My first ferments
Hey everyone, I am a total beginner in fermentation but I wanted to share my first two ferments with you all! I want to incorporate more probiotic rich foods in my diet but I am trying to first get to like sour things... yeah, I usually don't like them so I decided to start off by fermenting something simple like... carrots! I didn't do much here, just what my mom uses to make pickles which is 1L of water, 40g of salt and some spices of my choice (peppercorns, garlic, bay leaves). It's been two days and I think I am on the right track, the brime is turning cloudy and bubbles are appearing. I put a little glass weight to keep the carrots from ascending to the top. Should the bay leaves also be submerged or are they fine floating like that?
Second ferment was supposed to be yogurt but something went wrong(?) on the way... I heated 500ml of UHT milk to 40 degrees celsius and I added two tablespoons of store bought yogurt with activate cultures. I mixed it and put it into my airfryer (also 40 degrees celsius) for 8,5 hours. It was very watery and really sour after those 8,5 hours so I put it in the fridge overnight and checked on it today. The consistency is way better but it's still really sour and it has some little, soft pieces (last two photos). I ate few teaspoons of it and I was fine so I think or rather PRAY that it's safe to eat because I don't want it to go to waste. I have seen some people heat up the milk to 85 degrees celsius but I thought they were using unpasteurized milk and since my was already "sterile" I skipped that step. Was this step neccesarry? What went wrong here? Should have I used something else as a starter or used different temps?
I am open to any criticism and feedback 😅, I only watched a couple of vidoes about fermenting veggies and only a couple YT shorts about making yogurt and went on with it... But the world of fermentation is so vast and interesting that I got really excited to make some of my own ferments! It's not an excuse, I know... Thanks in advance!