fermenting Question about fermenting frozen hydroponic peppers

[NowWithVitaminR]

Hi guys, 
 
Over the last year i've set up a hydroponic grow tent in my kitchen. I have yellow scorpions and 'mini habaneros' from puckerbutt growing in there.
 
My plan is to harvest them and ferment.
 
Since this is my first go at an indoor plant i may have trimmed a little too much and as a result i dont have a huge harvest, so I'd like to freeze them until Im ready to ferment. I have a vacuum sealer for this.
 
I also just found out about vacuum fermentation, which seems like a safe option. I'm guessing since these are indoor peppers, there aren't much wild yeasts floating around in the tent, so i'm not even sure fermenting them fresh would work.
 
So my plan is to:
 
1. Harvest and freeze ripe peppers in vacuum bags until i have enough to start a batch.
2. Create a starter sourdough yeast (from the sticky on this forum).
3. Create a mash with some garlic and salt, add some yeast starter and hope for the best.
 
Any issues with this plan? suggestions?
 
Thanks!

 

[CaneDog]

Should work fine.  Another option, since you'll be fermenting the peppers with bacteria rather than yeast, is to get a little cabbage from the store and start some sauerkraut just prior to starting your pepper fermentation. Then, when that starts to bubble aggressively, pour some of the juice in when you start your pepper fermentation.  Transferring the sauerkraut liquid when it's active should really jump start your lacto fermentation, working much like the process of stepping up a yeast starter for home brewing.
 
I wouldn't expect you to have any issue with a lacto fermentation using fresh peppers from inside.  There are lacto bacteria - and yeasts - growing basically everywhere.  Even with frozen peppers you're probably ok, especially if you're mixing in your last harvest of fresh peppers, though it may be slower getting going.  Using a fresh starter, though rarely necessary, can help get things going faster and lessen the likelihood of issues as you're getting down your process.

 

[salsalady]

Side note...wash and trim ( if necessary) your fresh pods before freezing.

CaneDog's suggestions are spot on.

Have fun and good luck. Post pics if you can.
to THP.

Salsalady

 

[peppersproutfarm]

I freeze all of my peppers prior to fermentation. I have found that I get a much more active fermentation quicker with frozen peppers over fresh peppers. I'm not sure if this is because the cell wall has already been broken down in the freezing process or what. You definitely do need to trim and wash them prior to freezing. As stated above getting it started is really the only issue. Using the sauerkraut method is very helpful. You can also add some fresh pods if you have them available mixed in with the frozen that will also help kick off the fermentation. adding fruit to your fermentation is another way to kick things off quicker. Keep us updated

 

[NowWithVitaminR]

Great!
 
So for my progress. I got my yeast starter going, its been hungry.. I ended up splitting it into 3 jars as the recipe in the Fermenting sticky makes ALOT and I was worrying about it boiling over.
 
I picked, sliced, vacuum sealed and froze all my ripe peppers. I decided my quarantine hot sauce is just going to be a mix of all my peppers I grew indoors this year, going for a 50/50 mix of Yellow Scorpions and mini habaneros, my two big plants in my grow tent (maybe a few chocolate/red or pumpkin habaneros mixed in there if my kratky windowsill plants produce any more) and see how it comes out. My goal is to make a potent hot sauce with just some garlic and vinegar added.
 
I also rigged up a fermentation cabinet consisting of a seedling/aquarium heating mat and a heating mat temp controller unit that I use to start seedlings. I had an empty wooden cabinet above my fridge in my kitchen that i'm keeping everything in that should do an okay job of keeping a stable temp (wood is a decent insulator and this part of the cabinet is completely enclosed.), and I just stuck the control on the side of my fridge with some velcro, ha. Tomorrow ill move the yeast into the fridge and eventually when I have enough ripe peppers, ill get the vacuum bag fermentation started... which may be a couple weeks
 
I may have started this starter yeast a little too early as i'm not sure how long this stuff will be good for, and from the sounds of it, I may not even end up using it.
 
Just using a bit of juice from a jar of sauerkraut is sounding pretty appealing actually now... maybe ill make some reubens while i'm at it.