Complete Fermentation Kit for Vegetables (2024)

FAQs

How do I know if vegetable fermentation is complete? ›

3) Taste your ferment on day 7 with a clean fork. Within 1 week it should start to taste sour. If you like it, it is done. If not let it continue to ferment.

Five days at room temperature is the time needed for a lacto-fermentation to be ready. By ready, we mean that the lactic acid bacteria are well under way. This is when lacto-fermentation tastes great and is healthy! However, for flavour purposes, some recipes suggest longer than 5 days.

For fermenting at home, we recommend investing in a scale, canning jars, air locks, fermentation weights, a fermentation crock, pH strips and a meter, and glass bottles.

Salt. Salt provides many functions in the fermentation process: Allows needed water and sugars to be pulled from the vegetables that are used as nutrients by fermenting organisms. Favors the growth of fermenting organisms over spoilage bacteria, yeast, and mold as well as harmful bacteria.

If your lacto-fermentation fails, the signs are unmistakable: repulsive smells, hairy mould on the surface, flashy colours, etc. Read on to discover the different phenomena that can occur in your jar. While some situations are normal, others may indicate a problem.

The most accurate way to monitor the fermentation process is to use a brewing hydrometer. Taking specific gravity measurements with a brewing hydrometer not only lets one know when fermentation has finished, it also allows one to determine actual alcohol by volume (ABV) of the fermented product.

Washing your veggies isn't necessary when fermenting them, but it won't hurt either. Even after washing them with a veggie wash or scrubbing, there will still be enough good bacteria present.

In alphabetical order, the best vegetables for fermenting include cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, garlic, kohlrabi, peppers, radishes, snap beans and turnips.

One of the best types of salt to ferment with is sea salt. Sea salt contains several nutrients, including trace amounts of magnesium, potassium and calcium. Picking salt and Kosher salt are also good to use. The type of salt you should avoid in fermentation is Iodized salt.

What are the 2 ingredients needed for fermentation? ›

Both types of fermentation require two primary components, a sugar supply and a bacterial culture; alcohol fermentations use forms of yeast, while lactic acid fermentation normally relies on lactic acid bacteria.

The Basic Process

After mashing, boiling, etc, but before pitching yeast, take a hydrometer reading to determine specific gravity. Ferment, as normal. When you think fermentation has finished, i.e. when the airlock stops bubbling for a day or two, taken another reading. Wait 24 hours and take one more reading.

Good indicators of fermentation health.

Good, rapid bubbling (especially with an aroma you expect) is a pretty solid sign that your fermentation is going apace, and a cessation of bubbling is a good idea that the fermentation is done.

The best way to tell if it's done is to taste it. But if you're curious about kombucha and pH, you can read my post about it here. So whenever your brew tastes right to you, you're ready to move on to the next step: bottling a.k.a. 2nd fermentation.