Good morning folks! I've been playing around with some different FPE recipes that I found from Theunconventionalfarmer.com. My extract has been sitting for a month, equal parts molasses and fruit. I'm having a hard time straining the "liquid" however. It's so thick it really just clogs up my cheese cloth. Does this mean I need to let the mixture sit a little while longer? This is my first time doing this so any help will be very appreciated.
Fermented plant extracts
- Thread starter MrKnotty
- Start date
iHearAll
Well-Known Member
Use a stainless steel or plastic strainer and let it sit over a pail or bowl. Then filter again but with the cheese cloth if you want to use it as a foliar spray or just bottle up what you have if you are using it for tea.
SSGrower
Well-Known Member
If it sits and a layer forms and dries, this slows fermentation. In wine making this layer is called the cap, and as in wine making I have taken to "punching the cap" on a daily basis. What I have seen when using kelp and alfalfa meal is when entering the lactic or malolactic phase of fermentation (forgive me my terminology may not even be correct here), but at any rate the bulk of sugar is used up and the cap will fall. This means the floating layer will sink either partially or all the way. This indicates a bulk of the "easy" fermentation is done and in wine the process of racking and aging begin. To me the ucf uses too much sugar imo if you are buying high brix molases (I do) that is enough, If the fruits and such are organic or beyond organic and are not going to be eaten, then by all means use those. Green manures, mulching, composting and fermenting is where its at and where its been at for a long time, some articles I've seen dating back to 1800's and incorporating mineral salts too. We have lost the best ways to micromanage our environment.....
DonTesla
Well-Known Member
Agreed! Biochar practices date back to the time of sun fire and wind!
@MrKnotty maybe try using an evaprated juice or molasses-inherent-sugar crystal, or cutting the molasses next time into a bit of water to thin it, for this reason (thickness, messiness, alone) the molasses would not be my first choice for a fruiting ferment but good on you for just going after it!