mattymonkey said:

sounds like your ferment has gone to vinegar. this happens when the sugar broth is exposed to fresh air. an airlock prevents fresh air from coming in, while letting gases out, ideal.

if you are interested in fermentation at all i highly suggest Stephen Buhners book, "Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers". He talks a lot about the history of fermentation, focusing on alcoholic brews concocted by indigenious peoples all over the world. One story I remember is that a tribe would put a new fermenter, probably some sort of ceramic vessel, next to an old one, so that the old one could "teach" the new one how to ferment. you see these yeasts and vinegar cultures travel in the air.. you can do a wild fermentation simply by leaving a container open for awhile, catching yeasts flying in the air. obviously a place that has been making wine/mead/beer for a long time will have lots of good yeasts around, while somewhere that has just started may not have many. yeasts are everywhere, on every fruit and probably on every vegetable as well. waiting for the plant to die, so that it may eat its sugars..

another tip.. if your ferment has gone to vinegar, you are gunna have to clean that vessel really well, practically sterilizing it. yeasts and cultures are microscopic, and even if you can't see them, they can still be there. this can ruin future batches and you want to be careful and diligint in this process, i learned the hard way..

---

Quote:

mattymonkey said:you can do a wild fermentation simply by leaving a container open for awhile, catching yeasts flying in the air.

---