2 hours ago, sethoflagos said:

I can assure you that my pickle does not have thrush.

Actually it seems, from what I have quickly read, that Kahm yeast ("kamma yeast" seems to have been made up by the bot) is a description encompassing a variety of yeasty growths, including candida varieties. So the bot was not entirely off-target, though we are probably lucky it didn't start burbling about vaginal swabs etc.

28 minutes ago, exchemist said:

Actually it seems, from what I have quickly read, that Kahm yeast ("kamma yeast" seems to have been made up by the bot) is a description encompassing a variety of yeasty growths, including candida varieties. So the bot was not entirely off-target, though we are probably lucky it didn't start burbling about vaginal swabs etc.

... or advising me to stop wearing tights.

The bot was definitely gherkin us around.

1 hour ago, TheVat said:

The bot was definitely gherkin us around.

Certainly could have been candida about it.

48 minutes ago, exchemist said:

Certainly could have been candida about it.

Bad kahma all round, I'd say

On 10/25/2025 at 7:27 PM, StringJunky said:

Could an impermeable, solid, floating barrier fit to size on the surface in the container be an effective cut-off device? A small hole could be left in it to allow fermentation gases to escape.

Just for an update, the okra ferment I tried with a version of your suggestion (close fitting glass cup as a 'floating roof') worked a treat with not a hint of yeast pellicle. So thanks for that.

And the surface vegetable oil barrier I used on a jalapeno brew worked fine too. I scooped out the now quite spicy oil for recycling prior to refrigeration and the peppers are just right. No oily texture or off-taste that I can detect.

Might still work on the fermentation air-lock though: I've got the ginger beer plant up and running...

1 hour ago, sethoflagos said:

Just for an update, the okra ferment I tried with a version of your suggestion (close fitting glass cup as a 'floating roof') worked a treat with not a hint of yeast pellicle. So thanks for that.

And the surface vegetable oil barrier I used on a jalapeno brew worked fine too. I scooped out the now quite spicy oil for recycling prior to refrigeration and the peppers are just right. No oily texture or off-taste that I can detect.

Might still work on the fermentation air-lock though: I've got the ginger beer plant up and running...

Excellent, Seth. Good to hear the ideas have put some arrows in your quiver. 👍

On 10/25/2025 at 8:37 PM, Sensei said:

During fermentation of wine etc. you use fermentation pipe which looks like:

It can also be used for fermenting vegetables. Although I didn't have to do that. It allows CO₂ to escape without O₂ getting inside. Without O₂, microorganisms that need it will not be able to grow.

On 10/26/2025 at 7:58 PM, sethoflagos said:

Actually, it would be a doddle to fit a length of 5 mm flexible pipe on those cork stoppers. Loop it with a couple of cable ties for an airlock and Bob's your uncle. Bet I could make them fit the Kilners too. Why didn't this occur to me months ago!

A single 5.6 litre cork topped drinks dispenser (of all things) appeared in one of our more upmarket shops this week. Gave me the chance to kill two birds with one stone.

... Getting a ginger beer production line underway and piloting my makeshift airlock idea. Seems to work.

Edited November 13Nov 13 by sethoflagos

On 11/13/2025 at 4:29 PM, sethoflagos said:

Seems to work.

Though perhaps @exchemist or @CharonY might be able to explain the striking overnight colour change in my brew:

Fermentation appears to be progressing normally.

Ingredients are filtered borehole water, fresh root ginger, natural (non-centrifugal) cane sugar, champagne yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae ex-bayanus) and, as of yesterday, juice of two lemons.

26 minutes ago, sethoflagos said:

Though perhaps @exchemist or @CharonY might be able to explain the striking overnight colour change in my brew:

Fermentation appears to be progressing normally.

Ingredients are filtered borehole water, fresh root ginger, natural (non-centrifugal) cane sugar, champagne yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae ex-bayanus) and, as of yesterday, juice of two lemons.

Golly! No idea. Hope it’s not chlorophyll from some opportunistic invader!

42 minutes ago, exchemist said:

Golly! No idea. Hope it’s not chlorophyll from some opportunistic invader!

