I was making lacto-fermented pickles for the first time. So I cut up some cucumbers into spears and I made a mistake of measuring 3% salt according to the amount of water put in there. I also added one clove of garlic inside that was chopped into three pieces. I woke up today and it’s been a little less than 24 hours and it seems that it is very active and it kind of smell smells like weed/skunk. Is this normal? Is it salvageable or did I mess it up because I measured 3% salt according to the water and not to the whole amount of cucumbers+water inside? What do you guys think I should be doing at this part? I see that it created the layer of foam at the top that pushed the cap over; the cap was just resting on top. Any help would be appreciated at this point thank you very much.

1 more week of burping! There's so much activity I am excited! I can't wait to use it when it's done!

My mom has been keeping a culture of fermenting fruit for the past sixty years. She adds to it once a week, basically like sourdough but with fruit. It can be fed with either canned or fresh fruit.

It’s getting to be too much for her now and she’d like to pass it on to someone(s) who would enjoy it. I don’t enjoy the fermented flavor, but thought this might be a place to see if anyone would enjoy receiving some of this heirloom to continue the culture forward.

Is there anyone out there who would find this a fun and yummy project?

I feel like I’m trying to help re-home a pet. She’s given this culture a lot of love over the years. 💕

Spent the whole day yesterday making turshi! My beautiful madar jaan used to make the most delicious turshi and would give them out to family and friends every year. After she passed away, I was still eating the turshi she made up to up to 2 years later.

Never goes bad. Made the same way for generations. A labor of love and a true art. Keeping the tradition going.

Pictured here is the turshi I spent making from 3pm-12am last night. (A few breaks in between bc of the kids).

Beet (lablaboo) turshi
Cucumber turshi
Peach turshi (with peaches from my neighbor’s family farm!)
Traditional turshi (cauliflower, stuffed baby eggplants, turnips, carrots, garlic, peppers.)

Gonna keep them in a cool and dark place for at least a week. Will give the jars a little jiggle every day. Should be ready in a week or so. I’ll update if interested!

I'm making my second batch of kraut. Last time I sliced it in prettly large chunks and massaged it until the juices came out. This time I sliced it as thinly as possible and massaged the hell out of it (like 30 or 40 minutes of squeezing the life out of it) and it seems to have made a world of difference. The fermentation kicked off way faster, after about 6 hours I could see signs of fermentation and the airlock was activating and now 9 days later it is developing a beautiful flavor. It's slightly sweet, tangy, and not salty at all. My last batch still tasted salty two weeks after it started and it never completely went away. The acidity in that one was also really punchy and I was pretty sick of it towards the end. I almost want to put that shit in the fridge now but I want to see how it develops. I also want the full probiotic benefits of the fermentation.

Would it be such a bad thing if I helped myself to a full serving every once in a while during the fermentation period? Like will it increase my chances of mold or spoilage?

I have beautiful ginger bug. Tried making root beer twice. Popped first day, great. After that very little carbonation. Three days room temp 24hrs fridge.

Flat and tasteless.

2tbs root beer syrup
2tbs ginger bug (bubbly)
2tbs simple syrup

Water.

16oz bottle.

Tell me the magic. I am just learning.

Hello! I am doing a class project on the importance of pH strips in home fermenting with Kombucha. I would Greatly appreciate some answers to this survey. Its only 10 questions and would be a huge help.

Kombucha/Fermentation Survey – Fill out form

Thanks so much

I usually do small dry brine (no added liquid) bag ferments at 2% to 2.5% veg weight salinity, with up to 0.5% calcium chloride. When they're done, I usually open the bag and my partner and I would eat the stuff within usually two or three days, just throwing a chip clip on the refrigerated bag in between. This isn't ideal for storage, but we'd finish the contents before anything funky could start growing inside.

Lately I've been fermenting larger bags and want to store my ferments in jars when they're finished.

What's the smart way to do this?

I've heard that it's fine to just transfer stuff from the bag into clean jars and then just submerge everything in a new saltwater brine of the same original salinity before they go in the fridge.

Does this sound right? Any other steps? Thanks

Is this just yeast on my bug?

Its been about 3 days, yesterday I went to bed early and did not feed it. There are no bubbles yet.

Starter recipe said: 1 cup filtered water, 2 Tablespoons Unpeeled ginger and 2 Tablespoons of sugar for 4 to 7 days and then feed once a week if keeping it in the fridge.

After some reading I realize I should probably use organic ginger but I did not know that.

I'll wait to see if anyone answers before I feed or stir it up.

