fermenting My First Pepper Mash

[patrick]

After reading everyone's posts on making a pepper mash I had to give it a shot myself. It was a fun experience and if I get something edible at the end well that's a bonus. I was a little slim on fresh peppers this time of year so I had to go begging. Thankfully Silver Surfer came through for me so a huge thank you to him. On to the pics!

Here's the generous contribution from SS, a little over a pound of the hot stuff.

There are Bhut Jolokia, Red Savina, Antillies Caribbean, 7 Pod Brain Strain, Trinidad Scorpion, Trinidad Congo, Douglah, 7 Pod Brown (I think),Dorset Naga and Fatalii peppers.

I'm one of those guys who trashes everything in the kitchen when I take on this kind of task so to make things less messier I went out and bought the right tools to do the job. A half gallon jug and one of those airlock doohickeys with a food grade cork. I could have gotten by with a quart bottle but isn't bigger usually better? These three items cost me $6 and I found them at a home brew supply store.

Some of my pepper powders in the background.

Time to get some work done. I removed stems and seeds, trying to keep as much of the placental membranes as possible.

The cleaned and ready to go peppers:

More to come...

 

[patrick]

Next step was the food processor. I have a small one so this took a few loads of pepper before they were all finished. Here's the view from the side.

Here's one from the top:

Here's the final one with the mash sitting in the jar.

I'm thinking this will be ready around Christmas time.

 

[patrick]

The final recipe reads like this:

1lb various peppers
2 tbls kosher salt
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
1 tbls roasted garlic
2 tsps of lemon juice
1 piece of secret ingredient.

Thanks

(edited to add the lemon juice)

 

[paulky_2000]

That looks EVIL!!!


One thing....I was led to believe that in order to make a mash, you have to introduce some form of bacteria to kick-start the fermentation process. (which is why I went with a puree instead.) Is that the "secret ingredient"?

 

[DaQatz]

You don't have to, it just helps(a lot). Often people just leave it exposed to air to get the right bacteria. In fact it's often already on the skin of your vegies. Though washing them can remove it.

 

[Silver_Surfer]

Looks very good so far. Good luck.

BTW, those are Chocolate Habs or Jamaican Hot Chocolate. They're to similar to see or taste any difference, at least in my grow.

 

[lazienfat]

Looks good Patrick! Hope it turns out well for you.

 

[PepperLover]

looking great

 

[mesatrin]

Did you put water or vodka in your airlock? For brewing I use vodka, I was told it is better since the alcohol will kill anything trying to get in.

But looks good. It should turn out nice and hot for you.

 

[patrick]

Thanks for the kind words gang.

I wasn't sure if I had to put a starter bacteria in it, most of the recipes I read didn't mention it so I didn't. Without using one I believe the process just takes longer to get going.

mesatrin yep got water in the airlock. Never thought about vodka. That's brilliant!

Thanks for the clarification SS. As I was cleaning them I noticed they were three that had no wrinkles.

I plan on keeping this thread up to date with any changes throughout the process.Thanks.

 

[Pepper Ridge Farm]

Hey patrick I like your fermenting jug and airstop looks good. Just a few things I noticed when you chop your peppers don't make puree of them just chop on and off real quick a few times fast, and in your recipe you added vinegar not sure you should have added any vinegar until after the fermentation is complete. I use 1 cup for every gallon of mash so it look like you could have used 1/4 cup kosher salt in your mash, Jim at Wet and Wild does his mash with vinegar I just haven't any experience with that method. Wish you luck and hope the batch is the best sauce you ever had.

 

[patrick]

Thanks for the kudos and tips Cappy.

I went with less salt due to using vinegar. I needed a liquid to get the peppers going in the food processor and that's about all I had on hand that I thought would work. I was afraid to use regular tap water as most of the recipes I read were using distilled water.

Would adding a little sugar help get the fermentation process going?

This is a learning experience for me. Thanks for the info everyone.

 

[Silver_Surfer]

If you don't see any bubbles yet try adding some liquid from yogurt. Get some plain yogurt and let it sit at room temp until it begins to separate, then add a couple of tablespoons of the liquid to your mash. I plan on starting a batch this weekend and will use the lactobacillus from yogurt to give it a kick start.

 

[patrick]

Yogurt runoff. Gotcha SS, thanks.

 

[patrick]

Nothing was happening in the old pepper mash so I decided to follow the advice of SS and I added a bit of the liquid that separates from yogurt. Plain yogurt that I let sit for a bit in a cool dry spot. Wasn't a long wait and when I judged there was about a tablespoon's worth I poured it off into a small dish and then into the mash. Gave it all a good shake and now the wait begins again. I'm think Christmas will be a good time to check it out.

Question for you experts, should I keep this in a dark place or is it OK with light hitting it?

Thanks all.

 

[origamiRN]

I'm impressed! That's looking awesome.

 

[DaQatz]

Nothing was happening in the old pepper mash so I decided to follow the advice of SS and I added a bit of the liquid that separates from yogurt. Plain yogurt that I let sit for a bit in a cool dry spot. Wasn't a long wait and when I judged there was about a tablespoon's worth I poured it off into a small dish and then into the mash. Gave it all a good shake and now the wait begins again. I'm think Christmas will be a good time to check it out.

Question for you experts, should I keep this in a dark place or is it OK with light hitting it?

Thanks all.

I wouldn't call myself an expert, but dark is better. These microbes don't like UV.

EDIT: The yogurt run off should be "live" yogurt not pasteurized.

 

[patrick]

Not pasteurized eh? Poop! OK, I'm off to the grocery store again. Thanks much DaQatz.

Thanks for the compliment Brad.

How about adding a little bit of brewers yeast? Or any type of yeast? What are some good things to use to get the mash to "work"?

Thanks

 

[DaQatz]

Yeast makes CO[sup]2[/sup] and alcohol. You want a lactobacillus which makes among other things CO[sup]2[/sup] and lactic acid.

Also the best lactobacillus to use are plantarum, and acidophilus. They make more acid then the others.

Lactobacillus Plantarum is what people are adding when the use sourdough hooch.

Lactobacillus Acidophilus you can get in the pharmacy section. (Pro-biotic ,supplement)
Be warmed I've tested using these pills, they are hot and miss many of them are simply
"long dead" by the time you get them.

Yogurt normally use Lactobacillus Bulgaricus. Which will work fine will just make the acid slower.

 

[megamoo]

What about Yakult, I think its only in Australia

from their site:

Yakult is a fermented milk drink that contains a very high concentration of a unique, beneficial bacterium called Lactobacillus casei Shirota strain.

They are like little shot glasses of yoghurt. Because its concentrated and a very small amount I don't think you could get much separation of clear fluid. Do you think the unseparated yoghurt would alter the mash, in fermentation or flavour? @ anyone