Best get it back in the dark room then.

13 minutes ago, sethoflagos said:

Best get it back in the dark room then.

Maybe - and see what @CharonY has to say. I have no experience with this, apart from a bit of green growth I get on my transparent plastic water filter every few months. Hope I’m off-track. Is it green all way through or just on the glass surface?

21 minutes ago, exchemist said:

Is it green all way through or just on the glass surface?

Uniform apple green all the way through. Smells normal.

The starter plant was and still is the usual off-white. The sugar was boiled to dissolve and left to cool for an hour or two before I added the filtered starter and lemon juice, and syphoned it into the previously unused decanter. I must say that the sugar solution was a darker brown than expected (see earlier image). I'd have thought 350 g sugar in 4 litres would see off a lot of the competition.

26 minutes ago, sethoflagos said:

Uniform apple green all the way through. Smells normal.

The starter plant was and still is the usual off-white. The sugar was boiled to dissolve and left to cool for an hour or two before I added the filtered starter and lemon juice, and syphoned it into the previously unused decanter. I must say that the sugar solution was a darker brown than expected (see earlier image). I'd have thought 350 g sugar in 4 litres would see off a lot of the competition.

Hmm, I wonder if whatever makes the sugar brown (obviously not sucrose but something more complex from the sugar cane) is going green under acid conditions from the lemon juice. You could try with a bit of just sugar solution plus a few drops of lemon juice and see if there is a colour change.

1 hour ago, exchemist said:

Hmm, I wonder if whatever makes the sugar brown (obviously not sucrose but something more complex from the sugar cane) is going green under acid conditions from the lemon juice. You could try with a bit of just sugar solution plus a few drops of lemon juice and see if there is a colour change.

Boiling plus lemon juice definitely and rapidly darkens the liquid due apparently to some reaction with the molasses at lower pH I've verified that bit by repetition. This dark brown component flocculates while remaing in suspension, while the continuous phase definitely has a green tinge to it.

The day old stuff in the decanter no longer has the dark brown flocs.

Since a proper ginger beer plant is supposed have both alcoholic fermentation and a symbiotic(?) Lactobacillus ferment, I added a teaspoonful of sauerkraut brine to the plant when I restarted it yesterday. That too is now developing a distinct greenish shade (though no brown flocs).

I''m quite intrigued. I think I'll let this run and see what happens.

5 hours ago, sethoflagos said:

Though perhaps @exchemist or @CharonY might be able to explain the striking overnight colour change in my brew:

Fermentation appears to be progressing normally.

Ingredients are filtered borehole water, fresh root ginger, natural (non-centrifugal) cane sugar, champagne yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae ex-bayanus) and, as of yesterday, juice of two lemons.

Hard to tell from the picture, unfortunately. I'd expect Cyanobacteria growth to be gradual and this looks like too much to happen overnight. Plus, generally they need a pH of > 6.5 to grow well. Is it settling on the bottom?

OT, but I've just started making about 300ml milk Kefir a day. On my 4th cycle and it's gone from cheesy tasting to more of a tangy, clean yoghurt. I've found it surprisingly easy to get into a routine. Still got to nail down my contamination avoidance protocol though. I think I'll do water kefir as well. Reading this thread kicked me up the arse to make this itch a reality!

If it goes slimy, I read it might be Pediococcus producing polysaccharide chains of some sort. Apparently, not harmful, but is indicative of contamination. Would it be worth soaking the ginger in metabisulphite first to sterilize? Yeast can still utilise a bit of it to make glycerol iirc, so it shouldn't harmed. I learnt that as a way to make wine smoother in texture.

Edited November 14Nov 14 by StringJunky

52 minutes ago, CharonY said:

I'd expect Cyanobacteria growth to be gradual and this looks like too much to happen overnight.

My thinking too. Which is why I'm curious.

54 minutes ago, CharonY said:

Is it settling on the bottom?

No stratification at all as far as I can tell. A thin layer of spent yeast on the bottom It's almost like a (somewhat cloudy) ferrous sulphate solution. We do get pretty high iron levels in our boreholes, and that goes for the raw cane sugar too. But not enough I'd have thought to do... Hang on, those flocs were suspiciously ferric hydroxide coloured... How intense a colour can the ferrous citrate complexes get?

