WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

[flowerbug]

There is a layer of kahm yeast on the top.

is that something you are adding?

i don't do much fermenting here so it hasn't been a common thing to see, here are a few comments on it and approaches to preventing it:

Kahm Yeast 101: Prevention, Treatment, FAQs | NW Ferments

Learn everything you need to know about Kahm yeast - from prevention to treatment and FAQs - with NW Ferments' Kahm Yeast 101 guide. Start fermenting with confidence.

www.nwferments.com

 

[LaurenRitz]

is that something you are adding?

i don't do much fermenting here so it hasn't been a common thing to see, here are a few comments on it and approaches to preventing it:

Kahm Yeast 101: Prevention, Treatment, FAQs | NW Ferments

Learn everything you need to know about Kahm yeast - from prevention to treatment and FAQs - with NW Ferments' Kahm Yeast 101 guide. Start fermenting with confidence.

www.nwferments.com

Kham yeast is not generally considered a bad thing. It's a wild yeast that gets into many fements and it's completely harmless. But its presence indicates that there might be imbalances in the ferment. It usually feeds on sugar (I didn't add any sugar, so obviously from the peppers) and can't tolerate high levels of acid or salt.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I did find some additional information, though. Hot sauce is fermented without water. I hadn't caught that before. The ratios are for the material (peppers) and not the water. So that suggests there is a great deal of water in peppers and the normal salt ratios wouldn't work.

Most ferments you add the salt to the water. Material ratios are pretty much ignored. Cucumber pickles, fermented beets, fermented tomatoes, etc.

With things like saurkraut, the salt is used to pull the water out of the cabbage. It creates its own liquid. If you add water, the ferment is going to be nasty.

Peppers are apparently a step above that.

 

[flowerbug]

I did find some additional information, though. Hot sauce is fermented without water. I hadn't caught that before. The ratios are for the material (peppers) and not the water. So that suggests there is a great deal of water in peppers and the normal salt ratios wouldn't work.

Most ferments you add the salt to the water. Material ratios are pretty much ignored. Cucumber pickles, fermented beets, fermented tomatoes, etc.

With things like saurkraut, the salt is used to pull the water out of the cabbage. It creates its own liquid. If you add water, the ferment is going to be nasty.

Peppers are apparently a step above that.

all good to know and i hope that helps you get your hot pepper sauce made properly at last!

when i've watched a lot of the mass production big factory vids on-line i've always seen the peppers going in and getting cleaned in water and stuff like that but never saw them adding extra water to the mash once the peppers are chopped up but there was probably some trace amounts left on the peppers after they're cleaned, also the ingredients that did seem to be added were salt, a little sugar and vinegar. i just checked some labels to see if any of them mention added water and a few of the items i have do have added water but the sriracha sauce has no mention of that on the label.