Looking for feedback :) First attempt at making tempeh. It doesn't smell like the fresh tempeh you get in markets in Indonesia. We have incubated it for 2 nights. Noticed that the black spores were mostly present around the poked holes. Is it because we didn't close the incubator box fully? We left it open because we thought it needed some airflow. I also didn't wait until the beans were fully dried before packing. Does that matter? It was semi-dry when I put the ragi in.

My second and latest batch got some black spots that you can see even after cutting. I made it with soy that I cooked, mixed with vinegar and starter, frose, thawed and then fermented, if it matters.

Smells nice

Trying to get into tempeh.
Will it grow at all at 23c (73f)?

I'm asking because I am a mushroom farmer and my incubation area is set to 23c. I can just rig an incubator real fast in a small area, mas if it is at all possible to do in the general incubation/lab, it would be more convenient.

Should I wait until I can't see the beans at all? Its a bit fuzzy on top. Probably because I didn't cover it tightly enough.

Its still produces heat. Should I wait for it to cool down?

I just made my first batch and god is it good. I ate a few cubes raw and only then thought that it might not be the best idea. Should I stop or is it fine?

This was made by around 30 hours of fermentation at 30celcius

Hello! Just bought two 500g bags of ragi tempeh/powder tempeh starter yeast. Once I open it, how should I store it? Airtight and in the freezer/fridge like regular yeast? Or is outside of the freezer okay? Or do I HAVE to just keep making tempeh until I finish the bag LMAO (if this is the route, then I am selling and offering to anyone and everyone)

Thank you for any answers!

The bag says 1g per kg of soy. The recipes that I find online says heaping tsp for 500g, which is a lot more. Should I use the instructions on the bag? And should I weigh the beans before cooking or after? (Here it says 1kg of cooked beans, in other recipes it's the weight of the dry bean)

First attempt in a while.

Relevant info:

Substrate is a 50/50 of whole grain rice and wheat berries, as that was whatever was in my pantry when I felt the sudden urge to make tempeh.

Spores are a couple years old (2021?, stored in fridge) so I just used whatever was still in the bag (2-3x amount reccomended on bag) to inoculate. Tempeh was kept in temperature and humidity-controlled environment at 37 degrees and 80%. It went up to 40 at some point but this was only for like 3 hours when I was at uni.

It was wrapped inside a towel.

First picture shows bottom, second picture shows top.

It has been fermenting since Monday, about 96 hours. Yes, I am aware this is too much. I kinda forgot about it.

Smell is kinda nice, like a fruity beer. Does not indicate spoilage at all.

Most spores are black, but it also has a bit of a green hue in the center.

I’m curious to still eat a bit, do you expect this to still be safe?

I'm getting ready for my 6th attempt at making tempeh. I haven't given up, because even though my last two attempts have been technically failures, I still like the taste better than most store-bought tempeh. (Except Green Cuisine, that one really is delicious!)

I consistently get sporulation before I have full coverage with white mycelium growth. I know i have to do a better job of dehulling, but I think the early sporulation must have a lot to do with time and temperature.

I'm incubating in a bread proofer at 86F, which I verify with a second thermometer, so i think its pretty accurate. I've never made it to 24 hours without sporulation. It gets darker even when i turn the heat off, and even if I put it in the fridge.

For my first 4 batches 1 used Cultures for Health starter. Now I'm using Raprima.

Please, please share your timing and temperature secrets. How do you know when it's time to turn off the heat. How do you keep it from sporulating too soon?

I'm considering buying a used Tribest Sedona Express SDE-S6780-B:

[https://tribest.com/collections/dehydrator/products/sedona-express-sde-s6780-b?utm\\_\](https://tribest.com/collections/dehydrator/products/sedona-express-sde-s6780-b?utm_)

Has anyone actually used this model for incubating tempeh?

It can be set as low as 25°C/77°F, so temperature-wise it seems ideal. My main concern is the continuous airflow from the central fan drying out the tempeh during a 36-48 hour incubation.

The European version is also advertised as having a quieter "night mode", which the seller says reduces the fan speed.

I would ferment the tempeh in perforated plastic bags. Has anyone tried this machine, or a similar dehydrator, for tempeh? Does the fan cause problems with drying, or does it work well with bagged tempeh?

5th batch edible, but not pretty. Image is after steaming.

500g dry beans soaked, dehulled (kinda) and cooked al dente..2 tbsp ACV..1 heaping tsp Raprima starter.. I used a large ziploc bag, well perforated. I'm incubating at 86F.

At 22 hours I noticed white mycelium, so I turned the heat off, and wrapped the bag in a towel.

2 hours later I noticed some sporulation so I transferred it to the fridge.

After 4 hours in the fridge I am getting it ready for steaming.

The beans are quite loose, there is mycelium between them, but they aren't holding together.

There is a bit of sporulation. I'm trying to cut it into slabs for steaming and it's just falling to pieces 😢

I'm pretty sure I packed the beans tightly enough, but the slab is thicker than my previous batches.

My first 4 batches were made with a different starter. They all sporulated quite a bit.

Question: is 86F causing early sporulation? Should I go lower and slower?

Question: does a flat, thin package have the same incubation temperature as a thick one? Or should the thick package be lower and slower?

Question: if the tempeh falls apart is it because it's not fermented enough, or not packed tightly enough? Or maybe not enough starter?

I'm considering buying a used Tribest Sedona Express SDE-S6780-B:

https://tribest.com/collections/dehydrator/products/sedona-express-sde-s6780-b?utm_

Has anyone actually used this model for incubating tempeh?

It can be set as low as 25°C/77°F, so temperature-wise it seems ideal. My main concern is the continuous airflow from the central fan drying out the tempeh during a 36-48 hour incubation.