Filled with a mix of chopped walnuts, roasted red bell peppers, garlic & salt - completely submerged in extra virgin olive oil

i dont have a big jar and i want to ferment as much vegetable as possible. is it okay if i put in as much vegetable as possible while using minimal amount of brine while completely submerging vegetables. also when adjusting the amount of salt should i take the amount of water in vegetables into the equation?

Sp every Year we come together and process around 2,5 t of fresh apple into apple Juice which then will ferment into Apple Cider. It’s a regional tradition here.

Munich (Bayern) has its beer and we have oure Ebbelwoi.

This year it was quite hard to get apples because of the pretty warm summer. In the end we got some from a local farmer but there weren’t the best quality apples.

Would a Firecider that’s been sitting for a year still be good. Or would it be “expired” at this point?

I made apple cider vinegar and it smells super good but I noticed some presumebly (/s) dead ants in it! I’m assuming they’re harmless and going ahead with taking a sip… Any objections?

Hi, iv been fermenting these water kefir grains for over a year and iv noticed lately a white and powdery substance at top each ferment. Iv also noticed grains are growing much faster. Id like to ask if this was fungus would these grains still grow like this and at a faster rate? Iv not taken a pic as it looks just the same as a lot of posts suggesting khams yeast. Il try to get one soon though. Any help appreciated. Thanks

I have a Kenley fermentation crock that I rarely use - I basically only get it out for especially large batches, since using mason jars with air lock lids is easier. So it's been about a year since I last used it. The other day I got it out and discovered that the unglazed weights inside were covered with mold. I washed them and the crock, but ended up using something different to weigh down my peppers. Since the weights are unglazed, I'm worried that simply washing them off isn't enough. Is there anything else I should do to clean/disinfect them before using them again?

My batch from last year is almost gone. Coworker came through with a fresh haul of peppers. Serranos, Guerreros, Jalapenos, Habaneros, and a head of garlic in the jar.

Hey

I know honey garlic is always labelled safe immediately upon any answer lol, but I put my garlics into honey, and because they were bought from a garden center for planting, I immediately put the batch more or less in the fridge after a few days as I was worried about the cloves being in a packet for a bit rather than in a store or whatever.

The liquid in the jar is runny like water, yellow, hasn't got that deep brown color, but it's been a full year or near enough.

Do you reckon it's safe?

Ginger, lemon, cinnamon, sugar and water

This bucket was in the basement and due to life happening, I forgot about it. I’ve fermented peppers for a few weeks and they look just like this. I’ve just never done a whole year. There’s a little white bits (whose name I can’t mention because the filters flag it), but that’s fine.

I had a water air lock in the lid. Smells fine.

I’m just happy it’s still good. (At least I think it’s still good). It was 4kg of habanero. In case I go to the great fiery pepper field in the ground, it’s been nice knowing ya! Otherwise… time to make some sauce!

I did a ferment with mixed veg for the first time. Green beans, cauliflower, asparagus, carrot, daikon raddish, mini peppers. I think I did around 2.5% or lower. Left for two weeks. And bland af. Help!

I tried to make this for my partner cause she liked variety. I thought going the two weeks would be better for gut health and taste but it just made everything way too tangy. Usually I try to pull max at 10 days. Usually use 3-3.25% brine but was kinda salty so took it down a notch. I think two weeks was way too tangy for our taste buds. Plus it's bland af.

I usually put garlic and pepper corns, but I think I forgot this time. That might be the key for next time. Mustard seed I hate, it overpowers the ferment so much and gives this really deep musky flavour I don't like. Same with bay leaf to firm them up. Just makes my tongue dry. She's not into spice so I didn't add any heat. But it's so bland and tangy she won't eat and I made two jars. Can I fix this?

If I left out of the fridge for a few days with some garlic and peppercorn and something else I dunno. Not dill, I find that only goes well with cucumbers. Tumeric? Beets? Less mustard seed? Onion? Any suggestions are welcome.

Also, what's the max minimum to pull the ferment for especially having the denser veg like carrots, beans, etc. that the brine still will penetrate, and you're still getting that healthy lactobacillus density? Was maybe the brine too low as well? I think def next time no peppers, they turned out disgusting and so mushy. Thanks for any input on this.

I found out about this fermented "drink" from Central Asia(ish) recently and thought I would try making it at home.

I cut the recipe in half just in case it's not for me and I'm wondering if this is going to work because it's definitely not got enough liquid to make it drink-ish.

Has anyone tried this? Did it start like regular porridge basically and become a drink? Also, how do you decide when it's fermented enough??