Hey Mark. I've never gotten mold myself. But I've read you should just scrape it off and let it keep fermenting. Maybe others can chime in.

Kevin

Mark, from everything I've read, mold is normal and you just scrape it off.

I'm doing my first fermented sauce this year as well. I started a mash of assorted medium - hot peppers, carrot, pineapple, onion and garlic in a 5% salt brine on Sept 22nd in a 1.5 liter air locked jar. I added a tsp of Greek yogurt whey to help start the fermentation process.

Having trouble getting the ferment to start. My mash separated so I open the jar this past Wednesday to stir it up and add another tsp of whey. I had white mold around the rim so I removed it with a wet paper towel.

When did you start yours? What, if anything, did you add to help start the fermentation process?

Bill

@ Kevin, thanks. I scraped it away and then gave it stir and wiped the sides clean again after the stirring. Gave it a taste and its good :) I also put some salt on the top just because, then will let it ferment the rest of the time until 6 weeks is up.

@ Bill thanks also for the info on white mold. Sept 12th is when I started. I used all whey and added to that sea salt and brown sugar. Did not technically use a brine in the sense of salt water but still a brine in a sense that the whey from the yogurt had plenty of water in itself so added salt and sugar.

I strained the whey did not mix in any of the actual yogurt, used a paper towel and funnel over a cup and let the whey strain out.

Mark

Mark: Maybe the paper towel filtered some of the bacteria. Next batch, use cheesecloth lined inside a strainer. It will still ferment regardless of starter. That's what the starter is for...to get the populations blooming. I think the higher populations actually prevent mold growth.

Kevin

Kevin, I think I should use a weight next time, not all the mash stayed under guess with the pressure from underneath caused some of the mash at the top to rise above the brine. Yeah agree, next time I will use cheese cloth instead of a paper towel because I probably did not get as much bacteria as I should have.

Mark

Mark,

I suspect we're both experiencing problems getting the fermentation kick started.

The mold forms due to availability of oxygen in the environment. The fermentation process off gasses CO2 which should, if using an airlock on a closed vessel, push out the air/oxygen and vent excess CO2. The positive pressure inside the closed jar prevents air from getting in due to the airlock. At least that's the way it works when making wine.

I'm straining more yogurt today through cheesecloth to give mine a better kick. I also picked up a bag of marbles at the $ store that I'm going to enclose in a ziploc sandwich bag to weigh the mash down so i don't get the seperation issue again.

FWIW,

Bill

Fermenting peppers 101

" I also picked up a bag of marbles at the $ store "

They still sell those? I figured they went the way of the Five and Dime stores. ;)

Fermenting chiles at rushy springs farm

Thanks Bill, yeah I will have to do the same, cheesecloth and a weight. Also I think my salt content was too low, I did not exactly measure it out, next time will have to do that. So far my ferment is going good after removal of the mold. I guess the good stuff did not get going as fast and the CO 2 did not push the oxygen out fast enough. After clearing the mold and adding some salt the pressure quickly returned and the airlock quickly got air bubbles and released some already. Good luck and keep us updated and pics please.

Northeast - thanks for those links I read the info on the first and will check out the second.

Mark