Fermented pickle problem?

[Sttifyd35]

Hi, i tried my first batch of fermented pickles and followed instructions step by step. However, when taste testing and smelling them, they seem hideous! Not sour and smell horrible. Did the whole fermenting for a week, the brine turned cloudy and everything. Where do you think i went wrong?

 

[ericbw]

Were they mushy? Did you trim the ends off? You need to remove the blossom end at least, or there is an enzyme that makes them go soft.

Were they fresh cukes?

Are they bubbly?

Were they fully submerged?

And finally, the big question: are you familiar with the taste/smell of fermented pickles? Maybe you just don't like it?

More details so people can help

 

[Sttifyd35]

They were very crunchy, i did trim the ends off. They were fresh organic cukes. They were bubbly and fully submerged. To me, they smell and taste like nothing ive had before. I have had sour pickles before. There is no tang at all and they smell horrid. What do the pickles you have done smell and taste like?

 

[ericbw]

They should taste salty and sour. They MIGHT have a little funkiness to them, but not overwhelming.

 

[Sttifyd35]

Im not getting the sour part. I can definitely get the salt, but the smell is bad.

 

[Sttifyd35]

I took the airlock lid off and put a regular lid on. Threw them in the fridge overnnight. They were airlocked for 10 days so they should be done right?

 

[ericbw]

yes, that should be right. Especially if the brine got cloudy. Describe the taste. Salty? Sour? Rotten? Pukey?

 

[Sttifyd35]

More like if you ate a cucumber dipped in salt. The smell is another story. Im love vinegar pickles, but people say fermented pickles are more superior. Is there a brand of sour pickle out there that would best resemble the taste im looking for?

 

[rhoadsrage]

You had them in an anaerobic environment while they were fermenting? I have always fermented my pickles with the top open, thick butter cloth over the top to keep out flies/ants, so they can get oxygen.

 

[ericbw]

An open top would work, But I don't think it's required. I think either way will work.

As for a brand, it's actually unusual to find them in the store. But look in the refrigerator section for Nathan's. They usually contract out to more local places (in other words, they don't necessarily make them all in New York).

Where are you located?

 

[bernardsmith]

What was your recipe? How salty was the brine? How much space did you allow between each cucumber? I just made a small batch (8) of pickled cucumbers and tasted one last night. No funkiness. I use about 3 T of salt to a qt of water a whole head of garlic sliced in half; a bunch of fresh rosemary (could not find any fresh dill) added a sachet of black tea for added tannin (keeps the cucumber crunchy) and some peppercorns. I allowed the cucumbers to pickle a couple of weeks at room temperature (the room is about 60 -65 F).
I don't think the issue of an open top is critical. What is critical is that the cucumbers (or any lactic fermented vegetables) must be submerged below the surface of the brine as the brine allows the growth of the bacteria you want and inhibits the growth of the bacteria you don't. So access to air would seem to be a little moot. What you do want is that the gases the fermentation will produce have some means of escape. That's all.
Unwanted and undesirable bacteria will grow on the surface of any vegetable that is in contact with the air - ie if they are not submerged below the surface of the brine...

 

[ericbw]

They might not be done fermenting - crunchy, salty cucumbers is what they taste like before they really finish. Did you say you fermented at room temperature for 10 days? If they smell or taste bad, don't eat them. They might be safe, but why eat something that's gross?

 

[Sttifyd35]

Well im used to pickles that are overpowered by vinegar. So i guess i may need to wait a little longer to see. Yes its been 9 days and 1 in the fridge

 

[johnwpowell]

You use bottled water?

 

[Sttifyd35]

Filtered water from the fridge

 

[Yooper]

Sounds like a contamination issue. What was your brine? You want it salty enough to stop microbes that will contaminate it, but not so strong that you inhibit the lactobacillus.

 

[ong]

I've had batches that didn't turn out great. One thing I've figured out is not to wash the cukes after I pick them. Excessive sanitation has led to some really unpleasant ferments for me (with a kind of plastic-y, foot-y aroma rather than a bracing lactic sourness).

 

[bernardsmith]

Yooper may be right. If so don't eat something that you think tastes foul but lactic pickles do not taste like vinegar pickles. Is it possible that you are unfamiliar with how these pickles should taste

 

[ericbw]

And even sours from the store might be vinegar pickles. Check the refrigerated section (sometimes in a separate kosher case).

 

[Sttifyd35]

It was a 2% sea salt and water brine. It is seeming like in not sure what these pickles should taste and smell like. Some insight would probably help me out alot. Im trying this because i read that they are superior to vinegar pickles.

 

[Yooper]

It was a 2% sea salt and water brine. It is seeming like in not sure what these pickles should taste and smell like. Some insight would probably help me out alot. Im trying this because i read that they are superior to vinegar pickles.

