July 2, Day 19
11:00 Mixed by Madlen: PH 12.88, after mix 13.3 (with new PH meter) Temp 23.9
20:00 PH 12.3, Vat temp 30. It was a hot day and vat got also quite warm… which at this point probably a good thing. PH is coming down finally now. BTW, the new PH meter finally died. It made a shorting sound from the probe when I tried to use it. Finally I gave up on this meter and I will buy a new PH meter for the Hütte.
July 1, Day 18
9:00 PH 12.87, vat temp 21. small vat is marged with the big one
20:00 mixed by Sarah: PH 12.3, temp 25, no strong smell and not many bubbles.
June 30, Day 17
10:30 both of the vat (I separated small part to a bucket for test) are PH 12.7, vat temp 23.5. no color on color test. the vat liquid is quite brown. I see some change on the surface. It is no more bubbly but a bit more flat/mirror surface and I see some pattern/culture on it. Is it a good sign?
17:00 PH 12.7, vat temp 25. Smells anmoniac and surface is more flat. it does not make a lot of bubbles after mixing.
June 29, Day 16
12:00 mixed by Madlen: PH 13.19! (does it seems to go up again?) bubbles are gone in the beginning. Vat temp 23.5, room temp over 30 degrees. no color on fabric test.
19:00 PH 12.93 (with old PH meter), vat temp 25, had to do it quick before closing!
June 28, Day 15
12:00 forgot to log the PH and temp, it is on the note!
19:00 mixed by Joel: Room temp 27, Vat temp 23.2, PH 12.75 (new PH meter)
June 27, Day 14
9:00 PH 13.03 (with old PH meter) temp 22.4
15:00
19:00
June 26, Day 13:
9:00 PH over 13! still.
14:00 PH11.68 with new PH meter, room temp 30, vat temp 22
19:40 mixed by Joel: Room temp 25, Vat temp 23.3 PH 12.15 with new PH meter .This photo made everyone curious if the vat actually turned BLUE! unfortunately it was a photo camera effect…
June 25, Day 12:
9:30 I forgot my phone at home so no pictures. The surface of the vat looks the same. bubbly/wobbly. PH 13.5! still and vat temperature 21.5
14:50 Mixed by Madlen
19:30 Mixed by Mika. room temperature 25, Vat temperature 23. PH still 13.47! It does not seems to drop. Anyway, it is mixed. It looks beautiful though.
I made some experiment. I separated small amount of vat to a bucket (see the photo above) and diluted with water. It is maybe 5L of vat with 3L of normal water. We have been also mixing this for 2 days now. Today, I cooked 15g of wheat bran with water and fed this vat. As you can see the surface of the vat easier, you can see some kinako like particle on this one. I hope this is the good sign of bacteria and picks up the life with some food… let’s see what happens in the next days.
I made another test at home. I have a vat that went wrong last year, and it was over wintered outside with high PH. I took a part of it in a 1L jar. This one at start was PH 12.84. I added white vinegar, maybe 5ml (see the last photo) to this vat (diluted with water, I filled the rest of the cup with water) and mixed it. Afterwards it was PH 11.73. I do not know what is the side effect of vinegar in a vat, and what chemical reaction it makes with lime and ash water. I will see what happens with this vat for the next days. It can be an option to drop the PH quickly.
And I calibrated the PH meters. The new one I bought for the project is made to calibrate at the point of PH4 and PH9.18. The old one I have is made to calibrate at PH 7, 4 and 10. I calibrated both of them with the buffer solutions and I also checked both of them with buffer solutions. It now all shows the collect value.
Then, I tried with the vat I have and the gone bad high PH vat. I notice the new device tend to show lower value when the PH is higher. For example the high PH vat that is 12.84 for the old device is 11.55 for new one. And the vat that is 10.07 for old device is 9.87 for new one. So, it seems to be still some off set. It may be related to which calibration point it takes and how it calculates the PH value inside. (PH is exponential, so it could be that higher it goes, the difference gets bigger) In any case, it is not 3 points off set like before. I think we can work with this device now. Maybe I should remember that the new PH meter shows slightly lower so when I see 9.8, it maybe still in ok range.
