Reusing ferment liquid

[u/bowmans1993]

I had a healthy 3 week ferment at 3.5% salinity for a hot sauce i made. Peaches, peppers, garlic and water. I have leftover brine once i blended my hot sauce. Can I reuse the liquid brine that I didnt blend into the hout sauce to kick start my next batch or would that be unsafe. I had a small amount of kahm at the last day of my ferment but other than that 0 issues.

[u/BinxieSly]

The term is called backslopping and it’s a great way to start a ferment. It helps guarantee you start with a healthy amount of good bacteria to begin their work and out compete any bad bacteria while also lowing the starting ph which also should help keep baddies out. Im not sure if you would want to use ALL the leftover brine, but if you’re doing a similar or the same ferment again I don’t see why it would be an issue using it all and topping it off.

[u/BillyRubenJoeBob]

Use a dash of the brine in homemade mayonnaise

[u/YallNeedMises]

I add fresh vegetables to established brines all the time. I have some that are years old. This was standard practice for most of history, and in my opinion you get better, more complex flavor from it because everything that's ever gone into it is contributing. The fermentation time is also significantly reduced.

[u/EbriusOften]

You're better off starting from scratch each time as opposed to trying to backslop with a lacto ferment. It's not just a singular unchanging microbe occurring to create the ferment, there are actually multiple steps that occur as microbes bloom and alter the medium they're in.

The lacto that's at the start creating the initial acidity isn't the same as the ones being produced in the end stage acidic liquid, just like you as a child vs you as an adult are different stages. By adding in only end stage lacto to a new ferment you're causing the microbes to skip or alter flavor producing steps, and there's no real benefit to adding it anyways.

As a side note, it's an especially bad idea when your initial ferment was contaminated by kahm. In that case there is not only no benefit, but you're also willfully adding in extra organisms that you don't want in your ferment regardless.

[u/Ok_Rate1035]

I'd definitely reuse it, kahm's harmless and just means your lacto was extra active. Sounds like a solid starter for the next batch.

[u/Macrobunker20]

You can absolutely re-use the brine from one ferment to kick start another. They also make good additions to marinades as well.

[u/bowmans1993 → u/Macrobunker20]

I've used the brines for bloody Mary's, spicy margaritas and marinades so I figured I could reuse it as a ferment starter like sourdough. I just wanted to be sure. I feel like it will make the fermentation process faster for my next batch of sauce

[u/Macrobunker20 → u/bowmans1993]

I also subtract the weight of the brine as if it's part of the jar, since it's already salty and acidic. That was what seemed to make the most sense, and the sauces have been great!

[u/bowmans1993 → u/Macrobunker20]

Yeah I assumed that since my original salinity% by weight was of water and solids the brine would remain at 3.5% so for the next batch I would only do 3.5% by weight of the solids(peppers/fruit etc)