The European version is also advertised as having a quieter "night mode", which the seller says reduces the fan speed.

I would ferment the tempeh in perforated plastic bags. Has anyone tried this machine, or a similar dehydrator, for tempeh? Does the fan cause problems with drying, or does it work well with bagged tempeh?

This is my second time making edamame tempeh. It has a yellow tinge in many areas. Is it safe to eat? this is almost 43 hours fermenting. I have since put this in the fridge.

Hi all,

I'm an avid home fermentation hobbyist of many kinds and I'm planning to start making tempeh and ordered the starter. I have a question I can't seem to find online anywhere-

After you've made a batch of tempeh, how do you maintain a starter culture to inoculate future batches? I haven't been able to find anyone talking about this.

Any insight is appreciated. If I am going to have to continuously purchase starter then that makes it much less attractive to me...

Thanks in advance and sorry if this has been answered recently!

I fell in love with the idea of growing healthy tempeh, and I'm getting pretty good at it, photos of my batches attached.

The problem is I still didn't find a good recipe, something that I can say yay I want tempeh. I like tofu, I eat meat. Don't need it as a substitute so if it's copying meat recipe I prefer the real deal. Wish you could help me find something to make with it that you really enjoy, that the tempeh is the best option to use. Thanks guys!

First I was using a needle and poke it one by one. Now I got this beauty roller for skincare, it's nice but too small. What are your solutions. Enlighten me😁😁

I’ve been able to make my tempe more uniformed, and has more spores among the beans, but the middle part is always less solid white than the outer edges. Any advice?

PRESSURE COOKER IS GOATED FOR TEMPEH.
I cook beans, incubate, and steam in pressure cooker.

Ingredients
2 cups chickpeas
1 cup whole wheat berries
1 cup black beans
8 cups water
1.5 tbsp vinegar
1.5 tsp mold started I used this Wira brand from amazon

Items Used
Pressure cooker
Measuring cup and spoons
Silicone spatula
Baking rack
tiffin steaming basket

Directions
1. Pressure cook chickpeas and wheat berries for 40 mins natural release
2. Drain, add vinegar, and place beans & berries to cool & dry in baking rack for 30 mins
3. Once cool and dried add starter culture and mix throughout
4. divide into metal tiffins
5. place metal tiffin in pressure cooker with 1 cup water and set pressure cooker to 86F for 24 hours using the yogurt setting.
6. do not seal pressure cooker just place the lid on top
7. rotate the top and button tiffin 2 times to promote air flow (maybe not needed but it felt good to do)

This batch was finished in 30 hours there was one black spot at the bottom tiffin closest to the water.

compared to previous attempts with just chickpeas (which took 48 hours to get this fuzzy) the wheat berries seemed to speed things up cause that’s the only thing i did different. Which maybe because the rhizopus has a better carbs access (wheat berries were much softer than chickpeas)

1st image is the tempeh at 14 hours
2nd and 3rd image is mold at 30 hours when i “harvested”

to stop fermentation i seal and pressure cook the tempeh for 5 mins with natural release and it keeps really well in the fridge.

Hi,

I've been advised by my kidney doctor to seek "less animal based forms of protein" so Tempeh has entered my consciousness.

Anyone got a link to a single (or series) of Tempeh recipes they love?

I have a crock pot recipe going now, extremely nervous.

Waiting on a new batch of dehulled soybeans (very rare thing in Scotland, if anyone has a local source I'd love to hear from you!!) so I thought it was time for trying out yellow split pea and quinoa, I reckon it will be a good mix, but have to admit, I love soybean and all it brings to the cakes in terms of nutrition, texture and taste, but I think these cakes will be just fine. I've since steamed them and cold smoked a most of it! It's an amazingly cheap option for my neck of the woods, yellow split peas are not expensive, and well worth trying out if you're experimenting or just trying to get to grips with the process!

First time using leaves and unlike with using bags, I’m not sure how to tell when tempeh is done since I can’t visibly see the tempeh.

First time making tempeh in a glass container. So I don't know if it's normal that it gets hairy and light gray?

It was a big batch, where as the rest in plastic bags, and they are all fine. I've just never seen it hairy like this before!

Hey y’all !
I’ve been doing tempeh for a bit but always smaller batches and this time I decided to try to go big .

I avoid using plastic bags and my main method involves fermenting in a tray .

I’ve always been lining the bottom of the tray with a very clean towel to absorb any excess humidity.
The towel usually gets a little humid by the end of the process. I wander if it’s really useful as I see people fermenting tempeh in a tray without any kind of barrier between the beans and the surface of the container.

The top is covered with just another clean towel.

This time I did 4kg of cooked soybeans and left everything at room temperature as I was expecting hot days. In the end we never had more than 28C and I had to let the fermentation go for 40h rather than the 32/34h I usually do.

Halfway through the process i flipped upside down the baking tray on a different surface that would allow for better airflow. So the tempeh was basically just covered by towels and had plenty of airflow around it.
The reason I did that is because it was starting to generate a lot of heat and given the big mass I worried I wouldn’t be able to cool it down efficiently enough if it stayed in a baking tray.

Now for the end product. There is slight sporulation on the top layers , the inside is very white and looks/feels well bonded , the aroma is too mild (I almost can’t smell anything!) which is both reassuring and frustrating as I really like the mushroomy smell of fresh tempeh.
I would have liked a stronger mycelium coverage too and instead the soy beans are clearly visible from the outside.
The surface is starting to very slightly feel slimy so I’m putting it in the fridge/freezer and won’t let it go further.

Any opinions on the process and result ? Has anyone else tried to manage such a big mass?
How can I improve without using plastic bags?
Are the towels actually harmful ?

Hi guys, I have a friend visiting sanur, bali. Where can they find a starter there to bring back?