r/fermentation

so this is a ginger bug i created about a year ago I think. ive used her to make plenty of delicious probiotic sodas. I posted a few days ago a photo of her when she was still sort of dormant I think? i had a few people telling me I should worry about botulism, and others arguing that. I recognize i didnt give much information, thats my fault. so im trying again, and giving more for you all to go off of.

this was created using purified water, raw turbinado sugar, and organic ginger. I was cutting up about a tablespoon of ginger and adding it for the first week and a half of its existence, and that got her going pretty well. I was feeding it raw sugar every few days, trying not to let the gaps between feedings get longer that 4 days. Ive had her in the fridge in the past, and removed her to awaken her with sugar again. I only used the fridge to keep her dormant, and this was a few months ago. she has not been refrigerated for at least 6 months.

now to my issue, I was moving late February and forgot her at the old apartment. she sat on the shelf for about a month and a half, not refrigerated. when I was able to retrieve her, the lid was protruding like it had lots of built up gasses from the yeast. I vented it, and it bubbled and fizzled waaay more intensely than ive had it done before. it smells like a normal ginger bug. after the initial burst of energy after the venting, it seemed to go dormant again. not completely, but activity died down a lot. I chopped up another table spoon of ginger to see if that wiuld help wake her up. a few days passed and we have this. I dont want to dump her if shes safe to use, but as im pretty new to fermenting, and the ginger bug is the first thing ive tried fermenting, I felt it would be best to get outside opinions, from people who may be more experienced. thank you in advanced.

I’m a beginner in fermentation and I just bought these jars for my fermentation. I’ve noticed that the smell is leaking out from the jar even when I haven’t opened it.

Before these two jars, I fermented with glass jars (like the normal ones with steel lid), and the smell never leaked!

Is this normal? How can I fix it?

Thanks!!!!

Also posted on r/koji:

Hi all, I posted a few months ago about my “Tomiso” I put together and here are the results! I’ve copied my organic thoughts and process below. I am very happy with the results! The base flavor is very much miso but it also deeply tastes like a meaty red sauce! Has a very good depth of flavor going on, exactly what I was looking for. I like a smooth texture so I finished in my food processor. I think it’s going to be perfect for my red sauce applications and can confirm it was a great addition to a recent bolognese.

Overall this project was a success, though it definitely required more attention and maintenance than my traditionals. Every 2-4 weeks I would need to remove my top cover and scrape off some mold. I was pretty cautious here and removed a full layer each time. As you can see from the final photo, this resulted in some significant loss. I think my salt (~10%) was a little low and the residual tomato moisture was a tad higher than would be ideal. Next time I’ll remedy with more salt and reduce the tomato more. I highly recommend this for anyone looking to take on a more complex miso!!

Original:

“I wanted to build a miso that would work as a good base/supplement to tomato based sauces and this is what I came up with. I tried to stick closely to some of the core red sauce ingredients , tomato, garlic, onion (in this case shallot), and anchovies while building some good umami.

I halved Roma and some cherry tomatoes and “sun dried” them in my oven at 250° F for somewhere between 6 and 8 hours. Dried so the large ones still had some life in them and the small ones were fully sun dried. I then processed them into a mash with the other non soy ingredients to be added to the soy/koji/salt. I also added some dried porcini to get some more glutamates in there, I think those and the anchovies will give a really good boost.”

I see these spots on top of my home made yogurt. They are about an inch deep into the yogurt. What are they? I used a new culture that I borrowed from my friend. Is it some kind of bacteria or hot spots from mixing the yogurt into hot milk.

I naked th8s sauerkraut sandwich after Bradd Pitts scene in Inglorious Bastards.

kraut, pickled onion, herbs, tomato and sourdough toasted.

I find adding brine to sauerkraut unnecessary. There's obviously nothing wrong with doing so but an appropriate amount of salt and adequate massaging always produces enough liquid from within the cabbage to keep everything submerged.

has anyone come across just the lids for this style of jar?

I have looked around on the Internet and have been unsuccessful finding just the lid, I have tons of these jars and it would be a great addition to get ahold of some of these lids. I don't exactly trust myself drilling a clean hole through the lids I currently have lol