My "beet kvass" turned into "beet crap" any suggestions?

[big brown horse]

I cut up a bunch of locally grown beets into big hunks and covered them with filtered well water and added a tbsp of sea salt. I covered the crock with a clean cloth and put it in the dark "fermenting closet". The temps ranged from 60-70 in the house....(our summer hasn't arrived yet.)

Two days later it was covered with a thin layer of mold and it didn't smell very good. :/

I just bought more locally grown beets and I want to try this again.

Any suggestions or tips? What does it taste/smell like?

Thank you!!

 

[freemotion]

It should smell like beets! And dirt, which is what beets smell like to me.

Sounds like a failed batch, something got into it. I would start again and really scrub the beets, trimming off any cuts or scrapes that could be hiding icky beasties.

I made a lot of kvass and never lost a batch, so my guess is that the beets brought in a problem. You should do just fine next batch.

 

[big brown horse]

(Oh, I forgot I also added about a TBSP of whey.)


Thanks free! I'll scrup the tar out of them this time. (Should I peel them?)

 

[freemotion]

No, don't peel them, the good beasties also live on the outside. Just inspect them carefully for scrapes/cuts they may have gotten during harvesting. If you can't clean around the root tip really well, trim it off and toss it to the pig!

 

[~gd]

I cut up a bunch of locally grown beets into big hunks and covered them with filtered well water and added a tbsp of sea salt. I covered the crock with a clean cloth and put it in the dark "fermenting closet". The temps ranged from 60-70 in the house....(our summer hasn't arrived yet.)

Two days later it was covered with a thin layer of mold and it didn't smell very good. :/

I just bought more locally grown beets and I want to try this again.

Any suggestions or tips? What does it taste/smell like?

Thank you!!

Why did you add the salt,? not enough to preserve but enough to mess up the sugar to alcohol fermentation cycle. Suggest you check your recipie!

 

[freemotion]

We are not going for an alchohol fermentation, but a lactic acid fermentation. The salt keeps mold at bay (or is supposed to!) until the acidity builds up enough to protect the ferment. Like sauerkraut.

BBH, do you add the salt at the end, on top, without mixing it in? I do that now and it seems to help a bit.

 

[~gd]

We are not going for an alchohol fermentation, but a lactic acid fermentation. The salt keeps mold at bay (or is supposed to!) until the acidity builds up enough to protect the ferment. Like sauerkraut.

BBH, do you add the salt at the end, on top, without mixing it in? I do that now and it seems to help a bit.

Sorry my bad! but the only kvass I have ever heard of is alcohol fermented using bread for a base and other ingredients for flavors. He mentioned a crock but didn't mention a size. the Tbs of salt added must not have been enough. it seems that the brine must have been too weak to hold the mold at bay.