Lacto Bacilli: process and discussion

[3rdEye]

SilverSurfer I used some of the pure lacto b solution on some old and ground in kitty urine stains and it helps. Repeated application is the name of the game.

brave? Mostly just adventurous and beginning to trust nature more and more.

 

[charlieD]

After I strained the serum from the cheese I was left with a yellow liquid with white at the bottom. I then added molasses and the white layer increased in size over night. Is this normal? Or is it a poor strain job? Or is it not LB?

 

[Scrappy4]

After I strained the serum from the cheese I was left with a yellow liquid with white at the bottom. I then added molasses and the white layer increased in size over night. Is this normal? Or is it a poor strain job? Or is it not LB?

It's probably just some milk solids, no biggy. You can strain it again if you need it for spraying or something.

Once you have that culture, you can make it bigger by adding good water and a little molasses. You can refridgerate it for long term storage, or keep it at room temps for general use. Truthfully I don't know how long it remains viable off hand. It is so easy to make I don't pay attention.....scrappy

 

[charlieD]

Thanks for the help, scrappy. I was thinking, well hoping, that it was just milk solids, but I'm a little leery because I used powdered milk.

 

[jaykush]

if you ended up with the yellow serum and the yogurt like substance, you cultured lactic acid bacteria aka lacto bacillus. you are good to go.

 

[charlieD]

After using powdered milk and seeing everyone use fresh, it seems like I ended up with more yogurt and less serum than everyone else.

 

[jaykush]

thats ok, any serum at all works. just add clean water and molasses like scrappy said to increase the size of the culture.

 

[mapinguari]

jaykush, here's another question for you, maybe others have been wondering about this as well.

Following Gil Carandang's LAB instructions, you end up with a nice yellowish serum.

This can go either:

1. in the fridge as is;
2. at room temp with equal parts molasses and serum (by volume)

I like to keep mine in the fridge.

Here's the thing: when I go to use it, I'm supposed to take 1 part serum, 1 part molasses, and 20 parts water.

Then, I'm supposed to take 4-6 TBS / gallon and mix that for the basic concoction, which I can use for foliar spray or whatever.

So a feller might wonder (and I think people may have brought this up), why not just do the math and mix it once, more diluted?

My sense now is that you should leave the 1:1:20 mix for a few days to ferment and propagate the LAB. Is that right? If so, it doesn't seem too clear in Gil's instructions.

Sorry if this has been covered, it has been bugging me and maybe others too.

 

[jaykush]

think of the yellow serum as your bottle of EM (its not EM though) thats your bulk storage. you then add some the serum to water and molasses to activate it. this will multiply those little bastards by the billions, then you can take that highly active liquid and apply. if you made it all at once you would have a lot of liquid, and youd have to keep feeding it to keep it alive or use it. if you didnt activate they would be kind of sleepy and not as concentrated, which will work just not as fast or as good as a highly active culture.

 

[mapinguari]

think of the yellow serum as your bottle of EM (its not EM though) thats your bulk storage. you then add some the serum to water and molasses to activate it. this will multiply those little bastards by the billions, then you can take that highly active liquid and apply. if you made it all at once you would have a lot of liquid, and youd have to keep feeding it to keep it alive or use it. if you didnt activate they would be kind of sleepy and not as concentrated, which will work just not as fast or as good as a highly active culture.

Yes!

When you make the stuff, how long do you let it multiply before using it?

What is the shelf life of the "activated" LAB? (Or, what I really want to know: how long do you let it go before you'd consider it not worth using anymore?)

Do you store activated LAB in the fridge?

Thanks man.

 

[jaykush]

24 hours is good enough.

make activated LAB as needed from mother culture.

if you wish. make sure to label NOT FOOD.

 

[mostnonymouse]

So I've searched this thread for the word "Bokashi" and to my surprise, it doesn't appear once. The only place I've seen this process discussed outside of ICmag is in relation to a "DIY bokashi inoculant", as the general opinion is that Lacto Bacillus is the #1 most important (and only required) bacteria for a successful bokashi bin. What's your take on this Jay? I plan on using this method to make some bokashi mix up and use it to break down my fish before I bury them in my soil. Those fish + whatever else I bokashi + my kelp/leaf compost should take care of a lot of my needs for free!

 

[jaykush]

i dont make bokashi, mad lib is you guy for that.

 

[CC_2U]

I plan on using this method to make some bokashi mix up and use it to break down my fish before I bury them in my soil. Those fish + whatever else I bokashi + my kelp/leaf compost should take care of a lot of my needs for free!

mostnonymouse

This link will answer all of your questions about using fish and fish by-products in a 'bokashi' fermenting process.

CC

 

[mad librettist]

jay the piles you make with inoculant are bokashi, strictly speaking.


Anytime you are composting with an inoculant basically.


I have never worked with fish, just crustaceans.


Bokashi in semi-anaerobic buckets made with EM seems to undergo lactic acid and butyric acid fermentation, and actinomycetes seems to grow as well as white mold.

 

[jaykush]

the common sense no turn piles?

 

[mad librettist]

yeah, if you are making piles with an inoculant, that's all bokashi is.

you can use BIM, forest culture, EM, etc... to make bokashi, and butyric acid fermentation for instance is aerobic


of course in a pile it will finish, in the buckets it is kind of preserved until you throw it out there

I think Fista was doing anaerobic piles with tarps and old tires. If you do it right you can preserve super food for livestock that way (silage).

 

[kcoc]

6. In 5-7 days, carbohydrate, protein and fat will float leaving yellow liquid (serum), which contain the lactic acid bacteria. You can dispose the coagulated carbohydrate, protein and fat, add them to your compost pile or feed them to your animals.

--- now a week has gone by, by this time the milk will look like cheese at the top of the jar/container. but all goopy. you can either strain it or if you used a wide mouth jar, tip sideways slightly and you can slide a spoon under and take it all out at once. toss it in the compost pile and forget about it. ive never fed it to an animal so i dont know about that. edit: my chickens LOVE this stuff!!!

Is it ok to let this step go longer? 10 or 11 days or should I put it in the refrigerator at day 5 if I'm not around on day 6 or 7?

 

[jaykush]

so you just wont be around on day 5? no worries. just put it in a cooler spot in the house. continue to the next step when your ready.

 

[0verkil13r]

Sub'd. Great read so far. Thanks to mad librettist for pointing me here.