Learn how to ferment EVERYTHING and ANYTHING by following these basic fermentation rules. Whether you want to ferment vegetables, dairy, sourdough or beer, here is what you need to know for FERMENTATION SUCCESS!
1. Cleanliness
You need to keep everything as clean as possible to avoid contamination. If you’re planing on keeping your ferments for long-term storage then this is even more important.
I’m the first to admit that I am far from sterile; so I’ve had to throw away sauerkraut, sourdough and kefir. And I once accidentally grew a mother on top of my yogurt (something that I had not expected!) Learn from my mistakes and keep it clean.
2. Temperature
Fermenting at the right temperature is one of the main ways to keep the good bacteria in and the bad bacteria out. My recipes generally specify whether you want to ferment somewhere warm or somewhere cool.
In general, grain likes to ferment at 21 C. So stash your sourdough and other grain ferments near your hot water heater or above the fridge.
Vegetables like to ferment at 18 C. Garages and basements are perfect for vegetable ferments. If you’re an urbanite… then you can do what I do, and stash your vegetables in a cool-ish closet. Or you can invest in a fermentation fridge.
It’s important to take into consideration seasonal variations in temperature. In the winter, you might need to culture your sourdough for a wee bit longer because of the cold. And in the summer you might need to only ferment your sauerkraut for a few days rather than weeks because of the heat.
3. Storage
Once you’re done fermenting, always store your ferments somewhere cool. Traditionally this was a cellar or cold room, but I store my ferments in the refrigerator. Cleanliness is still important during storage. So don’t double dip your pickle fork.
4. Spoilage
If your ferment looks funny, smells funny or tastes off, then don’t eat it. Every ferment walks the line between the yummy yeasts and bacteria that we want to grow, and those that cause food poisoning.
The goal of fermentation is to create an environment that favours a healthy culture. If a culture is thriving, then any invaders won’t be able to take hold. This generally involves keeping your fermentat at a particular temperature, keeping it anaerobic, and/or balancing the salinity and pH of the fermenting environment.
It is also important to have a happy and vigorous starter. Many cultures start with a “mother
“, a SCOBY
, grains
, etc. (affiliate links.) Treat your culture like a pet (because they are alive and need to be loved). Take good care of your culture (regular feeding, exercise and attention) so that your culture will do a good job of keeping unwanted bugs out of your fermentation. You should even consider naming your culture, because if you do a good job of taking care of it, then it will become a family heirloom.
5.Cross-contamination
Cultures can cross contaminate each other. So if you plan on keeping several different types of similar cultures (ie, sourdough and kombucha), then either don’t have them out of the fridge at the same time, or if you do, ferment them in separate rooms.
The reason why my yogurt grew a mother is because I had milk kefir sitting out on my counter at the same time. The kefir culture decided to colonize my pots of yogurt. The result, though edible, wasn’t exactly what I was looking for.
6. What to ferment
Are you ready to get fermenting? Here are some of the wonderful foods that are made through fermentation!
- Sparkling Beverages
- Sourdough Bread
- Cheese
- Sauerkraut, chutney, pickles and relish
- Beer, wine, cider and mead
- Miso
- Tempeh
I have a recipe for an ancho pepper sauce (that is NOT fermented.) What steps do I need to take to them this recipe into a fermentable one? 1) PH below 4.6? 2) make sure it’s 1.5 % or higher salt? 3) add whey? 4) none of these? Help! Thanks!!
Recipe: 1.5 oz dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded. 2c beef broth. 1 T minced canned chipotle Chile in adobo. 2T veg oil. 2 onions chopped. 6 cloves garlic. 1/4 c tomato paste. 1 t cumin. Salt.
Recipe from Cooks Illustrates Jan/Feb 2018
That looks delicious.
Hum… I would rework the recipe so that it was more like a fermented hot sauce. You can keep all the flavours, just not include the beef broth. Then add the chipolte (because of the adobo sauce) and oil (if needed?) after its fermented. Check out my hot sauce recipe as a start. https://www.fermentingforfoodies.com/archives/1862
Have fun!
