a question about fermentation

[novicewetshaver]

ive been making fermented garlic chili honey as well as fermented garlic. So far ive used buckwheat honey and clover honey. sometimes it seems like the fermentation wont take or the fermintation is very light. what i mean by that is that theres not a lot of bubbles and fizzing going on, i got a big jar of 184 oz of buckwheat honey to make some chili honey for a few people and myself but it didnt seem all that active. i got some clover honey and put a bunch of garlic in it for myself a few days ago, and theres a lot of activity in it, lots of bubbling and fizzing and i have been burping the jar twice a day. would anyone know why this is? is it possible the buckwheat honey was old or maybe left in the sun to long? i did soak all the chilis in a baking soda brine for 20 mins to make sure there was no left over pesticide, a bit stumped atm.

 

[Fenster]

Which batch did you soak in baking soda? The one that worked or the one that didn't ? I am assuming that you are using the wild yeast that is present to ferment it. Maybe you killed all the wild yeast by soaking the garlic? Not sure, just a guess

 

[Spider]

I don’t think the baking soda is doing you any favors.

How much veggies/fruits are you adding? Honey won’t ferment until it gets above 18% moisture content.

 

[novicewetshaver]

I don’t think the baking soda is doing you any favors.

How much veggies/fruits are you adding? Honey won’t ferment until it gets above 18% moisture content.

i used 6 habenaroes, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 serrano peppers and 2 jalapeno peppers. i soaked all the peppers first because i read somewhere,cant remember where, that sometimes the pesticides on the produce can kill the lacto fermintation process. i washed everything off before putting them into the acutall honey.

 

[novicewetshaver]

Which batch did you soak in baking soda? The one that worked or the one that didn't ? I am assuming that you are using the wild yeast that is present to ferment it. Maybe you killed all the wild yeast by soaking the garlic? Not sure, just a guess

im using honey as the ferminting agent so i dont believe there is any yeast present. the first batch that i did with buckwheat honey worked out pretty well, i also soaked this to try to get rid of any pesticides, but that was a few months ago and i just ran out that batch. this new batch is using buckwheat honey as well, but its from a different honey but bought from the same place.

 

[Spider]

I don’t think you put enough stuff into your honey. When I do garlic, I fill the jar with garlic first, and then top off with honey. Honey won’t ferment until it has drawn enough moisture out of the veggies and fruits to raise the. Moisture content above 18%. Even with my topped off jar of garlic, fermentation is slow with tiny bubbles. It’s not a super active ferment like a brine ferment would be, which is why you don’t need an airlock.

The honey does contain some bacteria to start fermentation, but a lot does come from the veggies and fruits.

 

[novicewetshaver]

I don’t think you put enough stuff into your honey. When I do garlic, I fill the jar with garlic first, and then top off with honey. Honey won’t ferment until it has drawn enough moisture out of the veggies and fruits to raise the. Moisture content above 18%. Even with my topped off jar of garlic, fermentation is slow with tiny bubbles. It’s not a super active ferment like a brine ferment would be, which is why you don’t need an airlock.

The honey does contain some bacteria to start fermentation, but a lot does come from the veggies and fruits.

this may be the problem. the first batch i did i remember i used a lot less honey than i did with this batch. i was thinking to add more honey so it would last longer, but perhaps i should have used less honey. this batch has been going for about 2 weeks know, but it isnt super active. should i use this stuff, or should i start over? i would hate to have to toss this batch out. thanks again much apreciated.

 

[Spider]

Only you can judge the safety of it, but it sounds like you’re good. I’d divide the jar into two and add for peppers and garlic.

 

[novicewetshaver]

@Spider the clover honey i got about a week ago has really done well fermenting. i wanted to do anotbher batch of garlic and was thinking about putting some orange peels inside as the garlic ferments to give it some orange flavoring. Would this mess anything up or is it ok to add some orange peels along side the garlic as it ferments. thanks again.

 

[novicewetshaver]

I put this bqtch together last night but it seems like the fermintation still hasnt taken, im not sure if i need yo add some water to the mix. The hiney i got from the farmers market was pretty thick and chewey, seems a little crystalime as well. Im not sure if i shpuld add some warm water to the mixture to get it to fermeny. May @Spider or someone with fermintation knowledge could chime in. Also herez some pix

 

[Spider]

May @Spider or someone with fermintation knowledge could chime in

What are you trying to do? Hard to tell what’s going on.

 

[novicewetshaver]

What are you trying to do? Hard to tell what’s going on.

i think i may have added to much honey again. the honey had a lot of crystalization in it and was very viscous. i think it was pretty concentrated so i have used a bit to much tryin to cover the chilis and garlic. i was tryin to do a lacto fermintation with it. i was thinking about adding about 1/4 cup of water to add some more hydration into the mix but not sure if that would help at all. i have about 1/4 of a cup of older garlic honey that was extremely active when i made it, was thinking about adding that to the mixture as well. not sure if that would do anything to it or not. somtimes its hard to judge just how much honey you need. next batch i make will definatly try to use less honey