I wanted an over ripe pineapple as recommended by some Mexican tutorials.
This one was that, and more! Rotting at the bottom!
By the time I cut out all the rotten parts, I was left with only half the fruit. So instead of using just the peels and core, I added all the good flesh too.
Sugar was gula melaka. I like being precise with measurements so that I can try to reproduce or adjust better next time. But what the heck ... since the pineapple threw me a curveball, lets just wing it with the sugar. 1 piece.
No spices this time. I want to see what the taste is like without complex flavours.
No ginger bug like the last time which resulted in carbonation on steroids!!
1 litre water looked too little.
1.5 litre looked too much! Hope I didnt dilute it too much.
Fyi whole fruit 1133g, Useable skin and flesh 574g, gula melaka 191g, water 1.5litre.
Since it's a lot faster than ginger beer, I will log by hours instead of days.
For methodology I loosely followed these guys...
Hour 00
Hour 15: Bubbling... not as crazy as the ginger bug version. That's one problem solved.
Taste was sweetish, but not enough pineapple taste for my liking. The plan is to bottle at 24 and 48 hours. If the pineapple taste doesn't come out more after 48 hours, I will try juicing core and flesh next time.
If you compare this pic with the video of the tepache method earlier, you will see that theirs took longer to get to this stage. My guess is the weather sped it up.
Hour 24: Bubbling. Sweet. Bottled 300ml of the tepache. Took out one small piece of flesh, squeezed its juice and pulp into the bottle too. Total 315g.
I like it a little less sweet so didnt take much tepache. Will wait till more sugar gets eaten up before I bottle the bulk of it.
Hour 38: Forgot about it last night. Bottle hard with carbonation. Refrigerated it. The rest tasted ok, less sweet.
Bottled 1200ml, with added pieces.
Added 700ml water and 3 tbsp white sugar just to see if I can extract another batch before composting the pineapple.
Hour 49: Refrigerated bottle 2
Hour 51: Refrigerated bottle 3&4. Opened bottle 1. Excellent taste and correct fizz.
Hour 53: Brew taste was ok, not as nice as with jaggery. Added 3 tbsp white sugar.
The next day: tastes not great. I didnt throw it out. Will keep as my next batch of pineapple vinegar.
Day10: I cant believe it!! I have vinegar already! And it tastes good. pH is around 3-3.5.
The fish aren't doing well. I think I'm missing a couple of climbing perch, and what I thought was markings on one, looks like it's spreading to the other perch. Added more Indian almond leaves to hopefully help medicate the fish. I think I will add some salt too. And over the next few weeks I am going to add a few leaves every couple of days.
Added to my aquariums... For the main guppy tank, I put the leaves at the back so they arent too visible in the front.
The view from the back...
Close up...
The back aquarium is just a pile of stuff to see if I can encourage daphnia growth. I let the leaves just settle wherever they wish...
30Aug2020: Got a bunch of neem leaves, weight approx 330g. Soaked in 12 litres water. Duration of soak... no idea at this moment. I will go thru all the Youtube instructions I can find, and then average out the time.
Will test if the resulting liquid helps deter pests.
31Aug2020: Selamat Hari Merdeka! Happy Independence Day! I was pleasantly surprised... day 2... nothing visibly bubbling like fruit fermentation, but heaps of bubbles on the surface! That's just neem leaves and water! There must be something special to this plant.
2Sep2020: Less bubbles. Something that looks like a thin layer of oil on top. I guess it's ready to use.
Summary of day 0 to 6
6 Sep 2020: I had a separate bottle of water with garlic and chili scraps that I was using as a spray. It wasnt really working. So chucked it all into the neem bucket. It will be a lot easier this way anyways. Anytime I hear about a plant that deters pests, I will add some of it to the brew. Never know I might stumble onto an all natural super bug deterrent!
I think it is a Brazilian Snapdragon. That's the closest result I could find.
I picked a bunch from my mum's place. It had a really sweet smell. Only after doing the vinegar I read that the leaves are fragrant too. Oh well next time.
Filled a small bottle with the flowers, 400ml water and 25g sugar. Covered with cloth.
Mixing daily. By day2 bubbles were visible.
1Sep2020 day3: A purple hue was visible
7Sep2020 day9: Colour great, top looks healthy, smell nice.
31Oct2020: Strained into an old liquid soap bottle. Amazing how dark it has become.
I dont like using lots of soap but you just have to with our weather. So the plan is, without going into graphic detail, to use soap where I sweat the most, and this floral vinegar everywhere else. At bedtime, if my wife tells me to get out of the room due to the smell, then I will relegate this vinegar to cleaning stuff outside.
1Nov2020: I didnt get kicked out of the room :) Success!!!
