Tempeh falls apart

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Re: Tempeh falls apart

Postby bjdmytro on Sun Apr 01, 2018 12:25 pm

Some of this may depend on the variety of culture you are using. I am working with a culture that seems to do the best at 85F-90F and about 30 hours of incubation. For some reason, if I push it past 30 hours, it starts to turn soft. This one also seems to like split peas and soybeans more than any other medium I've tried.

I used to work with a culture from GEM cultures that performed well, all the way to about 46 hours, making a very firm, good tasting cake. Unfortunately, they don't sell their tempeh culture anymore. I'm always interested in trying other cultures. Where did you get yours from. Mine is from http://a.co/8AcwUYA. I'm looking for one that will perform better than the one I'm currently using.
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Re: Tempeh falls apart

Postby bjdmytro on Thu May 03, 2018 8:35 pm

I've been having greater success with the culture being held at a slightly lower temperature. The different between 32C (90F) and 30C (86F) made my cakes a lot firmer than there were--even firmer than the ones you can buy at the store. I was running hotter, but I changed my setup to give more ventilation and a lower temperature. Also, the local humidity has recently elevated with the melting of the snow and the coming of the spring rains, so the heightened humidity might also be a factor. In all, three variables have changed, higher humidity, lower temperature, and more ventilation, resulting in a firmer piece of tempeh. It was so firm, I was able to cube it and stir fry it without even a corner being dented.
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Re: Tempeh falls apart

Postby RobertN on Tue May 08, 2018 12:30 pm

I got mine from
http://tempehstarter.com

It’s directly from Jakarta, Indonesia and they ship worldwide. I am very satisfied with this starter.
I also use 32 C but in most cases my Tempeh is done after 24-30 hours, depending on the type of beans. Soybeans and Chickpeas need 24-30 but for instance black beans upt to 48 hours.
Regards

Robert
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Re: Tempeh falls apart

Postby bjdmytro on Mon Oct 22, 2018 7:17 am

I would also lower your incubating temperature. I've had the best results at 86F. Any warmer than that and it doesn't grow as well and is a little crumbly.
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Re: Tempeh falls apart

Postby RobertN on Sun Nov 11, 2018 2:53 pm

Thanks bjdmytro!
I will give it a try, but in the meantime I got very good results when I dried my beans more carefully and for longer time. Now I get absolutely perfect Tempeh!
Cheers

Robert
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