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First attempt at sour pickles
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Posted by duajones z9 TX (My Page) on Wed, Nov 26, 08 at 12:28
| Made up a batch yesterday and have it sitting in a dark spot in the house. I know temps can effect the fermentation and was wondering what I might expect. It is still pretty warm here in south texas so the daytime inside temp will usually be around 78 and cooling just a bit to 75 or 75 at night. I wish I could make it a little cooler as I have ready where 68 is more ideal. Recipe said they will be ready in a week but Im thinking it may be sooner with the warmer temps. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| If placed on the floor they will be a little cooler, as cooler air heads down, while heat heads up. Yes, a week is fine. They will not over ferment anyway. These are a salt brine type sour as opposed to a vinegar based one, correct? |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| Correct. And thanks for the floor tip, had not given that any thought. I am using a gallon jar as its all I had to work with. Using a quart ziplock bag filled with brine as the cap so to speak. Recipe calls for skimming any scum off the top and filling with brine as necessary. Seems like I have read here where some add a little vinegar before refrigerating to stop the fermentation process. Does that change it from being a true sour pickle? |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| No, the small amount of vinegar will not affect taste. I use that in my half sours and they actaully taste like they were pickled in vinegar instead of the salt brine. Its the lactic acid that its fermented to that does the preserving. Your basically introducing a small amount of an acid by adding a table spoon of distilled vinegar. With a big plastic bag added for weight on top, it should also prevent much scum from forming. It should have a loose fitting cover however as it does get quite gassy. The vinegar option is up to you, but they do keep quite well in the fridge. My half sours last at least a year, unless I eat them all up beforehand. |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| Checked on them this morning and the tiny bubbles have begun but the liquid is now cloudy. Is this normal? |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| Here is a picture 
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RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| Yes, quue normal to be cloudy. Its the fermentation doing its job. Most of that cloudiness is very tiny bubbles. Once its done fermenting it does clear up just a little. But if you look at the store bought Claussen brine pickles in supermarket refrigerator section, they are also a little cloudy. My half sours start of that way too, but after they sit in the fridge a mont, the brine becomes fairly clear. Whats the red stuff? red pepper? I don't like adding any more than about 2-3 whole peppercorns, because more than that trends to give them a pepper taste. Did you add any garlic or dill? |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| I used a couple tsp of pickling spice along with 7 or 8 peppercorns, perhaps the pickling spice was a mistake. And yes I used one storebought pack of fresh dill along with 4 or 5 garlic cloves. |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| Pickling spices are a mix of a lot of things including ginger, clove, allspice, cinnamon, bay leaf, red peppers (hot), coriander seeds, mustard seeds, dill seeds. They use these mixes mostly in a sweet pickle recipes, or for relishes and chutneys. I guess if you like the flaver combination they impart it might be fine. Most of the time, they are placed in a spice bag and simmered with vinegar so the flavors come out of them, and then you remove the bag. If the brine needs to be changed or replaced in your recipe, it might be wise to strain out the spices (except dill weed and garlic), and make one jar with, and one jar without the extra spice mix. I cut up the garlic cloves into course pieces. When I make regular dills with vinegar, I put all the dill weed and cut up garlic at the bottom of the jars. This way the fine leaves don't get tangled in the lids or the seal area. Yours are only refrigerator type, so its not necessary. But, they do need a stir after about 3-4 days. |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| Thanks so much for your feedback, I appreciate it. I am not sure what you mean by "if the brine needs to be changed or replaced". I have read where some change or boil the brine and add it back after cooling. Recipe didnt mention stirring after 3-4 days so thanks for that tip. |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| The stirring is only to make sure the brine is well mixed. In some canning recipes for fermented pickles, they say to make a new batch of brine and use that when canning the finshed pickles. That is a regular processing of the cukes, however, and they would be a bit mushy once the brine was heated and the jars were done in a BWB. Yours will stay crisper because your going to refrigerate them. |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| Plan to give them a stir tomorrow. The brine smells real good at this point |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| With such a big jar, I do hope you have space in the fridge! Here, I use the half gallon Ball jars to store in the fridge, they take up less room. Its good to know it smells good. If it were cabbage that was fermenting, that would be really smelly!! |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| Today is day 4 and the fermentation is still quite active. I havent noticed any scum at all yet. Since I am fermenting at a relatively high temp I am wondering if I should wait the entire 7 days. I have been battling a stomach virus the past couple of days and dont really feel up to tasting them yet. |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| It should hurt to let it go for the 7 days. Even for that, it may still be bubbling a little even after that amount of time. Take it easy and don't over do it, as to your stomach. Health comes first. |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| gave