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March 29, 2024, 01:04:10 PM

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Homebrew thread

Started by Blue Jam, March 24, 2020, 06:20:38 PM

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popcorn

I'm doing two completely improvised made-up ferments in two kilner jars. I bought some chilis at random and stuck them in two separate jars. One of them is mainly scotch bonnets and some other kind of pepper I assume is less spicy, and the other is... some other kind of pepper again. I put them in with some garlic, onion, green peppers and cardamon pods. What is going to happen ?????

They've both been cookin' for about a week and they're both looking bubbly and cloudy. I'm going to crack em open some time around Christmas and blend them up with some vinegar and whatever else I feel like at the time. And then open the blender in the garden.

I sterilised the jars but have otherwise taken no precautions against getting botulism and dying.

popcorn

While I was adding the peppers I tried a teeny tiny shred of a scotch bonnet to see what I was dealing with and it burnt like fuck very specifically on the tiny bit of my lip it had touched. I sweated a fair bit and then felt genuinely euphoric and lightheaded. Perhaps my sauce will cure covid ??

Ferris

Here it is:

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=post;quote=4234050;topic=78924.300

Re-reading my post it looked like I did (approx!) 1:1 hot to mild chillies and I found it a bit much. I'm not one of these spice people you read about these days but I do like a hot sauce and it was quite a lot.

Quote from: popcorn on December 19, 2020, 10:07:22 PM
I'm doing two completely improvised made-up ferments in two kilner jars. I bought some chilis at random and stuck them in two separate jars. One of them is mainly scotch bonnets and some other kind of pepper I assume is less spicy, and the other is... some other kind of pepper again. I put them in with some garlic, onion, green peppers and cardamon pods. What is going to happen ?????

They've both been cookin' for about a week and they're both looking bubbly and cloudy. I'm going to crack em open some time around Christmas and blend them up with some vinegar and whatever else I feel like at the time. And then open the blender in the garden.

I sterilised the jars but have otherwise taken no precautions against getting botulism and dying.

I suspect you've made a right royal mess of it but that is par for the course, popcorn-wise.[nb]jokes aside it'll probably be fine[/nb]

Sebastian Cobb

Yeah you need to be careful with that shit. Not wanting to be too crass but I made a sauce that involved chopping up 10 of them, then did the washing up, so fully submerged my hands in soapy water, then went for a piss and it felt like I'd set fire to my cock.

sirhenry

Quote from: popcorn on December 19, 2020, 09:24:23 PM
Look it's not beer but I started fermenting my own hot sauce last week.

I'm a bit concerned because I used scotch bonnets and I didn't deseed them, and now when I watch videos of people making hot sauce the scotch bonnet recipes are always the "you're gonna fucken die!!!" sauces. I hope it doesn't don't kill my dad at Christmas.
The heat of the seeds and the placenta (the white bits on the inside) will get stronger with fermenting, so if the scotch bonnets are already hot enough for you the sauce will need a pipette for serving. In future it would be better to remove them (while gloved) before pickling or fermenting.

On the plus side, at least you only went for mid-range heat chillies rather than the superhots - that could have been properly dangerous.

Quote from: popcorn on December 19, 2020, 10:14:26 PM
Perhaps my sauce will cure covid ??
If it does then we have enough chilli sauce in this house to cure Leeds.[nb]My son writes a chilli blog and gets new sauces sent almost daily.[/nb]

popcorn

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on December 19, 2020, 10:17:11 PM
Yeah you need to be careful with that shit. Not wanting to be too crass but I made a sauce that involved chopping up 10 of them, then did the washing up, so fully submerged my hands in soapy water, then went for a piss and it felt like I'd set fire to my cock.

