3 months it smelled really bad like body odor! the water at the top was thick and slimy.
 
Ph is 3.1 but i guess I'm gonna trust my nose and dump it. I am leary of tasting it.
 
It should not smell bad right folks?
 
no pics sorry
 
smelled like a phish show
 
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How much garlic did you have in the mash?
 
The slimy water is the krausen head that develops during fermentation.
 
If left on the mash and not scummed off it can be nasty.
 
Hope you didn't toss the batch yet.
 
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Too bad! I hope this won't be my experience with the ferment I've got going. Is the kahm yeast the white surface film that develops after the active fermentation stops? That's what's happening to my batch. My ferment is based on Cranberries and Congo Trinidad chiles. Other than that it's similar to yours: 3.2% brine, whey, etc.
 
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Didn't toss it yet. Not sure what to do!!! 
 
I didn't skim it off. Don't remember how much garlic i added but knowing me it was a fair amount.
 
Id try it but not sure if it can make me sick.
 
Aside from the kahm there was about a dime sized darker floatie on top that i removed. Aside from the snot water on top the solids looked good...
 
And I'm trying to get that sasbe out to you this week Kentish, busy busy
 
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PrimeTime said:
Didn't toss it yet. Not sure what to do!!! 
 
I didn't skim it off. Don't remember how much garlic i added but knowing me it was a fair amount.
 
Id try it but not sure if it can make me sick.
 
Aside from the kahm there was about a dime sized darker floatie on top that i removed. Aside from the snot water on top the solids looked good...
 
And I'm trying to get that sasbe out to you this week Kentish, busy busy
Click to expand...
 
 
that darker stuff is what made it smell terrible, pitch that.
 
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PexPeppers said:
 
 
that darker stuff is what made it smell terrible, pitch that.
Click to expand...
Yeah, oh well. Thanks and im gonna trust you and my nose....
 
down the drain she goes.
 
This will be my second mash and both went south. 3 and 4 look good. Learning every time. just when you think you know something about microbiology....
 
Thanks all!
 
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Did you ferment using what was on the peppers naturally, or a starter culture of some type? 
 
I processed my first ever ferment yesterday and it smelled awesome (6 week long ferment). Filled the whole house with deliciousness! I scooped off the kahm yeast layer on the top, although there wasn't very much, then into a pan to be cooked. I used 4 teaspoons of the bottom liquid layer to start a new ferment and saw tons of bubbles throughout the mash within 4 hours. The original Lactobacillus came from a Culturelle Probiotic capsule. I`m excited about fermenting peppers after the first one!!!
 
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Sorry to hear about your mash PrimeTime. Walk me through the steps you used to get the mash up and going and about where it sat while it fermented. What was the temperature where it fermented? Maybe I can identify some of the contributing factors to it going south on you.
 
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Thanks guys. First off i work with microbiology everyday and i guess i was a little sloppy with this. Im pretty sure my 4 issues where very little  starter culture (from yogurt) added, cool start up temp probably didnt help too little veg to water ratio and too much headspace. My next 2 are looking perfectly clean, next one to process is a garlic sweet potato onion celery mash inspired by you RM!
 
Might try to get that bottled for holiday gifts, its at about 35 days.
 
Thanks all and ill get it!
 
On a better note i bottled 36 bottles of fresh habanero sauce today for holiday gifts! :party:  
 
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Trusting your intuition/gut/nose is a good thing.  There's no way to quantify the good smell of kimchi, sauerkraut, or ferments. My mom made sauerkraut, I didn't pay much attention to the process, but I know the smell.  I've done some good ferments and a couple that got pitched. 
And some other sauces that had a good pH, but I didn't heat-pack them and after a few weeks in the reefer, they went "pppffffftttttt" when the jar was opened.  PITCHED! 
 
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