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preservation Mold or kahm yeast? Thank you
- Thread starter Artsakh
- Start date
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Oh jeez! 
That's mold. Don't mess with that!
That's mold. Don't mess with that!
Maybe I came on a bit strong and others will want to chime it. There may well be yeast growing, but it's the raised clumps and discoloration/fuzziness of the pellicle that concern me. Smell can help to ID good from bad. Even with mold, it may be constrained to the top of the mash and not inside. Low pH will discourage it. I've done a fair amount of brewing and lacto fermentation and I tend to error on the side of caution. That's a really nice looking mash and I'd hate to see it lost but I'd also hate to see bad results. Some people might just scrape it off and go forward if the pH was good and things smelled okay. From what I can see in a picture, it would concern me enough not to mess with it.
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What were you trying to do, ferment the mash? In that case you'd be better off fermenting the peppers in a brine (water and salt) in an oxygen-free environment, and only after fermentation blend them.
Anyway, this is mold:
This is kahm yeast:
Anyway, this is mold:
This is kahm yeast:
Downriver
eXtreme
Oh jeez!
lol, well yes, yes it is!
And like CD said, scraping it off doesn't work either. The mold has sent microscopic "tentacles" down into the mash, so scraping off the surface does NOT eliminate it.
Sorry to say, but this needs to get pitched.