u/fuyusoba

Hey everyone! First-time fermenter here.
Instead of throwing a random pile of peppers into one big jar for my first batch, I decided to take inspiration from The Noma Guide to Fermentation and treat this as a controlled micro-experiment. My goal was to isolate specific variables (fermentation time, pepper cultivars, and aromatics) across six small jars to actually learn what each element contributes.
The Math & Methodology Rather than mixing a standard brine percentage by water volume alone, I used Noma’s total-weight method.

Used unrefined, additive-free coarse sea salt
Kept everything submerge in ~475 ml jars, aiming for an room temp around 20–22°C.

Here is how the test batches are structured:
Test 1: The green jars : Base profile: Green jalapeño + a light touch of fresh garlic
Jar 1 (Baseline Control): 100g green jalapeño, 5g garlic, 200g water | 9.1g salt (14-day planned ferment).
Jar 2 (Time Variable): 100g green jalapeño, 5g garlic, 200g water | 9.1g salt (28-day ferment to test lactic roundness vs. loss of crisp green brightness).
Jar 3 (Habanero notes & Heat): 70g green jalapeño, 25g green habanero, 5g garlic, 200g water | 9.0g salt

Test 2: The Red Jars
Base profile: Fully ripe red jalapeño + 20g white onion

Jar 4 (Red Base + Garlic): 90g red jalapeño, 20g onion, 5g garlic, 200g water | 9.5g salt (Baseline sweetness + allium depth).

Jar 5 (Tropical Heat): 90g red jalapeño, 20g onion, 30g red habanero, 200g water | 10.2g salt

Jar 6 (Smoke & Dried Fruit): 90g red jalapeño, 20g onion, 5g dried chile morita, 200g water | 9.5g salt (Slit the morita open so it stays submerged and doesn't trap pockets of air).

We're currently in the active bubbling phase. Jars are already smelling floral and tangy, with zero signs of kahm yeast so far 24hs
For those who blend single-jar test batches like this: do you prefer reserving all the brine and re-emulsifying with a touch of xanthan gum, or do you strain hard and add vinegar at the blending stage to stabilize pH? Would love to hear your finishing techniques!

Basically what the title says.
It’s a 40 lts tank wide, 60cm width. Right now has like a ton of shrimp and microfauna and 5 cardinal tetras (I know it’s a small school, but I had accidents during moving 😭)
The parameters are pretty stables ph 7.2 gh above 50 - 100 kh 40 std 180 temp 24 )I keep my room always at 24 c )
No ammonia and less than 10 ppm of nitrates

Do you think I can buy only one? Or do I need to school them? Also would you consider my tank heavy planted? (It’s 18 month old )