Yeah I was careful in that regard. Prepped everything except the peppers, then put on gloves and dealt with them all, without touching anything else. Then put everything in the dishwasher and spent 5 minutes decontaminating the work surface. Might have been OTT but I managed to get some Tabasco in my eye years ago and that was no picnic so I didn't want to scotch myself.

popcorn

Quote from: sirhenry on December 19, 2020, 10:20:53 PM
The heat of the seeds and the placenta (the white bits on the inside) will get stronger with fermenting, so if the scotch bonnets are already hot enough for you the sauce will need a pipette for serving. In future it would be better to remove them (while gloved) before pickling or fermenting.

This worried me and I'm now looking at my jars. I think I actually did deseed the bonnets but I think maybe I didn't deseed the non-bonnets so maybe I'll survive. If we're in pipette territory then this will definitely have been a failed first experiment, I want something I can use as a condiment that provides something other than nuclear heat. I'll have to put on a gas mask and tip it over the fence and murder the neighbour's geraniums.

sirhenry

Quote from: popcorn on December 19, 2020, 10:21:54 PM
Yeah I was careful in that regard. Prepped everything except the peppers, then put on gloves and dealt with them all, without touching anything else. Then put everything in the dishwasher and spent 5 minutes decontaminating the work surface. Might have been OTT but I managed to get some Tabasco in my eye years ago and that was no picnic so I didn't want to scotch myself.
The heat is in the oil so cleaning everything with neat washing up liquid (while still gloved) works well.

sirhenry

Quote from: popcorn on December 19, 2020, 10:24:33 PM
This worried me and I'm now looking at my jars. I think I actually did deseed the bonnets but I think maybe I didn't deseed the non-bonnets so maybe I'll survive. If we're in pipette territory then this will definitely have been a failed first experiment, I want something I can use as a condiment that provides something other than nuclear heat. I'll have to put on a gas mask and tip it over the fence and murder the neighbour's geraniums.
The pipette was maybe a bit of an overstatement; it's always worth seeing it through to the end and then improve from there.
Also, there is much more heat in the placenta than the seeds, so if you only deseeded them the heat will still be there.

popcorn

Any tips on how long to ferment? Is about 12 days going to be enough? Is it a "ferment to taste" kind of thing?

popcorn

Here are the peppers I used for the first jar, if anyone fancies estimating their deadliness.


Sebastian Cobb


popcorn


sirhenry

Quote from: popcorn on December 19, 2020, 10:40:57 PM
Here are the peppers I used for the first jar, if anyone fancies estimating their deadliness.


From my resident expert:
The green ones are probably Bird's Eye (or similar variants), which are slightly milder than Scotch Bonnets.
The paler, shorter ones are a Scotch Bonnet variant.

Fermenting them will probably not make them hotter, but it will consume all of the sugars to feed the bacteria. So if you want to make it a little milder, add some fruit or sliced onion which will also add more sugar so will speed up fermentation and give a fuller, rounder flavour.

Blue Jam

I made pineapple barbecue sauce earlier this year because I was missing Illegal Jack's and their excellent fajitas and in-house Pineapple BBQ sauce. Didn't do any pickling or fermenting though, just simmered a load of pineapple chonks with onions, sugar, white wine vinegar and Liquid Smoke. Just a touch of chilli heat in there. Put the lot in my Breville smoothie blender and then in a Kilner jar. I got surprisingly close to the real thing, I could have won Snackmasters with that concoction. Seriously, if Illegal Jack's put that stuff up for sale I would have purchased the shit out of it.

Not a fan of pickling at all, and not a fan of fermentation unless it's yeast doing the work. Kimchi can get tae. I can't get on with any foodstuff I can imagine digesting my insides.

Ferris

Quote from: popcorn on December 19, 2020, 10:40:57 PM
Here are the peppers I used for the first jar, if anyone fancies estimating their deadliness.



***calculating***

Ferris analysis: mega DEAD SOON

Ferris

Quote from: popcorn on December 19, 2020, 10:32:07 PM
Any tips on how long to ferment? Is about 12 days going to be enough? Is it a "ferment to taste" kind of thing?

For what you've made 12,000 years wouldn't be enough you klutz. What were you thinking?!

