sambuckens

I live in Boston, MA so it's fairly easy to get my hands on brewing equipment or things from asian markets. If I get any other ideas or sources, I'll let you know.

In reference to you not being able to find koji for sale, I might have a solution. If there are any homebrew supply stores anywhere nearby, they usually sell sake making ingredients The kit shown here contains aspergillus oryzae spores that you can use to inoculate stuff.

Hello again. So I've begun my 2nd attempt at soy sauce. Instead of trying to let wild mold inoculate the soy &wheat patties, I've bought some rice koji and mixed some with the patties. They are now covered in some lovely aspergillus mold, and the smell is actually fantastic. They smell like sweet, nutty fresh dough. Also, the bamboo steamers add an awesome accent smell. These have been molding for 5 days now, so I'm going to give them another day or two before drying. Another thing I was not expecting was how warm the stacks of bamboo steamers became while the mold was growing. It was easily 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer in the steamers, and there was actually condensation on the underside of the bamboo lid. Weird, wild stuff...

So I'm going to try another batch to get some mold on them this time, but I'm still going to ferment the 'failed' batch. I'm taking some inspiration from Korean style soy sauce and adding a few extra ingredients. I've researched and found that Koreans will add chilies (helps keep bad bacteria out) and charcoal (filters water). I've added some Japanese binchotan charcoal and some chilies from my garden. The chillies had actually gone bad and were covered in white mold, so I'm hoping that might make-up for not having moldy soy patties. This picture was taken 2 days ago right when I put the ingredients into the salt water brine. The smell is still awful and makes me gag, but I'm going to stay optimistic. The smell is putrid, just like fish sauce. Is this endeavor worth continuing, or should I just rely on my new batch to redeem myself?

Thanks for the replies. If the mold hasn't taken hold, does anyone have any idea what bacteria is active on my patties? Again, they smell like funky blue cheese. They actually smell very similar to thai fish sauce.

Hello! I've also started to ferment my own soy sauce, but I seem to be having some trouble. About 2 weeks ago, on Sept. 7th, I mashed my cooked soybeans and unbleached whole wheat flour together (5 parts soybean : 3 parts wheat flour). I then rolled out the 'dough' and sliced it into patty disks and placed those into Ziploc bags. The patties were definitely moist, and I placed them in a warm, dark place in my closet. Last week, I opened one bag to check on them and they were not moldy at all, but they had changed a darker brown color and stink horribly. They smell like smelly feet mixed with rotten milk and blue cheese. Today, I checked them out again, and I've found a few tiny spots of white mold on just a couple of patties. They continue to get darker grayish/brown, but I'm not seeing them covered in mold like pictures I've seen on this thread. I then thought that the Ziploc bags weren't a good environment to be in. I kept the bags slightly open so that air could get in while moisture was still retained, but maybe this was a bad move. I've since placed them on paper plates and lightly covered them in plastic wrap to see if this will work. They're still very moist. You can see bits of the white mold in the image below: What do you think I've done wrong to not see a lot of mold in 2 weeks!? Is the bacteria that is on them now a variety that has taken over, not allowing Aspergillus mold to grow? Please, please help me and give me some advice! Thanks!