Making non-alcoholic fermented beverages: how important is a tight seal?!
Making non-alcoholic fermented beverages: how important is a tight seal?
i recently made a lacto-fermented beet kvas (directions: coarsely chop beetroot, add water, salt and whey and allow to ferment in a glass jar, covered, at room temperature for 2 days.) the only alteration i made was to use a stainless steel saucepan as the vessel. i also opened the pan to taste it once or twice before 2 days elapsed. after 2 days, it didn't seem very fermented, so i left it out for 4. it now tastes fermented, sour but pleasant, but i think it may have caused a bit of flatulence. My question is this: how important is it to keep covered these kinds of beverages while fermenting? if you lift the lid a few times to check what's happening does it get spoiled? or if it was spoiled would the taste be so vile that there would be no doubting the fact?
any help would be greatly appreciated.
also, on a seperate point, what is it that makes this kind of fermentation non-alcoholic? what needs to be modified to make it alcoholic?
Answers:
Keeping a seal is about excluding wild yeasts from the liqour, which would very likely give you an alcoholic result. Yeast breaks down sugar for food, excreting alcohol & CO2.
I'm not sure what the lactic fermentation results in, but are you sure it's non-alcoholic? The Belgians make lacto-fermented beers.
You may get better results with a glass or ceramic vessel, as metals can have effects on fermentation bugs, vis; you MUST NOT get metal near Acetobacter cultures, as it will kill them, & spoil your vinegar.
Good luck.
you need to keep an air tight seal to stop any other bacteria from getting into your drink and making it taste sour To ferment most home made beverages, I have found a sterilised plastic bucket with an air tight seal would be best for short period fermentation. For long periods demi johns with air lock are better.
To make it alcohol you need to add sugar and yeast.
Hope this helps.