Moderator: Christopher Weeks
Tim Hall wrote:4-5 days with air exchange/stirring to get the wild ferment started. Using a crock or other wide-mouthed container is easiest for stirring obviously. This might be considered the "primary" ferment, but once the stuff starts to bubble I'd put it in a carboy and let it sit for 1-3 weeks, then transfer to the "secondary" or "tertiary," or whatever you want to call it, to sit for a few months or years...until you're ready to bottle.
Example wild fermented wine protocol:
1) Stir wine must daily in open container 3-5 days, maybe it could stretch to 6-7 days, but I'd be worried at this point.
2) Transfer to "primary" fermenter w/ airlock, primary fermentation 1-3 weeks, maybe longer depending on familiarity with your yeats.
3) Transfer (rack) to secondary fermenter w/ airlock, secondary fermentation from a few months to a couple years...maybe omit this step entirely only if you know your yeasts will perform well sur lie, sitting on the dead yeast cake for an extended period.
4) Bottle, drink it, or age it some more.
Commercial yeasts generally don't need a really open vessel to get started (but they do need a good amount of initial oxygen), so the first step described above is generally omitted in this case.
If you were pitching a ginger bug or really yeasty fruit skins, you might just throw it all into the primary fermenter, again skipping step one. But be sure you slosh, swirl your juice really well right at the beginning to get some oxygen dissolved into it.
Tim Hall wrote:The foaminess is an excellent sign - that's when it should go under the airlock, just like you did. The thickness, though...is it getting kinda snotty? If so, it's not anything harmful, but it may be a little weird to drink.
Tim Hall wrote:The snottiness is probably not the fruit, but rather a complex sugar (dextran) being made by some bacteria in there. It's perfectly harmless, but the texture isn't all that pleasant. I dunno what'll happen with it...maybe over time it'll settle out or get eaten up by other bugs in the ferment. But you might be stuck with it...I don't know of anyone who's let it sit for a long time to see what happens.
Tim Hall wrote:The snottiness is probably not the fruit, but rather a complex sugar (dextran) being made by some bacteria in there. It's perfectly harmless, but the texture isn't all that pleasant. I dunno what'll happen with it...maybe over time it'll settle out or get eaten up by other bugs in the ferment. But you might be stuck with it...I don't know of anyone who's let it sit for a long time to see what happens.
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