Though yeah 10-14 days is plenty.

popcorn



popcorn

Opened a jar and took a good sniff. Smelled potent but delicious. That was a couple of hours ago.

Now I have a sore throat and feel a bit ill.

sirhenry

After Xmas I'm heading down to the supermarket to buy a jar or two of discounted mince pie filling.
Just tried the mince pie mead and while it has sweetness and a rather wonderful amount of alcohol in it, it only has a hint of minceyness.

Needs more mincey.

And then next year...

Blue Jam


Blue Jam

Just sampled the finished Voël Voël. Room temperature, seemed right. No gushing thankfully but it's got a good head on it. Tastes surprisingly dry for an ale which has had a great big chonk of fruit and nuts and sugar swimming in it for a couple of weeks. The fruit seems to have added a richness and a nice round softness rather than a sweetness. There's a bit of a soft red wine character (though maybe that's the port) but more on the nose than on the tongue. For a strong ale it doesn't taste harsh at all. Think the cider content of the pud contributed but in a good way, adding to the dryness rather than making it taste like snakebite and black. Lovely warming hit of port and brandy on the finish. Very complex all in all.

Absolutely chuffed to fuck with this. Not least because I decided to sack off making my own blend of fruits and spices and went for the lazy option of just chucking a shop-bought pud in there. It was a long wait but ultimately a piece of piss. Totally worth it, and I recommend you all try it next Xmas.

Now wondering if I should try it again next year but with some added lactose for sweetness.

sirhenry

fuck. Oh fuck.


So
can I put anything at all into a demijohn with hioney and make it stupidly alcohiolic?

Can I drink the memory of plasticine as a kid just by putting it in a demijihn with honey and yeast?

Blue Jam

Quote from: sirhenry on December 23, 2020, 09:51:53 PM
Can I drink the memory of plasticine as a kid just by putting it in a demijihn with honey and yeast?

Hark at Heston Blumenthal here ;)

sirhenry

I was going for "Pisso's been at it again", but I suppose Heston will do.

Blue Jam


Blue Jam

How strong is it possible to make an alcoholic drink based on carbs fermented by yeast without distilling it or fortifying it at all?

Asking for a friend.

Ferris

Quote from: Blue Jam on December 23, 2020, 09:50:11 PM
Just sampled the finished Voël Voël. Room temperature, seemed right. No gushing thankfully but it's got a good head on it. Tastes surprisingly dry for an ale which has had a great big chonk of fruit and nuts and sugar swimming in it for a couple of weeks. The fruit seems to have added a richness and a nice round softness rather than a sweetness. There's a bit of a soft red wine character (though maybe that's the port) but more on the nose than on the tongue. For a strong ale it doesn't taste harsh at all. Think the cider content of the pud contributed but in a good way, adding to the dryness rather than making it taste like snakebite and black. Lovely warming hit of port and brandy on the finish. Very complex all in all.

Absolutely chuffed to fuck with this. Not least because I decided to sack off making my own blend of fruits and spices and went for the lazy option of just chucking a shop-bought pud in there. It was a long wait but ultimately a piece of piss. Totally worth it, and I recommend you all try it next Xmas.

Now wondering if I should try it again next year but with some added lactose for sweetness.

This sounds amazing! Test your willpower and save a bottle or two for next xmas, I bet it'll age really nicely.

Quote from: Blue Jam on December 23, 2020, 10:09:01 PM
How strong is it possible to make an alcoholic drink based on carbs fermented by yeast without distilling it or fortifying it at all?

Asking for a friend.

I think ~20% using a specialist high tolerance yeast, but I imagine it'd taste rank unless aged for 12+ months.

So says a friend anyway...

Blue Jam

I knew Brewdog had done some very strong ales but this freeze-distilling malarkey is cheating, right?

https://www.brewdog.com/uk/worlds-strongest-beer

It's still distilling, right?

...and I must try it one day- I do have an ice cream maker after all...