My fermenting combo

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My fermenting combo

Postby kutululu on Mon Feb 24, 2020 5:10 am

Hey there, I wanted to share my current fermentation gear, which I'm finally satisfied with, is simple to use and easily gets you the desired results.

As I live in Czechia / Europe, it's almost impossible (and very pricey) to get the original US Ball Mason jars, but luckily I was able to find some wide mouth Bormioli (Italian producer) mason jars in a local household goods store.

Then I got these fermenting lids from Germany branch of Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Fermentology-Sau ... r=8-1&th=1

and I already had these glass weights:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CXJ92CG/re ... B07C97ZJ7F

In time I've tried a lots of different glasses, boxes, lids, DIY solutions and actually some of them still work quite well. But as I ferment a lot, I wanted to get myself kind of a "definitive solution" (hope this is it :)).
With all this equipment you need nothing else and can begin your fermenting adventures right away.
Sure, those things cost some money, but if you're into fermenting like me, it pays off.
Hope this helps someone.
Last edited by kutululu on Mon Feb 24, 2020 1:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: My fermenting combo

Postby Christopher Weeks on Mon Feb 24, 2020 8:15 am

Since you mention Bormioli, can you get the locking Fido jars? I do most of my small-scale fermentation in those, these days and the built-in gasket acts as a very fine airlock without requiring the overhead space of a water-lock.
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Re: My fermenting combo

Postby kutululu on Mon Feb 24, 2020 11:53 am

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, it's possible to buy Fido jars here, but also there are very similar jars for slightly lesser price in IKEA, just the name is different (KORKEN). Of course I've tried one of these, but not the way they're supposed to be used while fermenting (burping). It was one of my DIY projects, got myself a drill bit for glass and made a hole into the lid, then used a water airlock sealed in the lid with a piece of silicon hose. It didn't work out that well, because I wasn't able to seal the water-lock completely airtight and couldn't use a silicon gromet instead of the little hose, because the glass lid of the jar is too thick. Still, the ferment turned out fine eventually.

There's a standard type of glass here (about 900 ml volume), which is used for beet root pickles, honey, sauerkraut and lot of other food sold in the stores. It has a screwing lid, that is about half height of the lid for the mason jar. It has a similar rubber band on the inner side, so when you screw it, it's pretty much airtight from the outside, yet at the same time it allows the over-pressured gas produced during the fermentation to escape along with the redundant fluid. But obviously this is not a real airtight solution (and a bit messy), the same goes for burping (letting oxygen in). Another (main) thing I don't like this way is the result can become a bit fizzy. So those are the reason I prefer the way of water-lock. In my opinion the overhead space needed is the same with the Fido jars as you don't fill the glass up to the edge and the small area shaped by the lid into which stands out the tube of the water-lock is free anyway. Well, I need a little bit of space for the glass weight stone, but that would be the same situation using Fido, too :).
Attachments
fermentation 02.jpeg
Ikea (Fido) jar with DIY water-lock
fermentation 02.jpeg (108.26 KiB) Viewed 4385 times
fermentation 01.jpeg
the combo I'm using now
fermentation 01.jpeg (100.99 KiB) Viewed 4385 times
Last edited by kutululu on Mon Feb 24, 2020 12:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
kutululu
 
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Re: My fermenting combo

Postby Christopher Weeks on Mon Feb 24, 2020 12:07 pm

This won't matter to you if you don't like using the gasket as the airlock, but I also tried the same thing with bail-top jars from Ikea and they didn't work. They weren't air-tight for me. (Same experience with no-name jars I bought at American retailer Target.) So I only use the Fido brand and just let the interior gas push itself out when the pressure grows great enough.
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Re: My fermenting combo

Postby kutululu on Mon Feb 24, 2020 1:09 pm

Your experience (IKEA jars not being air-tight) is a possible explanation for my problem, because I did seal the water-lock the best I could. They shouldn't advertise them as air-tight, then.
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