They taste tart and crisp- not at all bad.

I'd go with a minimum of 2.5% salt brine- maybe 3%, to reduce the likelihood of contamination.

Make sure you keep the pickles submerged in the brine, so that mold can't grow.

 

[johnwpowell]

You need to use bottled water. Here's my recipe

6 clove of garlic/1/2 whole garlic
2 bunches fresh dill
6 bay leaves fresh if possible
2 TBS of mustard seeds
2 TBS of black pepper seeds
4 packs of wegmans cucumber (24)
1 gallon of spring water
1/2 cup pickling salt
Optional 1 TBS crushed red pepper

Heat a gallon of SPRING water until hot enough to dissolve the salt in
Put in pickling salt
Let it cool
Wash cucumbers
Pack in jar
Add garlic, mustard, bay leaves and pepper seeds
Add dill
Fill with water
Want to be about 68-70 degrees for 4 days (this works perfectly for me and my cukes)

Optional add 1 TBS red pepper flakes for spicy pickle!

 

[Sttifyd35]

You need to use bottled water. Here's my recipe

6 clove of garlic/1/2 whole garlic
2 bunches fresh dill
6 bay leaves fresh if possible
2 TBS of mustard seeds
2 TBS of black pepper seeds
4 packs of wegmans cucumber (24)
1 gallon of spring water
1/2 cup pickling salt
Optional 1 TBS crushed red pepper

Heat a gallon of SPRING water until hot enough to dissolve the salt in
Put in pickling salt
Let it cool
Wash cucumbers
Pack in jar
Add garlic, mustard, bay leaves and pepper seeds
Add dill
Fill with water
Want to be about 68-70 degrees for 4 days (this works perfectly for me and my cukes)

Optional add 1 TBS red pepper flakes for spicy pickle!

Filtered water wont work at all? Do you have a smaller scale recipe? I want to make sure i get this right before commiting to a larger batch. Im going to be working with a 32 oz mason jar. Thank you

 

[Sttifyd35]

They taste tart and crisp- not at all bad.

I'd go with a minimum of 2.5% salt brine- maybe 3%, to reduce the likelihood of contamination.

Make sure you keep the pickles submerged in the brine, so that mold can't grow.

Ok. I am making enough to fill a 32 oz mason jar. What is a good brine recipe?

 

[Soulshine2]

Hi, i tried my first batch of fermented pickles and followed instructions step by step. However, when taste testing and smelling them, they seem hideous! Not sour and smell horrible. Did the whole fermenting for a week, the brine turned cloudy and everything. Where do you think i went wrong?

I made fermented pickles just last year. Not much of a process really. Keep the cukes cold and clean, make sure your (Kosher,not iodized) salt is the correct measurement. Only I let mine ferment 2 whole weeks before trying . Keep in mind that fermented pickles will taste different than vinegar pickled .

 

[Yooper]

Filtered water wont work at all? Do you have a smaller scale recipe? I want to make sure i get this right before commiting to a larger batch. Im going to be working with a 32 oz mason jar. Thank you

Yes, you can use filtered water. The thing is you don't want chlorine or chloramines, which will inhibit the lactabacillus. I use my tap water with no problem, but I have chlorine (not chloramines) and that off gasses before I mix it up.

Ok. I am making enough to fill a 32 oz mason jar. What is a good brine recipe?

I'd go with a minimum of 2.5%, maybe even 3% salt solution. You can add whatever you want (like the stuff in the ingredients above), but for a quart of water you'll want to weigh your salt. A 2.5% brine requires 24 grams of salt added to it. a 3% brine needs 29 grams of salt. I don't know if you've used a measuring spoon or did weigh it, but this amount is pretty critical. You want to inhibit microbes that can cause bad flavor (spoilage) vs. lactobacillus (souring).

And of course, use non-iodized salt!

 

[Sttifyd35]

Thank you very much. I may have to try a 2nd batch. I used a measuring spoon for the salt.

 

[Sttifyd35]

I was told 1 TBSP of sea salt to 4 cups of water for a brine. That was the 2% brine i was given.

 

[johnwpowell]

No the chlorine in the tap water kills bacteria needed for fermentation. https://ediblealchemy.co/13-fermentation-mistakes-you-might-have-made-yourself/

 

[Yooper]

I was told 1 TBSP of sea salt to 4 cups of water for a brine. That was the 2% brine i was given.

Remember that a TBSP will vary quite a bit, based on the size of the salt particles you have. If your salt is coarse or fine, the amount of space it takes up will differ even so, if you go by a common measure with a normal size grain of salt, a TBSP of salt will weigh 15-17 grams, give or take.

