New Fermentation Room Trial Run: Week 6 Final Update

Hello Steemians,

It's been an eventful month and a half in the pickle room, and I'm happy to report the results of a successful trial run. Below are examples of the finished products:

This is the best sauerkraut we've ever made! So crispy, and the flavor is perfect! There is a sour apple element which I find lacking in store-bought varieties, I suppose that would be malic acid formed during the fermentation process. There is unfortunately a slight yeastiness because I failed to appreciate how much brine would evaporate, but it didn't bother me enough to throw any away. The remedy for that is just to discard the top few inches of sauerkraut until you can't taste any yeastiness, but less waste=more profit! Next time I will be vigilant about topping up the jars so that the vegetables stay submerged.

The turnips have a great flavor, but the texture is not as uniformly crunchy as I want. The only fix there is to make sure I can source fresher produce. These came from Restaurant Depot, where I've previously gotten good turnips, but that was in Portland and individual outlets may vary. Oh well, time to contact them local farmers. Or, I could try growing them on my own...

It's necessary to use a pH meter to determine that the pH has reached 3.5 for a hygienic product. These pickles will keep up to two years in a refrigerator. The model I use is an Oakton Acorn, which I bought for around $100 on eBay. It has two probes which are inserted into the sample: one to measure temperature and the other acidity.

Here is the reading on the sauerkraut...

And here is the reading on the turnips. Both are well within sanitary ranges.

Here in Louisiana, our garden is still going strong, so I put up an impromptu batch of green beans:

This is my first go, just homegrown Tabasco chiles and garlic. Of course, I would have thrown in some dill if I'd had it, but these will do for a proof of concept. As you can see, the color is starting to dull after a few days in the brine. Not long after, I got a second, larger harvest which filled one of the half-gallon jars we use for test batches.

Here you can see the new batch in situ on its first day amidst our second batch of kombucha undergoing its secondary fermentation as well as the garlic which still has many months to go. For the record, it took a standard 30-inch bed of green beans 12 feet long to produce a half-gallon batch. I expect to have enough for a similarly-sized batch in a few days when I harvest again.

We were also busy hanging shelves in the fermentation room to store all our equipment. Here's a shot of the finished product:

And here's a close-up of the shelves. Still need to do a little organizing...

Oh, and wasn't there something interesting in the foreground of that shot?

Looks like some sort of delicious brown beverage bubbling away...

Well, that's a wrap on the test batch. Mission successful! Thanks for reading, upvoting, and resteeming! As always, please leave your questions and comments below.

I'll leave you with some art selections from @daniphotography the pickle princess:

(That would be the Benton bros. and Her Majesty doing their best impression of a famous Chinese allegorical painting known as The Vinegar Tasters)

(And here, on the wall outside, we reminisce about pickles of yore)

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