easy to make yogurt

It really is easy, especially with our yogurt maker, which is basically just a heated plate.

I use about a tablespoon of this or any yogurt as a starter. It is mixed in with 1 liter of milk. I use a tin of unsweetened evaporated milk and top up the rest of the litre with UHT full cream milk. Mix well and put into the jars.

It sits there for 8 - 15 hours. We usually stop after 12. The device runs a bit too hot so I plug it into a time that turns off about 10 minutes every hour.

The result...

Test making vinegar with dirty conditions

 This is just a test. The main thing I want to know is ... can I make vinegar with next to no regards for cleanliness and measurements?

If it works, I will use the vinegar for cleaning.

1. Cleanliness...

One of my neighbours passes me all her kitchen scraps for my compost. I will only use pears from that coz I know she eats them regularly. I wont wash it. I will just separate the pears from the rest and chuck them into a 1.5 litre plastic Coke bottle.

The bottle I chose was lying outside in my collection of plastic bottles to reuse. I rinsed it out with tap water.

2. Chlorine...

I used water direct from the tap so I know for sure it is chlorinated. All Youtube instructions stress the need for dechlorinated water. I will add rainwater too if available, but collected in my dirty buckets I use for gardening.

Filter out the debris with a fish net

3. Dark place...

Its not going to be dark. It will be in the shade but still its quite a lot brighter than indoors.

4. Temperature...

Indoors is on the upper limit of what is recommended for making vinegar, under 30C. This test will be outdoors, so I think, even in the shade it will get to over 30C.

5. Measurements...

None at all. I put a teaspoon of white sugar, in about 500ml water. I will increase the water as I get more peels. The peels are whatever I get, so not much at the start.

6. Starter...

I will add just a tiny bit of ginger bug, maybe a tablespoon. That's hardly anything at all coz any recipe that calls for ginger bug asks for more than 100ml of the stuff.

7. Start and end dates...

This test will have multiple starting points coz I will just keep adding peels until it reaches maybe 3/4 of the container. 

As for the end date. I will try to get my hands on some pH testing strips. Hopefully that will be the indicator the vinegar is ready. I dont want to taste it coz I dont know how much dirt will be in it. 

19Aug2020 update: more from my neighbour...

I didn't anticipate so much pear scraps.. the 1.5litre bottle is too small. Transfered to an old 9litre...

Both containers doing well with no sign of mold!! Touch wood.

21Aug2020 update: today I decided to simplify things and put both pear mixtures into one container. Both smelt and looked good before combining. The new container is nearly opaque so it will cut out most of the light. It has a wide mouth which will make handling bigger pieces easier. The screw top will not be tightened to allow for air. Tightened only for shaking it up.

  

28Aug2020 day 18: quite a nice pellicle/mother/scoby has formed.

   

how Ulam Raja travels far

This is a great illustration of how the ulam raja seed can easily travel to another location...

Floral vinegar batch 1

Supposed to be good as a hair rinse.

Day0 9Aug2020: started. reddish flowers. all had no sweet smell.

Day7 16Aug2020: removed top layer of leaves.

The top was looking a little off. So opened it up to see. After removing a little, we realised that it was actually ok. But decided to remove all the leaves.

I'm trying to make apple cider vinegar

It looks like a simple but long process. Also a high chance mold will grow on top and I will have to chuck it out. 

6Aug2020 day00

1 litre water, almost full apple scraps and pulp, 2 TBsp sugar, 3 TBsp Bragg acv. Tasted of very diluted apple water. Hardly any vinegar taste.

9Aug2020 day3

10Aug2020 day4

11Aug2020 day5: the first real signs of the white stuff

12Aug2020 day6

This film was covering the entire surface.

I left it there. Posted a query on reddit. Hopefully someone answers. My guess is that it is kahm yeast.

13Aug2020 day7

So they said it's yeast and to leave it in! Its thicker today and the patterns on it more prominent. I haven't mixed or stirred now for 2 days. 