So, if you used 17 grams of salt, that is a wee bit under 2% solution. That can allow microbes to grow, and if you used 15 grams, that's more like 1.5%- so that is probably why you have the type of bacteria you don't want in there. I'd really suggest a small kitchen scale for these type of small measurements, as the difference between good pickles and spoiled cucumbers when dealing with only a quart of liquid is apparently less than 7 grams!

Believe it or not, there is a "brining calculator" out there for those math challenged: http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/737/brine-calculator/

 

[bernardsmith]

Also , it is very critical that you use salt that has no added iodine. The iodine will prevent the bacteria you want from colonizing your pickles. I generally add 3 T of salt to 1 qt of water for my brine. Any other spices or herbs you add adds to the flavor. It is the saline solution that does the work of encouraging certain bacteria and inhibiting other bacteria. As time progresses the salt is absorbed by the vegetable and the saline solution becomes less salty...

 

[ericbw]

I usually do 3.5%, and you can go up to about 5% in a brine.

Definitely get a scale - a quart is about 1000 grams, so 35 g of salt - a little over an ounce. That's easy to mix up on a scale (add water, add salt, shake it).

But I think you have to step back and figure out what you expect. Fermented pickles aren't necessarily "superior" to vinegar pickles. They do have some probiotics, which is good. But you might not prefer the taste.

 

[Sttifyd35]

Im going to do a second batch. I will see how they come out. This time i am going to measure the salt first.

 

[Albionwood]

I ferment a lot of things, and find cucumbers among the more challenging. (Kimchi has to be the easiest.) They tend to grow mold on top of the brine, and even if the cukes are submerged, that will ruin the taste. If they smell bad, they ARE bad; the smell should be really quite nice. It sounds like you had way too little salt in your brine. I can't get good results with less than 3% brine, and 5% works better - but gives a really salty-tasting pickle.
As others have said, it is absolutely necessary to keep the cukes fully submerged throughout the process. They will spoil rapidly if any part is exposed to the air.
Also I find the fermentation takes a while; definitely longer than ten days. More like a month for me. If you cut them in half and see both opaque (white) and translucent areas, they are "half-sours;" when completely fermented, they will be translucent throughout.

I made a 5-gallon batch once that went completely bad - smelled just like sewage. Sometimes it just doesn't work.

 

[Oldskewl]

I made many 1 qt and 1/2 gal batches of pickles this year. Kinda glad the cucumbers are slowing down actually. All but 1 batch turned out great and I think I know what happened. I added a small amount of liquid from a finished batch and still added the 5% brine and fermented for 7 days. Pickles must have over fermented and turned to total mush!

I did a few at 3.5%, most at 5% and accidentally did one at 7% salt brine. I played around with time from 5 days up to 11 days. I ferment in my family room at 68-70 deg F. 5% for 9 days gives me the best results.

 

[bernardsmith]

The mushiness may be caused by a lack of tannin. I try to add some horseradish leaves or oak leaves. If you make wine then you may have tannin powder. You might add a little of that. But the more tannic the brine, the crunchier the cucumbers.

 

[Yooper]

I use some pickle crisp (calcium chloride) which I have on hand anyway for brewing, and then some tannin via grape leaves. I put the leaves on the top of the brine and cukes to keep them submerged. It works really well!

I'm sure everyone knows this but make sure to cut off the blossom end of the cucumber to avoid bitterness.

 

[Lefou]

Open air fermented vegetables can be really good when done correctly. A bit of honey or sucrose added to the brine feeds the acetobacter really well, but after open aeration s finished, the brined veggies need to be immediately refrigerated or they'll wilt - a LOT.
When we do kimchi, it gets aerated then packed into large covered jars, kept unsealed, so gas can escape. The jar should sit no more than one day MAX at room temps. I do two days because I prefer more sour kimchi that literally fizzes on the tongue. Anything that doesn't get eaten as a side dish can usually be dropped into a soup base and boiled .... spicy noodle soup with diced fermented Daikon radish.... yum yum.

 

[Homercidal]

I've read on some sites to make a starter with cabbage, or some other veggies because cucumbers can be harder to get a good starter from. After you get the other stuff going, use that brine with the cukes.

 

[Oldskewl]

The mushiness may be caused by a lack of tannin. I try to add some horseradish leaves or oak leaves. If you make wine then you may have tannin powder. You might add a little of that. But the more tannic the brine, the crunchier the cucumbers.

I did use horseradish leaves as I have 6 plants that I rotate for harvest. I might be wrong, but I really think the starter from the previous jar on top of the several day fermentation just took it too far. If using a starter, my guess is you only need 3-5 days, not 7-9 days like it did.