Hey, what's up guys!
I have a really cool "how to" presentation
for you today
We're going to make at home
fermented dill pickles
This episode was inspired by Brian
and his new love of fermented foods
It's a really cool hobby actually
and he really got me into it and
he's been nagging me to do an episode
like this for a long time
So that's what we're going to do today
And I'm really stoked to show you guys
Let me tell you guys a little about it
Ok, so let me show you all what
we're going to be using today
Real quick, this is really only the second
time
that I'm doing this
The first time I did it, it actually came
out pretty good
There's a lot of different recipes
on the internet that I've seen
A lot vary from ratios to salt to water
to different ingredients that you can add
but you know what?
I'm just going to replicate
what I did last time because I thought it
came out pretty great
I have here nine pickle sized cucumbers
Try and get them all pretty much the same
size
I have some garlic here
Just mashed it up, don't chop it or anything
Leave it whole like that
We have some cloves
I have some mustard seed
We have some black peppercorns
I do have some bay leaves, these are dried
you can also use fresh
I'll explain a little more about this in a
second
We also have some fresh dill
I have a mason jar, this is a two quart jar
What you're going to need to do though
is you're going to have to sterilize this
and you can do this by placing it in the oven
at 200 degrees for 10 minutes
Also I have a lid, boil the lid that
will disinfect that as well
and I have 2 quarts here of water
which I heated earlier
I used 1 and a half tablespoons per quart
so I have 3 tablespoons in here it's
been completely dissolved and
the water has been set to cool
because we want it at room temperature
Ok, so really all we're doing is we're going
to take these cucumbers, we're going to stuff
them in here
We're going to add some of these ingredients
and I'm going to add the water
and pour it right on top
I failed to mention that this is non-chlorinated
water
This is really, really important because the
chlorine within the water will kill any probiotics
and it's just not going to produce the
product you're looking for
So let's go ahead get these pickles in here
I may not be able to fit all these in here
We'll see
Why does my hand have to be so big
I can't even get it in here
Push it down
Yeah I don't think I'm going to fit all of
them
but maybe 1 or 2 more
Come on!
(Laughs)
Alright, you know what?
I'm going to just stop right there
That's fine, so we have 7 of them in here
We're going to go ahead
we're going to toss our garlic in here
Just put it on each side
Get all that in there
I have mustard seed here
Probably going to add a tablespoon of this
I have some cloves only put a couple cloves
in
because these are really strong
I'm only really going to put in 4
maybe 5
Peppercorns
Go ahead just put them all in
and I'm using bay leaves
Bay leaves are going to really keep
your pickles nice and crisp
Like I said these are dried
You can use fresh
You can also use grape leaves and
believe it or not you can also use oak leaves
So if you have a big oak tree in your yard
knock yourself out go grab some leaves
These are really strong too so only
really add 2, 3 so I have like 2 and 1 baby
1
These are dill pickles
so we're going to add some dill
I really love dill so I'm putting a lot
Just get that dill in there
Don't worry if it's all on top
because all of these flavors are going to
come together
So now I've gotten everything in there
Really what I'm going to do is
cover everything with water
Hopefully I'm not going to make a huge mess
and get it all over the place
you're going to want to leave yourself a good
half an inch to an inch of room from the top
because what's going to happen is
these pickles are also going to release
more liquid and a lot of gas is going to form
as well
So I have about an inch to play with right
around here
Get that in there
So this is Brian's Perfect Pickler
You can buy one of these online
They're really, really inexpensive
This is an S type airlock
As you can see there is 2 lines here
Alright we're going to put water in here
just up onto these lines and
we're going to place this right on top of
our jar
and I'm going to tell you what's going to
happen
Get that on good and tight
So now what's going to happen is
in about a day gasses are
really going to start to form in here
the fermentation process is going to begin
and the gasses are going to start to push
up through this S style lock
The water is going to shift from one side
to the other...this is natural
and this whole thing is going to take about
4 days
Now I just wanted to mention
that if you don't have one of these
and you just have your standard top that's
fine too
What you're going to have to do is
everyday you're going to have to release this
just a little bit and let that gas come out
because once the gas builds up
