Both batches end up smelling like rotten milk. The first time around, I didn’t let the milk sit long enough, didn’t strain it well enough, and stabilized with regular sugar.
On the second batch I fixed all that. I stabilized with brown sugar and put it in the fridge. Now it smells like rotten milk. My only thought is to pull it out and sit it on the counter. Maybe the bacteria will wake up and fix it?
These ladies with the fat leaves just amaze me for some reason. I’ve never seen anything quite like them.
This may sound insane…but I use the instant pot to cultivate LABS, along with 1/3 cup of yogurt. Takes about 10 hours but you get more whey than you can shake a stick at once you put the curds into a hash bag or some kind of nylon sack to strain it. yah I know, not everyone has one of those devices.
The secret is yogurt has Lactobacillus in it. Then you can eat the curds it’s greek yogurt, yum! Then you can add some molasses to the whey and brew your brew. From a 4 liter jug of milk you can produce about 3 liters of whey. hah hah!
What strain is that Badger ? Cannot wait to see how big they get as they grow more
Do you know why mine would end up smelling rotten?
That’s the ppp. Yeah, me as well.
Mine always has a sour milk smell.
Really? I thought it was supposed to not smell bad?
Man I can’t wait to see how those turn out. Make sure to share pollen if you get a male!
I will save all that I can on these. Im gonna attempt to pollinate the lowers as well.
Some sour smell is normal at various stages of making it, but if the final LABS mixture smells sour that means the lactobacilli are no longer present. LIkewise, if you see any mold or black spots on top it that means the mixture is infected with microbes, and you should toss it and start over. You can always store the LABS in the refrigerator to ensure it’s freshness, and add a 1:1 mixture of molasses as needed when watering
Then they never were present. This stuff is like a month old. How did I kill them? I added brown sugar and stored them in the fridge.
define sour - is it like REALLY sour smelling, or more like a dirty washcloth? It’s possible you didn’t wait long enough for them to incubate, how long did you let the rice wash sit? how about the rice wash/milk mixture?
It has the exact smell of rotten milk, at maybe half strength or less. It’s not as pungent, it doesn’t make me cringe like rotten milk would. It doesn’t burn my nose like rotten milk would.
I kept notes on the label, but cannot locate the label. This is why I have a notebook (underused). I do have a log of every strain in my fridge and most of the exact numbers. It’s progress. I can hear @jokers voice in my head about taking notes.
I’m gonna go off memory, the best I can. The rice wash looked perfect by descriptions I’ve read. It had a film on top, and a couple of tiny mold spots trying to start. It was around 5 days. I pulled only the middle layer.
I put this into milk in the recommended ratio for about 6 days, until the top layer had slimmed down, more than last time. Everything looked totally separated. I strained this, several times to get all the white pieces out humanly possible.
I then mixed it well, with brown sugar. I put it in the fridge, covered by plastic wrap, held on with a rubber band on the 3rd of November. I just noticed it had started to smell the last time I opened it, a few days ago.
I set the labs out on the counter after my last post. I can assure you, they are all alive. The smell of the milk disappeared, and it has more of a fruity wine smell. My theory was that, of the bacteria woke up, they would kill the odor. I figured all the seeds germinating wasn’t just good seeds and luck, but I’ll really never know. I’m just glad to have no damp off. @monkeyman
I know that hps pics are popular, but here ya go. I will try to get some better pictures they are all swelling nicely.
Way to go man! Looks great!
So how do you water the ones in the middle?
Simultaneously with the rest of them. My brother in law is an awesome guy! We are still trying to work out the details of moisture monitor placement and such, but it is working great so far. My back and knees also feel awesome when I’m done watering!
I like to pick each one up at a time and judge how dry they are at that point.
