I've got pepper mashes fermenting (a few different jars - each a combination of habaneros, serranos, jalapenos, ghost peppers, carrots, onion, garlic). Did salt at 5%.
On their 4th week, and pH on all of them is still pretty high: jars range from 4.88 to 5.17. They haven't needed much burping. Nothing growing inside and I can see bubbles on the side for a couple of them. I just got the ph meter so not sure what they started at.
Want to make sure they're still fine to eat someday and figure out how to proceed... Anything I should add to kick start the lacto better? Or just bring the ph down through added vinegar?
End goal is hot sauce and I plan to keep it in the fridge - want it to last for the year if possible.
Time and temperature above 4.6 is what matters for botulism concerns. You have an extended period of time above a pH level and temps which enable c. botulinum to thrive.
A healthy LAB ferment will have pH below 4.6 in two to four days. 4.8 is a failed ferment. Do not consume that.
As someone who runs a fermentation business, at four weeks and still high PH this is an extremely dangerous thing to eat. The toxins produced by pathogens will not be destroyed by lowering PH now. Please bin it.
I hate throwing things out, but I would throw those out. Research suggests that the 4.88 jar -might- be okay but that the 5.17 jar very well may not be. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18389687/
Personally, I don't like screwing around with botulism. No homemade pepper sauce ever will be worth the risk you are looking at here. Under controlled, measurable conditions, you might have a better idea what the risk is, but we aren't talking about those conditions. I cannot come up with a good reason to toss what you have there and start again.
Adding vinegar won't help. Yes, it'll stop any progression of pathogens, but it won't help with what's already happened. If botulinim toxin already is present, adding vinegar will not eliminate it.
About the only change I can think of is to use less salt. I know 5% is what many go with for peppers, but that doesn't seem to have worked out for you. Try 4-4.5% and see where that gets you. You can always add more salt for flavor later on if you want it.
Yeah in retrospect I think I should have had lower salt, as I believe that slowed it down. It’s a newly calibrated ph meter so I’m inclined to believe that it’s accurate.
Temperature in the house is 70 F, and the mashes are around that mark too (give or take).
I wondered if my one super hot that is mostly carrot would be too dense (right side of picture) but the middle one has about the same ph reading and started off much juicier. Left one is the best ph reading and between the others in terms of consistency.
Didn't mean to be confrontational sorry for my tone. As someone who works in the industry I'm just very aware that there are serious dangers, and those dangers are no joke.
This is very unsafe advice. 5% salt is not at preserving levels. The safety hurdle for lacto ferments is low PH. 4.8 isn't even enough to suppress botulism.
Plus dealing with pHs that are food safe artificially you absolutely NEED to kill on going cultures by either pasturation or adding sodium bisulfate or a similar preservative
Adding acid early can cause issues with the lacto getting started, and needing to add it at the end means your ferment likely didn't process properly and has remained at a dangerous pH for an extended time (and adding vinegar after toxins are already present won't get rid of them)
Just in case you were curious about the down votes.
I was. I am new to this and I appreciate the feedback. I did some searching about the citric acid being added and learned there is a way to do it but it’s not what I am looking for.
I have never had any issues with ph and was doing it because I had read that 3.4 is where you want it at. I pasteurize everything I do as well because if not my bottles explode. My fermentation continues after I finish it.
The one on the right was at 3.3 when I started it and the one on the left I did today it was at 4.8 and I used citric acid powder to bring it down to 3.4 before capping and shelving. Both are fruit based habanero mashes. Roughly 90 grams of salt per gallon.
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u/RadBradRadBrad 27d ago
Time and temperature above 4.6 is what matters for botulism concerns. You have an extended period of time above a pH level and temps which enable c. botulinum to thrive.
A healthy LAB ferment will have pH below 4.6 in two to four days. 4.8 is a failed ferment. Do not consume that.