Any fermentation fans (fanatics?) here?

FoodFreedomNow said:

I'm curious about canning, so may have some questions for you!

Click to expand...

I will do my best.
Most successful with acidic preparations: Pickles and Tomatoes for example. I use hot water baths only to seal lids, etc.

I have canned venison and it turned out great. It's a bit unsightly but the meat turns out very tender and can be shredded to make BBQ sandwiches, etc. I think a person 'should' use a pressure cooker for it. But I boiled it for a long time and I put it in carefully cleaned & well prepared jars beforehand. Nobody got sick.

And then of course freezer jams and apple butter.

That's about what I know. I meant to do some canned peaches from a crate when they had them available at the grocery store this summer. But never got to it. My loss now.


I guess perhaps a good Kimchi recipe to start. I hear that once you get a taste for it...it's quite addicting. I should try a jar.

Been a bit busy lately with 12 meat rabbit grow outs that were dropped on my plate by my sister in law, the "breeder". Sorry I didn't check back with the second batch of carrot base kvass. It was only marginally better than the first. Moving on...

Been playing over the last couple weeks weeks with FF with both the rabbits and the chickens. The grow outs are grossly underweight. Getting mixed results. I also picked up a micro brew your own beer kit at the goodwill for $5. Not wanting it for beer, just the one gallon collapsable brewing container and air lock. It is just a heavy duty cube shaped plastic bladder, but should prove mighty useful. The only drawback is a narrow mouth.

Anyone have suggestions for the first brew? And, what experiments does everyone have stewing?

Hi there, @crescentson . It sounds like you've been busy!

Naturally, I'm interested in hearing about how you're doing the FF for rabbits. How old are the grow outs? It sounds like they could use some additional protein...alfalfa hay is good for helping them put on size (and formulated pellets, of course).

That's a good find for your homebrewing collection. After making 5 gallons of porter, I'm leaning toward just doing all grain small batch beer (2.5 gal primary fermenter and 1 gal secondary). The equipment for the 5 gal brew was very unwieldy and difficult to manage in a home kitchen environment - made me very glad I went with the plastic carboy and not glass. I have a smaller setup for wine and it's just a lot easier to use, especially when it comes to cleaning and siphoning. A commercial sink would be handy for working with 5 gallon equipment.

First brew suggestion...how about mead? It seems appropriate for fall. Well, it's appropriate for any time of the year, IMO...lol

The ferments seem to be slowing a little due to the (finally!) cooler weather. Nothing too experimental in the hopper right now for me, just waiting on started brews to finish.

IBTW, if you haven't already seen them, there are a couple of recent threads on the Other Pets & Livestock forum about rabbits. I started one about new/expected rabbit litters: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1139667/share-about-recent-or-expected-rabbit-kindling - one of my does kindled this morning so I'll be posting an update soon.

I have a doe set to kindle tomorrow, but my young buck has yet to produce anything in 3 attempts. It is a little embarrassing at this point.

Nine of the grow outs were 8 weeks, and packed into a single 24x30 with two french lops. They looked like 4 week olds when I got them. So far they are eating everything I throw at them and finally starting to gain. No signs of gastro complaints from the FF. I mixed a handful of chick starter with the pellets to thicken up after ferment. Seems to work.

I know the heat can cause temporary sterility in bucks - could that be a factor?

Wow...sounds like they have some catching up to do. Are you planning to process at 12 wks?

FoodFreedomNow said:

I know the heat can cause temporary sterility in bucks - could that be a factor?

Click to expand...

I have a drake who will sit on a duck for longer than two minutes and NOTHING happens...He needs Viagra or something, he just sits and holds on! Today I had to yank him off, the duck was not happy with him...

I have had some problems with my ff, it keeps going sour. I think I found the problem... I'm lazy and fill the whole 5gal bucket at once... I think the yeast eats everything and it goes sour. Experimenting with small amounts now...

We take the buck inside to do the deed. The SIL that gave me the grow outs does the same, and she hasn't had any problems. He may just be too young?

Made a ginger beer batch today. Anyone done anythin lately?

Yep - first batch of vanilla/bourbon porter is done and very tasty! One of my hard ciders is aging now...should be ready in a month. They take time but are worth the wait.

Sourdough starter was unhappy for a while...realized it didn't like the bleached flour I inadvertently purchased. Fed it unbleached and it perked back up.

FoodFreedomNow said:

Yep - first batch of vanilla/bourbon porter is done and very tasty! One of my hard ciders is aging now...should be ready in a month. They take time but are worth the wait.

Sourdough starter was unhappy for a while...realized it didn't like the bleached flour I inadvertently purchased. Fed it unbleached and it perked back up.

Click to expand...

Starter was like
Do you know how long I've been waiting to use that one? Never got a chance till now...ha.
Guess what my dad did this weekend? He made bread with RICE flour....No gluten= no rise= rock bread =
Look at that, two in one post!
On another note, my ginger beer turned out awesome...
How did you make the cider?