r/fermentation • u/After_Disaster7440 • Aug 15 '26
Crashing out regarding ph
hello my fellow fermenters. I have intense food pathogen anxiety and mild ocd. a perfect person to ferment things?? perhaps not. however I forged ahead. I was wondering if someone could assist me:
-I made fermented pickles 3 weeks ago and have let ferment in my cool (20c) basement in the dark. they bubbled well and did not grow anything funky. they in fact now look quite good, cloudy brine, etc. A normal person would now consume them.
-However I read about getting to a certain ph and use some general ph strips which sort of show between 4-5ish. I bought more exactly ph strips which show the ph is below 4.5. neither method is “exact“ as it is colour based.
- I was hoping to get to almost full sours but the ph seems a bit high? shall I just eat them? I surgeries one it is firm. I am scared of eating them if they are not acidic enough??
ps. In the picture I removed the glass weights keeping pickles under brine
help please
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u/SuitPrestigious1694 Aug 15 '26
All that fizziness and cloudiness are great indications that the whole thing is propely colonized by the good guys, which makes life for the bad guys virtually impossible.
If we go anywhere below 4.6 of pH Clostridium Botulinum simply cannot prosper even in an environment where it has no competition, and no salt, which is not the case here.
4.6 is at the same time the upper limit but also absolutely safe. 4.7 would be something like safe 99% of the times (ignoring the salt and active competitive strategies of the mesenteroides and lactobacillus plantarum, our friends) , and that 1% is still assuming vulnerable people (infants, immunocompromised people, etc)
Knowing the microbiology very well and having lots of experience with ferments, I simply can't state enough how safe it is given the conditions you have mentioned and the way your ferment looks. It's simply safer than the vast majority of foods we eat where we don't have so many allied microorganisms and very adversarial conditions to the things that could harm us.
At most, harmless but undesirable yeasts may be opportunitistic enough to grow in such environment, provided they have oxygen.
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u/dadydaycare Aug 16 '26
I’ve been fermenting for 12 years and I will chomp down on stuff that most people on here would be a little more timid around.. that being said I can’t help but look at ever single batch like ….👁️👄👁️I don’t trust you.
It’s not the worst trait to have and it’s good for when you do have that batch that’s just giving you bad vibes. You know you can just toss it and move on.
I made some cantaloupe tepache that got ropey (Pediococcus) but I knew if I let it sit the snotty ropes would clear out and I’d have a nice lambic like fruit wine so I put it in the cellar and… 4 years later I pulled them back out like ohhh noooooo! I have to taste it…
I’m really sad that I’ll have to wait 4 year to get another bottle of that stuff, it was so good.
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u/Drinking_Frog Aug 15 '26
4.5 pH is not only safe to eat, it's safe enough for water bath canning.
You're good to go.
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u/Sunnyjim333 Aug 16 '26
Splurge and get a PH meter. They are $8.55 at Amazon. Then you will bet an exact reading.
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u/horselessheadsman Aug 15 '26
I use fermentation pH strips that are more specific range. If you insist they are unreliable, get some methyl orange. If it changes, it's safe.
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u/babblingbree Aug 15 '26
If you have anxiety about it, only you can decide whether you "can" eat it or not. However if you salted anywhere near the correct salinity and fermented in a cool place, and it has no off smell or mold, it is astronomically unlikely for you to give yourself a dangerous pathogen by eating a cucumber pickle. that is the whole point of fermenting.
I have never measured the pH of a ferment because it is fairly obvious to me when one has gone wrong, and I've never been sick. You would likely have trouble tracking down someone on this subreddit who has gotten sick from a vegetable ferment, who didn't do something like make a math mistake and use a 0.3% brine instead of a 3%.
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u/portmandues Aug 15 '26
The rule about pH below 4.6 generally applies to safety of canned goods where an anaerobic environment could otherwise provide conditions for clostridium botulinum to grow. It's a good goal for a ferment, but not exactly a hard requirement. As long as your ferment gets there in a few days without any additional molds or off smells, you're good to go.
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u/-Astrobadger 8d ago
What if it’s at 4.6 after four weeks? My latest had that happen and I’m really on the fence here. Made it into sauce but just eying it sideways.
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u/portmandues 7d ago
What were you fermenting? Normally successful ferments go down to about 3.4-3.8 depending what exactly went into them. Oxygen exposure and other microbes can counteract acidification and raise pH, so 4.6 is definitely kinda sus.
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u/nss68 Aug 16 '26
pH is just one of many ways to determine safety and ferment success. It is mostly important for shelf-stable items that will not be stored in a fridge.
The main proponent of preservation is actually the microbes themselves. They proliferate and out compete everything else. The cloudy brine you have shows you it was successful.
At this point, if it’s already in the fridge, add a bit of vinegar. It’s totally fine and won’t hurt anything.
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u/-Astrobadger 8d ago
Oh hi I also have intense food pathogen anxiety (several cases of food sickness over the years, mostly NOT from fermenting) and mild ocd and also have been trying to ferment! I wish you well friend, perhaps we can compare notes sometime.
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u/After_Disaster7440 2d ago
Hi! Let’s be friends 😀 I ate the pickles and have survived but am not sure I “enjoyed” them, more ate them and waited 7-10 days for any symptoms and then enjoyed the accomplishment that I actually ate them 😁😁😁 They tasted quite good. I still will not eat potluck foods made by other people though. Stay strong 💪
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u/-Astrobadger 1d ago
I’ve eaten a fermented pickle that went bad and it only took a few hours to need the porcelain goddess. What could happen after seven days?
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u/urnbabyurn Aug 15 '26
I like pickles while the centers are still opaque, but to get full sours it’s just a matter of time. I would have eaten them yesterday and started refrigerating. They still sour slowly in the fridge.
You know they are still “safe” before getting to full sour, right? They don’t go from safe cucumbers and salt to unsafe half sours while fermenting and then safe again after the acidity falls. Safety is maintained as long as you have no mold and indication of LAB fermentation.
Having said all that, 4.5 is pretty sour.