Hi Emillie
I know nothing about fermenting but read a bit here. I googled fermenting because one of my blender drinks I had used buttermilk in and stored the residual fir about 5 or 6 days. It TASTES GOOD still (p has a frothy top ) so I was hoping it might be a healthy ferment. My concern is, I sometimes drink out of a
Jar and return it to the fridge (I live alone) So when I read your “do not double dip your pickle fork”, I thought I better not do that if I start to learn of fermenting.
White frothy top on fruit OK you think? Again, it tastes good!
Hi Zama,
If you used a cultured buttermilk, you probably have a nice healthy ferment. The white froth would be the bubbling buttermilk. Generally, fruit/milk combinations that have gone bad would either mold (so you would see mold) or become a yeasty-ferment (sparkling and alcoholic smelling.) If you stored your blender drink in the fridge and it seems fine, then it probably just fermented.
Double dipping is definitely best to avoid for things that are going to stay in the fridge for more than a week. It’s not always going to cause problems… but there’s definitely a risk! Cheers, Emillie
Why no fruit? anything and some pineapple and lots of sugar (cane) no fake
in a week 80 proof or is that 80% goodness
no ref leave it on the counter
I am in S. FLA there is always a BIG jar ready
need more drain most of the juice add fruit and sugar , juice makes a great start for frozen cocktails
Fermenting fruit is delicious! Sounds like you’re making fruit juice cider: https://www.fermentingforfoodies.com/archives/934
Had a sauerkraut batch go bad and was trying to figure out what went wrong when I came across your site. I like your articles a lot and find your writing style much preferable to other sources. Precisely what I was looking for. Thanks for the great content!
Thanks! And… I also have had sauerkraut go off! It’s rare, but I guess there’s always a risk of that happening.
Hi Emillie,
I live in Arizona and I keep my house around 80 degrees during the Summer. I made sauerkraut today but my coolest dark spot is about 78 degrees do you think its too warm? Would I better off keeping it in the refrigerator?
I recommend making sure it’s in a dark spot in your house, and fermenting for a 3-5 days. I wouldn’t leave it for a month at room temperature as the risk of yeast getting in there is higher with the heat. After 5 days at room temperature, put it in the fridge to finish. It won’t ferment quickly, but it will still continue to ferment.
Great thank you!
Brent
Made fermented Gaedarine following your recipe turned out great. My only question is im considering adding a little apple cider vinegar will that have any effect on the fermentation?
Adding cider vinegar to giardiniera would be nice. If you used fermented ACV (with a mother) then it could be used as to culture the ferment. Otherwise, feel free to add a bit afterwards for the flavour.
I’ve done several ferments, all with success. So, I just started a new one. This time, I thought I would use the leftover juice from a previous ferment. I thought that would make the ferment go faster, but it’s been two days, and still no air pressure in my air locks. I did mix ferment juice from 2 different ferments, so could the bacteria in the 2 ferments killed each other? Or, should I just keep waiting?
It really depends on what you used to ferment and what you are trying to ferment. Can you share more details? I often reuse culture. For example, I just packed carrots into my leftover kimchi brine. However, I’ve never tried to mix two ferments. If they are very different strains of yeast or bacteria, then there’s a chance they’re battling it out right now. 🙂 Maybe give it one more day (3 days total), if nothing is happening then stash it in the fridge so you can at least save the food from potentially spoiling. Good luck!
I know othing about fermenting and would like to learn. First off, do you leave space in the top of the jars or can you fill it up.
Yes! Always leave space. Most ferments bubble up. So leave about 2 inches in the top of a quart jar for vegetable and fruit ferments. And expect sourdough ferments to double in size. 🙂
HI, for college my group and I are doing some research about fermentation.
My question is; can you start fermenting right away, or do you think you need some basic knowledge about fermentation and possible risks? If yes, can you learn that in a day or does it take weeks (or longer) to know enough about fermentation to begin?
thanks in advance,
Noa 🙂
You can totally start fermenting right away! I usually recommend sauerkraut, since cabbage comes with its own lactic culture. You just pack it into a jar and leave it in a dark cupboard to ferment. Here’s my recipe: https://www.fermentingforfoodies.com/easy-fermented-sauerkraut/ Good luck!