Initially the plan was to submerge the top exposed fruit daily. And to remove the pulp after 6-7 days when it supposedly is alcohol. Then add some vinegar with mother (Bragg) and let it turn to vinegar.

Now that the film is there, I have not stirred it. I'm in 2 minds about this. Do I leave it be for the whole duration or take everything out and leave the liquid (alcohol) to turn into vinegar?

30 minutes later update: I decided to strain it.

That yeast film was thick enough that it didnt break apart when removed.

In fact it looked like a scoby from all the videos I watched, but I guess it cant be coz it's too early. 

update: it's called a pellicle

Strained out the pulp, 

then extracted the remaining juice from the pulp thru an old pillow case.

Washed out the container with soap and water then baked it in the oven for 10 mins to make sure everything was clean.

Added 2 tablespoons of Bragg acv. If this vinegar making experiment works, I will inoculate the future batches with this instead of using Bragg. 

The liquid tasted slightly vinegary already!

Tried testing the pH with my aquarium test kit :) It's not a good test coz the sample is already coloured. but I think it changed enough to indicate the liquid was slightly acidic, and that's what we want to achieve.

Before...

After...

The scale...

After a few hours, the glass container was cool, and the sediment in the liquid had settled.

Poured it into the container except for the last bit of sediment... 

I got 1186g of liquid!

Some scenes from day 7...

Covered with a cloth and placed in a cupboard so that it would be in a dark place.

I just noticed... the cloth I randomly picked to cover my 1st attempt at apple cider vinegar had an apple motif!!!

Now we wait for a few weeks... and pray for a couple of things...

1. no fruit flies get in
2. it forms a mother
3. no mold sets up shop on top
4. it turns into vinegar
5. it tastes as good as Bragg

I will be happy if prayer number 2 and 4 get answered.

14Aug2020 day8:

The pellicle returned! reddit had advised to keep the original one but I got rid of it. This time I will leave it as recommended.

The smell is still good so it must be working!

17Aug2020 day11:

The smell is fine. I haven't been moving it at all. Stored in a dark place. Temperature I guess in the mid 20s Celsius. The top layer is more pronounced. 

Does that pellicle become the mother? I have no idea. This is a video I found that showed something like what I have, and she referred to it as the mother...

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzzOES39GaE

20Aug2020 day14: some clearer photos...

25Aug2020 day19: The centre is very clear.

Counting down the days to day 28 when I will be testing it to see if my very first vinegar worked.

30Aug2020 day24: here is a video of the mixture...

3Sep2020 day28: the time has come! It has been 4 weeks since starting. Most instructions say 4 - 12 weeks. 

Tested it.... pH is 4. I was hoping for 3. This website said under 3. This lady said anything under 4.5.

Tested all four types that I have. They are arranged in order of acidity strength. My first acv batch was a 4 and the white one on the right was 3, maybe 2 point something.

My acv taste was not as tart as any of the store bought vinegars. On the plus side, it was a nice, mildly sour taste. 

So I will keep it going till week 12, testing the pH every 2 weeks. I hope I didn't hurt it coz with all the movement the mother is no more floating on top.

17Sep2020 day42: It's week 6, and the pH was still 4. I removed all the pellicles and strained out 630ml (that was the amount the bottle held). 

It's not as good a taste as the 2nd batch acv, or the 2nd batch pineapple vinegar. I will use it to wash/soak our veggies after harvesting. 

The remaining ?ml I will try adding to my bug spray. Maybe the acid might help. I will test on the heavily infested misai kuching. The bugs that have settled on it are damn stubborn and hardy.

You will always lose some leaves to the critters

I dont mind this kind of damage to the leaves, as long as more than 50% are ok. These insects are better than the caterpillars and larvae that attach to the underside of leaves coz they are visible and fly off immediately when disturbed.

This bugger was too greedy, staying on the leaf, and ended up inside the belly of one of my climbing perch.

Dill cutting in pond

I try putting cutting in the pond to see which will sprout roots. The dill did a good job of it...