u/joshgrenon

First batch I did was a pretty standard red fresno mash with garlic and a bit of carrot. Tasted fine, nothing special, kind of one-note. I basically set it and forgot it for like 3 weeks and bottled when I remembered.

This second one I'm doing right now (fresnos again but with mango, shallot, and a few habs for kick) I've been actually checking on every day. Burping when I need to, tasting at week 1, week 2, week 3. And the difference is wild. Around day 10 it tasted sharp and kind of harsh, almost vegetal. By day 18 something shifted and it got this rounder, almost fruity funk going on that wasn't there before. If I had bottled at day 14 like I did last time I would have completely missed it.

The thing nobody really told me starting out is that the ferment isn't just "done at 3 weeks." It actually goes through phases and if you're not tasting along the way you have no idea where the sweet spot is for that specific batch. My first one I probably pulled way too early and that's why it was flat tasting.

The annoying part is keeping track of all this. I've got a notes app thing going with start dates, brine percentages, daily pH if I remember, taste notes, and it's already a mess after two batches. I can't imagine what it looks like for you guys running 5 or 10 jars at once.

I've been kind of messing around with putting something together for myself to handle this, jar tracking and taste log stuff mostly. Nothing fancy. If I actually get it into a usable state would a few people here want to poke at it and tell me what's missing? Would rather build it around how people actually ferment than just my own setup.

Also curious, when did you start noticing the flavor really change on your ferments? Was it gradual or did it kind of hit a turning point for you too?

Read that post a couple days ago about hunger getting easier around week 2 or 3 and it really lined up with where I'm at. I'm about a month into 16:8, lost around 8 pounds, and the morning hunger thing went from feeling like a five alarm fire to honestly just not noticing it most days.

My version of the early mornings thing was the 10pm fridge raid. I work a desk job and the second the day wound down I'd just drift to the kitchen. Not hungry, just bored. The first week of cutting that off was way harder than skipping breakfast for me. I'd actually lie in bed thinking about leftovers, which is kind of embarrassing to admit.

What helped me was closing my window earlier than I thought I needed to. I tried 12 to 8 first and the late evening was brutal. Shifted to 11 to 7 and suddenly the cravings dropped off because I was already asleep before the autopilot kicked in. So for anyone struggling at night, maybe try eating earlier instead of later, that was a small thing that fixed a lot.

The weekend thing the other poster mentioned is real though. My in-laws do these huge Sunday lunches and I just slide the window. Beating myself up about it was making me quit, not the food.

One thing I've been kind of fumbling with is keeping track of how I actually FEEL during fasts, not just the timer. Like noting when the hunger waves hit, what my energy was like, whether I slept well the night before. I started jotting it in my notes app but it's messy. Been thinking about putting something together for myself that's a bit more useful than a plain timer, something that actually helps me see the patterns over a few weeks.

If I get it into a decent shape would a handful of people here want to mess around with it and tell me if it's actually useful or if I'm overcomplicating something that should just be a timer? No rush, just gauging interest.

I started 16:8 at the beginning of this month and the first week was honestly rough. I work early shifts so I was used to eating something small around 6am, just out of habit more than actual hunger. Cutting that out felt awful the first few days, not because I was starving but because I kept reaching for food without thinking about it. Pure autopilot.

Week two I stopped fighting it so much. I kept busy in the mornings, drank black coffee (took me a few days to get used to that), and just got on with the job. The hunger was still there but it started feeling more like background noise than an alarm going off. Nobody told me that hunger kind of comes in waves and then passes if you just wait it out. That was the thing that changed it for me.

Week three now and I am not gonna say it is effortless but it genuinely does not feel like a big deal anymore. I push my first meal to noon and it just feels normal. I have not weighed myself obsessively, just once a week, and I am down about 6 pounds. I know some of that is water weight but it still feels good.

The hardest part now is weekends when my schedule is all over the place and family wants to do big breakfasts. I just shift my window a bit and do not stress about it.

Anyone else notice that the hunger got a lot more manageable around week two or three? Curious if that was a common experience or if I just got used to it.