The Fermentation Thread

[OrderInChaos]

I own the Sandor Katz books (at least two of them) and have done very little actual fermentation work myself, but would love to get into it for both cost-savings and novelty for different dishes.

Yogurt is awesome, and topical here at the moment. @damufunman and @omaniphil shared really easy techniques with Instant Pot and Sous Vide there. viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2832

I'm a big fan of kombucha, and it's stupidly expensive at most stores. I'm not worried about my gut biome, but the beer-like flavors from good, non-fruity kombucha and carbonation are awesome, so it'd be awesome to homebrew. Brad Leone from Bon Appetit mag's Youtube has a (usually) fermentation-focused show called It's Alive, and in addition to kombucha he did an episode on a central American beverage Tepache, which seems to be a pineapple-driven kombeercha hybrid.

Beer, Kraut, kimchee, fermented hot sauces... what fermented projects have you all tried, mastered, failed at?

[tdood]

I’ve done kraut and skyr. Both are pretty easy and came out great, but not worth the effort to do regularly imho. It was just something fun to try. I don’t drink alcohol, so fermented beverages are out.

[broseph]

I'm a big fan of kombucha, and it's stupidly expensive at most stores. I'm not worried about my gut biome, but the beer-like flavors from good, non-fruity kombucha and carbonation are awesome, so it'd be awesome to homebrew.

I brewed kombucha for a while. My job involves being on call and I can't drink alcohol during most of the week. Kombucha "hits the spot" in that it has a very strong flavor and mouthfeel, and you don't want it to go up your nasopharynx. A perfect after dinner drink.

I don't believe it does much for the gut biome; I think fiber/sugar content of the diet has a bigger effect.

I haven't made it in over a year, just because the tiny amount of work and attention it required wasn't worth the even tinier amount of pleasure it brought me. If I believed it to be as healthful as others do, I probably wouldn't have stopped.

[cwd]

I've made yogurt and kimchi, but don't do either regularly any more.

Home-made yogurt was fairly time-consuming -- heating the milk to the sterilization temp in a double-boiler, then cooling it to fermentation temp, sterilizing all the containers and tools before-hand, etc. The actual fermentation is easy of course, and it's nice that you can let it go longer and get sharper than the commercial stuff. Milk is much cheaper than yogurt.

Kimchi is easier, you just chop everything up, mix it, and let it sit. But don't even think of fermenting it under the kitchen sink, wow what a smell. My wife complained about the smell even when I put the crock in the garage. She'd have preferred underground 100 yards from the house.

[Skid]

A few years ago I bought one of the those expensive sauerkraut crocks with the water seal and made kraut from the cabbages in the garden. Turned out really good, but haven't done it again for a few years. Just easier to buy it from the store... Stopped with the big garden too as I don't have the energy or interest anymore to keep it up.

[omaniphil]

Home-made yogurt was fairly time-consuming -- heating the milk to the sterilization temp in a double-boiler, then cooling it to fermentation temp, sterilizing all the containers and tools before-hand, etc. The actual fermentation is easy of course, and it's nice that you can let it go longer and get sharper than the commercial stuff. Milk is much cheaper than yogurt.

If you have an instant pot, should try that. I probably only spend 2 minutes doing actual work to make a batch of yogurt.
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2832

[cwd]

Home-made yogurt was fairly time-consuming -- heating the milk to the sterilization temp in a double-boiler, then cooling it to fermentation temp, sterilizing all the containers and tools before-hand, etc. The actual fermentation is easy of course, and it's nice that you can let it go longer and get sharper than the commercial stuff. Milk is much cheaper than yogurt.

If you have an instant pot, should try that. I probably only spend 2 minutes doing actual work to make a batch of yogurt.
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2832

Now I want an instant pot.

[Cinic]

I had some salsa in the fridge that sat a bit too long and began to ferment. It was different, but not bad. Then I googled it and fermented salsa is a thing.