Also, mustachian people problem: We keep the house at 64, which seriously slows down ferments. Our kombucha has been going for 3 weeks and is only as tart as a 1 week kombucha made during any other time of the year- and I like ~1 month kombuchas! Long way to go, lol. I assume a sourdough starter will be affected similarly =\
For a short ferment (like bread dough) you can try putting it in a small enclosed space (microwave, bread box, large tupperware etc.) with a cup of hot water sitting next to it. That should be enough to warm the space a few degrees.
Another option that I've heard of, but haven't personally tried, is to stick it in your OFF oven with the oven light on. I guess the light gives a gentle temperature boost.
I've heard this too. Alas, I am in an oven-light-less home right now.
Small hijack regarding ferments. Do they stop fermenting once you move them to the fridge? Or do they continue to ferment, just much more slowly? I'm just wondering how soon I need to use up my pico/salsa hybrid. I fermented it about a month ago and then moved it to the fridge. I've used up one of the jars but not sure when I will get to the second one.
Thanks Mustachians. :)
My milk kefir definitely keeps fermenting in the fridge once I've removed the grains. It's much, much slower, but still happens. If I let it sit in there for a week it gets a bit fizzy.
Actually, when I get overrun by kefir and need to use some up, I just toss my grains in the fridge with some milk. Still ferments, but takes a week instead of 24 hours.
Yep, that's my experience too- slows but doesn't stop. I've heard that sour dough can be fed just once per week if it's in the fridge, but if it's on the counter it has to be fed daily.
And I haven't done salsa ferments, but I have done kraut and kimchee and pickles. Any of those will keep a LONG time in the fridge pretty stable, so long as they don't have tight sealed lids or metal exposure. (I use these caps instead of metal mason jar caps:
http://www.amazon.com/Ball-Regular-Mouth-Storage-Caps/dp/B0000BYC4B). The biggest thing, of course, is to keep a pure colony. NEVER use bare hands to take stuff from the jar, don't lick the fork between ladling out kimchee, etc. Clean utensil, rinsed in between. And avoid putting anything near your ferments in the fridge that can mold- ie, don't forget a block of cheese in the back. Sigh. I lost some lovely sauerkraut because of that once.