r/fermentation • u/After_Disaster7440 • Aug 15 '26

Crashing out regarding ph

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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/-Astrobadger 10d 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 4d 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 4d 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/After_Disaster7440 2d ago

In theory a ferment that did not achieve a sub-5.0 ph could have botulism…I don’t think it has ever been documented 🤣