Can anyone tell me what is going on here? Did 3 jars at the same time and the Choc habanero pot and the mixed red habanero got what looks possibly like stringy kahm yeast throughout but nothing at the top of the jar. The yellow hab jar is crystal clear. If kahm yeast is it possible to change brine and keep peppers, was going to add some more fresh peppers to the ferment..This ferment has been going for about 8 weeks.
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tutorial Why Your Ferment Grew Mold, What to Do,and How to Prevent It
- Thread starter Chili Monsta
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They look beautiful. 
Perfect color, cloudy brine showing lacto fermentation is working.
I have a red and yellow in half gallons about 7 weeks now.
Ingredients no longer floating and stabilized throughout the brine.
Cant wait to blend them up. I'm going for 12 weeks.
I don't use fancy ferment tops etc either. I use vlasic half gallon pickle jars and just burp them few times a day in beginning. About once a week now.
They smell so gooood!!
Good luck.
I also give the jar a vigorous agitative shake after burping then burp again.
Really excellerates the process and let's the contents evenly ferment in the brine.
Perfect color, cloudy brine showing lacto fermentation is working.
I have a red and yellow in half gallons about 7 weeks now.
Ingredients no longer floating and stabilized throughout the brine.
Cant wait to blend them up. I'm going for 12 weeks.
I don't use fancy ferment tops etc either. I use vlasic half gallon pickle jars and just burp them few times a day in beginning. About once a week now.
They smell so gooood!!
Good luck.
I also give the jar a vigorous agitative shake after burping then burp again.
Really excellerates the process and let's the contents evenly ferment in the brine.
Fantastic news. Nice to know I'm on the right track. I'll burp a few more times a day then, only been doing it every few days which explains the vigorous bubbles rushing when I burp.
I just checked on my superhots that have been fermenting for about 3 months. I'm in no hurry, I have plenty of sauces.
I sniffed the airlock and it smelled..."farty."
Opened the lid and I saw patches of black floating on top of the brine. Peppers are all submerged with a glass weight.
So then I read the thread and I'm not sure it's so bad.
I think I'll let it ride.
I sniffed the airlock and it smelled..."farty."
Opened the lid and I saw patches of black floating on top of the brine. Peppers are all submerged with a glass weight.
So then I read the thread and I'm not sure it's so bad.
I think I'll let it ride.
Bomonti said:
That white stuff on the peppers looks suspiciously like mold - which is wierd, as it's underwater.
What's your salt content, percentage-wise?
If your salt content is too low, it could be nasties.
If your salt content is too high, it could be salt coming out of solution.
mitchNC said:
All the advice I've ever seen is "trust your nose."
Does it smell like something you'd want to eat?
Right off the bat, I wouldn't want to eat something that smells "farty," or at least the way I'd describe "farty."
Patches of black may or may not be a good sign. If they are moldy, I'd throw the jar out. If it's from choc habs or roasted skins, it's fine.
If it is mold, you *could* be fine if it hasn't permeated down to the peppers. In "old days" skimming the top off was a regular thing. People also died earlier then, too, so, take that for what it is. I also play super-conservative when it comes to health concerns, partly because my wife may or may not partake of my ferments and she's currently eating for two.
What I would do if I wanted to keep that batch would be to carefully remove all the nasties on top, take off a fair bit of the water as well, then re-top it with a super-saturated salt brine (carefully to prevent it from penetrating too much of your protected peppers). Like, way more than necessary, especially since the initial few weeks of fermentation have come and gone. Then, when processing the peppers, drain off excess brine to keep the product from being too salty.
I've only done that process like twice and I'm new to this stuff (only started doing ferments in like May of this year), so take my advice with a grain of salt. Worked relatively well so far, though.
Hey dudes I am doing a two week fermentation in a salt water brine with some habaneros. It's been a week and a half and I noticed actual fuzzy white mold growing on the side of the jar inside above the peppers. I opened up the jar and wiped it out. At the end of two weeks I plan on blending the peppers, boiling at 240 for a while, mixing with salt and vinegar, and storing in the fridge in woozy bottles. Is it ok that there was some mold and may be some more mold at the end of two weeks or does this need to be thrown out?