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ariellejohnson / fermentabot-1.0-a-simple-fermentation-box

a super simple, no wiring required, box in which to do controlled environment fermentation
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I'm SO EXCITED! I do have some questions, though! #1

Open dkliman opened 7 years ago

dkliman commented 7 years ago

hello!

I'm just purchased most of these parts a couple hours ago from Amazon. I'm taking it all to Thailand, where I'll be staying for most of the upcoming year.

I plan to try using it with everything I can get my hands on. I obtained some Koji from a Japanese grocery here in NY because I don't remember seeing it in Chiang Mai, even though it's far closer to Japan, but I digress. here are some questions:

If there are detailed books, articles, postings, videos on making stuff with Koji, I'd be very interested to know more.

What are some typical sources of Live Koji I can exploit in general?

Is there a way to keep a healthy supply of it, dry it out and have it ready to use in any recipe?

I can imagine how to humidify the incubator, but how is the humidity lowered, if it's sealed tightly? is the cover just loosely on?

Is Koji aerobic?

what are some good food safety guidelines, that I can generally follow, to minimize the risks of contamination?

is there a comprehensive list of temperatures and humidities to use for various recipes?

is there a list of recipes?

Thank you so much for posting the list. I'm so very excited to try it all out!

dkliman commented 7 years ago

I have been thinking about it overnight, and I've decided I shall forgo the plastic box idea and instead go with a mini fridge. I see those are available for $34 or so. What would be cool (pun intended) is to have a pid controller that could exploit the cooling ability of the fridge, as well as the heating ability of the seed pad, so that I can control for a wide temperature range, and also, if necessary, refrigerate after a certain period.

dkliman commented 7 years ago

can you specify the humidifier? I bought 2 different ones from Amazon and they both have electronic switches which must be pressed to turn them on, so when they lose power, they won't come back on when power is restored. one won't even work for more than 3 hours.

I also have found that most of them are made of non-food-safe ABS. So I'm hoping there is something Food safe. better, that as well has the ability to connect to a food safe hose, so the humidifier doesn't need to be inside the chamber.

ariellejohnson commented 7 years ago

hi! Our forum http://forum.openag.media.mit.edu/t/fermentabot-the-fermented-food-computer/1784/8 would be the best place for these questions, since it enables discussion more easily!

to answer the low-hanging q's: -Try Shurtleff & Aoyagi's _The Book of Miso__ -There's definitely an Inkbird temperature controller that will actuate heating and cooling; I've used a wired Brainchild PID controller to do that with koji in a chest freezer -koji is aerobic!