fermenting Wahoo Ferment #2

[chiefmanywrenches]

So, riding on the coat tails of my first successful ferment I am venturing into number 2. My parents gave me a pepper plant called basket of fire. It was loaded with ripe and near ripe pods and in the past couple weeks I have gotten quite the bounty. That mixed with some tiny Datil peppers from my juvenile plant I had enough to take another stab at it. 
 
This time I learned from my prior experience and the tips I have read from many of your helpful posts. Along with my peppers I added pineapple and carrot. This let me fill up the empty space in my jar while at the same time providing some sweetness and depth to the mash. The only place where I slacked was on the salt. I didn't use a brine this time, I just added kosher salt to the mash. I used ~2 tablespoons for the whole jar along with some kimchi juice to provide some active bacteria. This may seem like a lot of salt but one I like salty things and two better safe than sorry. I will keep you posted, my goal is to let this ferment go at least 60 days and/or until I get so impatient that I just can't wait anymore.
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 

[SmokenFire]

Love it CMW!!  Please keep us updated as the ferment goes.  Really great color you have going on there.  

 

[RocketMan]

i think you missed the part where sweet ingredients, when added to a mash and fermented will not come out of the ferment sweet. Now, you will have the flavor of the pineapple in the resulting fermented mash, but the sweetness will be gone.

2 ways to look at this now. First, I have a Jamacian sauce that is loved by a lot of people. It starts out with a ton of sugars, golden raisens, sweet potatoes, ginger and more. It is not a sweet sauce though. Well a touch of sweetness is added by the pineapple I add After the ferment, while processing. It is for all intrinsic purposes a savory sauce. You can taste the raisens and all but it's not sweet. Second, you can back sweeten the sauce with some honey or agave nectar and enjoy both the pineapple flavor and the sweetness. I like this because it allows you to added another layer to the flavor profile and to the depth of character of your sauce.

Cheers,
RM

 

[chiefmanywrenches]

Thanks for the info. I know that some of the sweetness will come out but I wasn't sure if it all would or not. I wanted to have some natural sugars in there to give the bacteria something to eat. I do not really have a goal with this one yet, mostly just to keep it going for as long as I can. After everything is done I will taste test it to see what needs to be added (or not added). I like the honey idea so I will keep that in mind.

 

[chiefmanywrenches]

Well this mash is about a day in and I am already seeing some action in the jar. This makes me happy because with ferment number 1 there were no physical signs of anything. I can see tiny bubbles all around the outside and probably the same inside. I am pretty excited to see where this goes.
 

 

[oldsalty]

Looking great chief!! Like smoke said great color! And RocketMan has you covered on adding sweetness after fermenting I'd say this is a wrap! Now the waiting is it ready yet? No..............now! .......................how about now..............not yet ok ill check back lol

 

[chiefmanywrenches]

I know, I have the worst "I want it now" attitude. Quick question for the pros: why do we keep ferments in dark places? Does the light allow for bad things to grow better?

 

[oldsalty]

That's a good question RocketMan or SmokenFire can probably answer that one I believe it can retard the fermentation process kills the good bacteria maybe? Lol

 

[BigB]

I just read an article about catching wahoo and was expecting fermented fish lol katsuoboshi? 

 

[SmokenFire]

Most of what I know about light and fermentation comes from home brewing beer where most types of light are a no no.  I do not have any pepper mash specific guidelines for light interaction with ferments.  I have a kitchen cupboard near the fridge that its my 1/2 gallon batches nicely and is warmer than the basement so most of my stuff goes there.  The sauerkraut that we make ferments in the same containers right on the countertop with no issues though. 

 

[chiefmanywrenches]

Thanks for the reply, I also did a little reading around and I guess certain waves of light are bad for the lactobacteria. It "can" kill them and cause ferments to go slower. Proven, not really but either way I am not going to take any chances.

 

[Downriver]

I don't put my ferments in direct sunlight, but I don't cover them either. Most of them are just sitting on a counter in the corner of the kitchen.
 
I don't cover any of my hard ciders either. Only thing I covered was a batch of mead, but I'm not sure why now lol.
 
ymmv

 

[2Goats]

That looks like its gonna be some great sauce!

 

[chiefmanywrenches]

Boy it is really going now, I woke up to this action yesterday. After this picture I swirled the jar for 15 seconds or so and got a nice burp in the air lock, it smelled awesome. I am really excited for this one to be done.
 

 

[SmokenFire]

That is looking excellent CMW!

 

[oldsalty]

Anticipation is a Bitch!!

 

[chiefmanywrenches]

More progress, should there be liquid building up? I don't seem to have any that I can see, only bubbles.
 

 

[oldsalty]

Looks killer chief mine usually bubble slowly I give them a little ratchet shake every day don't get that big overflow your is looking perfect !!! No Worries!

 

[SmokenFire]

Ya I'm with OS chief - most of my ferments don't have all that much 'liquid' to them.  All that bubbling activity throughout the mash = lots of fermentation going on.  It also would appear that the mash is 'rising' in the jar - looks like it's more 'full' than in your first pics - another good indication a whole lotta tasty is going down.  

 

[chiefmanywrenches]

Smoken, the level of the mash is definitely up for sure. Every other day or so I gently knock the bottom of the jar against the cabinet to bring the bubbles up and settle the mash back down followed by a little swirl. I have to go easy though so that the water in the air lock doesn't go down the hole into the mash. I have also noticed that the mash at the bottom of the jar is a lot looser than the top. 2 weeks old today and it is moving along nicely.