them a stir and topped off with more brine this morning. Noticed that the bubbling has pretty much stopped. |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| I think your now at the point where you can place them in the fridge, and/or repackage them in smaller jars. You may also want to sieve out all that pickling spice, but leave the garlic and dill in there, or use some more fresh dill and garlic. |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| added a TBSP of vinegar and put them in the fridge today. Looks like I did the right thing. Cut one in half and sliced off a small piece and it tastes ok although my taste buds are a little off. They are a little softer than I would like but I guess that is to be expected with store bought cukes that werent bad but not the freshest. Soaked them in ice water for several hours beforehand, not sure that helped or hurt. Will give them a few days in the fridge and let my pickle lover taste them and see what she thinks. Great or not, I am looking forward to spring when I have my own fresh cukes to work with. Thanks for your tips Ken. |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| Yes, the fresher the better as for cukes. You might also find that just the dill weed and seed heads and garlic are the only flavors needed. They can crisp up slightly now that they are refrigerated. Quite honestly, soaking on ice water only crisps up older cukes for a fresh serve as in a salad. It will not 'recrisp' an older cuke once the cuke gets softer if its planned to be be pickled in a brine. Cukes on plants can get big quite fast. I plant several pickling cuke types, and some bear a little later than others. I do go out almost daily and pick several. Thats from about 20 plants in a single row. This year, I made 3 half gallon jars of half sours. These are a bit crisper and have a better taste and texture as I use a LOT of garlic and fresh dill seed heads while the seeds are still green. They do last almost a year in the fridge before they start to get softer. My Polish grandmother was the person responsible that helped me learn by taste, the amount of salt needed to make a brine. In the summer, a friend of theirs would bring her about half a dozen pickling cukes and she had a big gallon jar of salt brine. They got put in in the evening and the next day my grandfather would fish out the older (olive color) ones that had at least one day in the brine. Her brine was not changed until she had mold or scum on the surface. Sometimes the pickles wouldn't even see a full 24 hours of pickling. Just enough to add a dash of salt to a fresh cuke. |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| Sorry for bumping such an old thread, but I have a question for Ken regarding his grandmothers practice in his last post. Ken, did your grandmother keep adding fresh cucumbers to her brine while other cucumbers were still fermenting? Can one still do this today, or is that considered unsafe? I have found this thread to be very helpful as I'm doing some cucumbers the same way. Today I've noticed that the brine now has tiny bubbles forming on the surface. I started the process on Sunday afternoon. |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| Actually she would add a few new cukes the next day. But because my grandfather would binge on the pickles, they didn't last very long. If she were still alive today and tried to make the pickles, they would probably be awful tasting. Some years back the town of Springfield VT added a LOT of chlorine to their water supply and its very noticable. After a single adding of a few more cukes the next day, she would start up a new gallon jar and hide it so my granfather wouldnt get into it too early. Sometimes the cukes were just in there a single day and were quite mild, but very crunchy. Mine will be put in the fridge tomorrow. Yours may be OK to put in the fridge too, but add about 2 tablespoons of white vinegar to the jar before its put in the fridge. I do hope you TASTED the brine to make sure its not bitter with salt or is too weak. Too week will give you very mushy cukes. Too much salt is not tasty for half sour fermented cukes. I flip my jars over after a single day at room temp, to mix up the dill, garlic and brine. |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| Thank you Ken! Yes, I've tasted the brine - but it seems to smell a bit differently today. Now I'm nervous. Just added the 2 tablespoons of vinegar, but I'm not so sure about keeping them. |
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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The last few times I've made brine fermented pickles I have soaked the cukes overnight, in the refrigerator, in a solution of Ball's "Pickle Crisp". It makes a nice crisp pickle. Now, Ball has quit making it so I'm trying food grade calcium cloride, the only ingrediant in Pickle Crisp. Anyone tried this? Problem is I can't remember the solution strength to use for soaking. Anyone?
I have read some comments about time and Temperature stating 7-10 days to complete fermentation. It takes me 3 weeks at 74-76 F. In the winter at 70-72 at least 6 weeks.
I included a link to the recipe I use, if anyone cares to comment. thanks, john |
Here is a link that might be useful: OSU pickle reipe
RE: First attempt at sour pickles
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| Just reposted the source for food grade calcium chloride, better know as Ball Pickle Crisp. Also stated the amounbt to increase by due to the larger granule size of the generic. Suggest you do a search on the words 'Calcium Chloride', and 'Pickle Crisp', as the info is well documented and readily available. There is even a photo of the PC instructions stating how much to use as a presoak. Far better than using pickling lime. For the half sour pickles, they will have a sightly differnt smell after a couple of days at toom temp, and its due to the fresh dill and garlic that is added. I just poured out a few tablespoons of salt brine and replaced it with white vinegar. My pickles are now in the fridge, and will not be opened for a few days or weeks, depending on my craving. |
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