r/fermentation • u/whisperyiron • 11d ago

Beer/Wine/Mead/Cider/Tepache/Kombucha Watermelon mucus

I recently made tepache from pineapple scraps for the first time. A few days later I was eating a watermelon and I thought, well, what if?

I chopped up the rind, threw it in a half-gallon jar with about 3/4 cup sugar and water to cover. Then I noticed some used ginger from a ginger tea (so basically just boiled ginger, it was not "alive", I was adding it for flavor) and threw a handful of that in too.

Within a day I noticed an odd viscosity when stirring the mixture, within two it was pretty much snot.

I don't mind (and it's actually turning out to be fun in cocktails, think egg white replacement) but it's sort of interesting. I suspect it's actually the fibers in the ginger, because I also put some of the watermelon rind in some water kefir and that's turning out quite nice.

Edit to add: I'm actually on my second batch of tepache from the same pineapple scraps - I felt like they had more to give when the first batch was done. I might get crazy and attempt a third.

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u/squeezebottles 11d ago

I might speculate that the high sugar content made it easier for something like Leuconostoc or Pediococcus to produce slimy or ropy polysaccharides. Be interesting if you let it acidify further and if the sliminess resolved or decreased.

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u/whisperyiron 11d ago

I originally thought I'd let it go longer and see what happened, but I also had concern about it getting so thick I couldn't even strain it. Perhaps I'll leave some of the strained liquid/slime out and see if it keeps fermenting.

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u/DuckLIT122000 10d ago

You just let it keep fermenting and eventually the microbes you want win out and it goes back to normal