1 hour ago, StringJunky said:

Reading this thread kicked me up the arse to make this itch a reality!

Glad to provide the prerequisite boot! 😄

I am a bit rusty but from memory, ferrous citrate was gray-green, but more on the dark grey side. Ferric citrate would be more on the brownish side. That level of green does remind me a bit on ferrous sulfate.

16 minutes ago, CharonY said:

I am a bit rusty but from memory, ferrous citrate was gray-green, but more on the dark grey side. Ferric citrate would be more on the brownish side. That level of green does remind me a bit on ferrous sulfate.

Ascorbic acid is a pretty good oxygen scavenger. Can it reduce Fe III?

Afterthought: yes, of course it can! That's why it's used to clean the stains from dripping taps! (Duh!)

2 hours ago, StringJunky said:

Would it be worth soaking the ginger in metabisulphite first to sterilize?

Perhaps. My ginger goes straight into 40% vodka. There ain't nuffin going to mess with me after that!

20 minutes ago, sethoflagos said:

Ascorbic acid is a pretty good oxygen scavenger. Can it reduce Fe III?

Afterthought: yes, of course it can! That's why it's used to clean the stains from dripping taps! (Duh!)

Perhaps. My ginger goes straight into 40% vodka. There ain't nuffin going to mess with me after that!

Yes, that would sort it.

On 11/13/2025 at 4:29 PM, sethoflagos said:

A single 5.6 litre cork topped drinks dispenser (of all things) appeared in one of our more upmarket shops this week. Gave me the chance to kill two birds with one stone.

Any glass jar will do, with metal lid, because you can make a hole in it, and then use a glue gun (available at electronics stores) to attach it to the lid permanently, sterilely, and hermetically.

https://www.google.com/search?q=glue+gun+ebay

On 11/13/2025 at 4:29 PM, sethoflagos said:

... Getting a ginger beer production line underway and piloting my makeshift airlock idea. Seems to work.

Today I made 2 liters of beetroot sourdough starter.

500 g beetroot

4 cloves of garlic

350 ml lukewarm water

large bay leaf

6 peppercorns

4 allspice berries

teaspoon of salt

Peel the beets, cut them into cubes to make them easier to put into the jar. Add spices and water. Wait 7-10 days.

After drinking the first portion (e.g., 1/2 - 2/3 of the juice), you can add water to the rest and repeat.

I usually add onions too, but today I'll try the procedure without them.

If you want to do the above, I will give you the procedure for making soup from it in a week, once you tell me you have the sourdough starter.

It's a question of whether you have red beets at all.

22 minutes ago, Sensei said:

Today I made 2 liters of beetroot sourdough starter.

500 g beetroot

4 cloves of garlic

350 ml lukewarm water

large bay leaf

6 peppercorns

4 allspice berries

teaspoon of salt

Peel the beets, cut them into cubes to make them easier to put into the jar. Add spices and water. Wait 7-10 days.

After drinking the first portion (e.g., 1/2 - 2/3 of the juice), you can add water to the rest and repeat.

I usually add onions too, but today I'll try the procedure without them.

If you want to do the above, I will give you the procedure for making soup from it in a week, once you tell me you have the sourdough starter.

It's a question of whether you have red beets at all.

I can get locally grown beetroot here. Steaming them is a bit of a chore, but cold pickled beetroot is one of life's necessities.

I've been meaning to have a crack at fermented beetroot. Borsch too.

The site has just informed me that I've become a primate, so thanks for that! 😊

6 minutes ago, sethoflagos said:

Steaming them is a bit of a chore,

No one here steams them. Put them in water and boil for over an hour (don't peel). Then wait for them to cool down, peel after cooking, and grate them. Next, fry them in a pan with oil, with onions, also grated. Season with salt and pepper. This is called fried beets. It is used with Viennese schnitzel with a potato puree.

Edited November 16Nov 16 by Sensei

1 minute ago, Sensei said:

No one here steams them.

I can well believe it.