believe it or not this heavy duty jar could
break
Gas could really form and explode on you
So everyday it's just really important if
you're
using the top to, it's called burping
You want to burp it and just release the gasses
Ok, so this looks good
This lock it's going to allow the gas to escape
through it
it's going to come out the top but it also
doesn't allow any oxygen into the mixture
which is really, really super important
Also this is going to take about 4 days
The first time I did this 4 days was the perfect
time
and it came out really, really great
so I'm going to do this for 4 days too
I'm going to also place this on a plate
because during the fermentation process
some liquid actually may come out of the lock
and you don't want liquid all over your floor
unbeknownst to you when you go to check on
it
The ideal temperature to make pickles is
between 70 and 75 degrees, roughly room temperature
If it's a little bit cooler the fermentation
process is going to be a little bit slower
Also if the temperature is abover that
say approaching 80 degrees that's really too
warm
and what's going to happen the fermentation
is going to be way too fast
Your product is going to get really, really
soft
and probably spoil just like what happened
with Brian's first batch and it was pretty
gross
So don't do that, really keep it at
70-75 degrees
I'm going to put this in a dark corner and
I'm going to forget about it for a couple
of days
because I have a lock so
I don't have to worry about burping it
So I found a nice dark spot where I
can just put my pickles, leave them
and come back and what I'm going to do though
everyday I'm going to show you guys
little changes that are going on
We'll check on it every single day till they're
done
I'm going to say 4 days, not set in stone
could be 5 days we'll see
but each day I'm going to show you a little
bit more progress...so wish me luck!
Hey, guys!
So it's been about 26 hours
and let's take a look at what's going on here
First and foremost we have the airlock
and when I first showed it to you
we had water on both sides at these lines
Now it has totally moved to the other side
which means that the fermentation process
is taking place, gas is forming, gas is pushing
through
Which has pushed all that water
Look at the bubbles, yeah!
See that gas coming through?
Perfect!
All the gas is coming through and it
pushed all that water to the other side
and this is a fail safe
this prevents the oxygen from outside coming
in
and if you look at the actual product here
You see it's getting a little cloudy
It looks fantastic..this is only day 1 of
the process
Ok guys so this is the end of day 3
and these pickles are looking really good
I really think that the temperature
has definitely been ideal here
I just want to zoom in and show you
You definitely have a lot of bubbles forming
We have that really cloudy texture going on
which is definitely indicative
of the fermentation process
and I'm actually thinking that by tomorrow
we should be good
I'm actually going to put these in the fridge
tomorrow
and stop the fermentation process
It's not going to stop completely
but the cold temperature definitely
inhibits the fermenting and as you can see
the airlock as well
You know all of the liquid has definitely
come
to 1 side..so the gas is coming out
So let's check that out, yeah
Looks great, right?
Cool!
I will check back with you guys tomorrow night
and we should be having some rockin' pickles!
This is 4 days in the evening
I'm pretty sure that these are done
They're looking really, really good
really appetizing
I'm really, really super excited
Um, basically what I'm going to do
I'm just going to take off the airlock
and I'm going to put on the top
that came with the mason jar
and get that nice and tight
And I'm going to put them in the fridge
and get it really cold because once I
put it in the fridge the cool temperatures
are really going to inhibit the fermentation
process
It's still going to ferment a little bit
but not nearly to the degree when you're just
leaving them
But look at that!
Doesn't that look awesome!
Ok, so I've refrigerated these guys
I want you to take a look
They look amazing!
They really look unbelievable, check it out!
So now is the moment of truth
Let's see how they taste
Just go ahead and cut it up
Oh yeah, you can totally see
So let me take a quick bite
mmm...so crispy and delicious!
mmm...Oh my god (crunching)
I will never buy store bought pickles again
Mm..when it's so easy to make at home
I'm sorry I'm chewing (crunching)
mm delicious!
Wow!
And I have this whole jar full of them
to last me for at least like a week or 2
And I really can't wait to show you guys
some other applications
I'm going to do pickled asparagus,
pickled carrots, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower,
who knows?
The possibilities are definitely endless!
Definitely do this at home it's so easy
So until next time I really hope you enjoyed
this
and we'll see you soon!