June 24, Day 11:
9:00 we decided to mix 3 times/day so I went there a bit earlier to mix. Similar to yessterday, the bubbly glass like surface. PH is again 9.5. Strange. I brought my other PH meter from home so I tried it. Then big surprise! it is PH 13.3! it is waaaaay too high. Somehow the other PH meter got broken or re-calibrated.. I do not know what… but it kind of make sense why the last day we had such a low PH and adding lime did not change it. I am almost having a meltdown moment…
Out of panic, I took some (maybe 5L?) of vat water into smaller 30L bucket and added normal water hoping it brings the PH lower. I added 2-3L and it does not really change. I do not really know how PH works, but it seems diluting with water (which is around ph7) does not lower the PH. I made a quick internet search, and people talk about adding citric acid or lemon juice to lower PH… (not for vat, but in general). I am not sure if it is a good idea to add such things in vat, as I do not know what other effect it has..
I was afraid that PH13 will kill the bacteria we want to have… or it will kill all the bacteria in the liquid… But Melanie said PH13 is not too bad. In fact she has a working vat that is above PH13. ha, moment of relax. I did not kill the bacteria… We discussed over the signal channel and decided to keep on 3 times/day mixing and see if PH comes down over the next days. She suggested that we could also feed the vat to see if that helps them to be active.
15:00 Mixed by Madlen. A lot of bubbles. PH meter is with me, so no measurements.
19:30 3rd mix today. Ammonia smell is quite strong as I opened it. PH is still 13.4, vat temp 22. I am not sure these small particles are kinako particles or just lime/kalk that did not dissolve.
June 23, Day 10:
9:30 PH is low again! now it is 8.78! but it does not have bad smell. instead the sharp ammonia smell is back again. Vat temp is 24. I can see a slight purple layer on the surface. No significant color on the test fabric though. I add 50g lime/kalk to raise the PH, at least to 10. Afterwards, I mixed it with the galaxy mix method… and the bubbles looks much thicker and it is not bursting so easily. Maybe Maybe it is finally coming now??
18:00 Mika and Madlen for mixing task. As we open the lid, it smells sharp ammonia. The surface is not flat, looks like the bathroom window glass that you can not see through. very strange one. PH is low again, 9.33, vat temp is 25.5, quite warm. 30g lime/kalk. After adding the lime, we mixed with the galaxy mix method and it made the nice bubbles in the middle, which looks a lot more solid than the last days. It is not blue, just brown, but it is not dispersing like before.
June 22, Day 9:
12:00 It is sunday and I did not manage to come earlier. PH is now dropped to 9.2! Not really a sign of color in the test sample but maybe something is happening. I add 35g of lime/kalk to raise the PH to above 10. Funny enough the ammonia smell is gone and it is very mild (or I hardly smell anything… maybe my nose is not working). When I put my finger in, I still get the chill, so it is still on the way?
sometime in the evening: log by Madlen. Room temp 33! vat temp 25.2, PH 9.11. She says it smelled sweet.
June 21, Day 8:
9:30 Room temperature 23, vat temp 18, PH 10.8. It is giving the sharp ammonia smell, especially when mixing. I put my hand in the vat and it gives me the tingly-chill feeling. I somehow think it is coming soon.
19:30 Log by Madlen. she sees a hint of blue. PH 10.69, Vat temp 22.3
June 20, Day 7:
9:30 Room temp 19, Vat temp 18.5, PH 10.9. The color test seems to show a bit of blue?!
17:30 Mixed by Joel. Room temp 24, Vat temp 21.5, PH 10.85
June 19, Day 6:
10:00 Room temp 21, Vat temp 21.3, PH 10.78. I added ~5L of ash water as the vat liquid level looked a bit low. I am not sure but maybe the wood barrel absorbs liquid, like terracotta bases to keep the temperature inside cool. After adding the ash water, mixed again, and it is PH 11.15.
17:30 Madlen is there to mix. She says the color test sample I made in the morning shows a hit of blue! very light, but we can see some blue in it. PH 10.99, vat temp 22.4
June 18, Day 5:
10:00 Some hit of purple layer/marble effect on the surface. PH is 10.86 befroe mixing, and 11.06 after mixing. Vat temperature 20 degrees.
19:00 Log by Madlen. Some bubbles are staying until evening mix. Madlen brought the test fabric and tried. Malou seems to like the smell, but not sigh of color yet. PH 11.01m Vat temp 23.3
June 17, Day 4:
11:00 Room temp 28, Vat temp 19.6 (the night was chilly) PH 10.45 after mixing. As I want it to be close to PH 11, I add again 30g of lime/kalk.
19:00 Log by Madlen. Still many bubbles from the previous mix. Kuhstall/cow stable smell increases. Vat temp 21.6, PH 11
June 16, Day 3:
11:00 Vat temperature 23.7 degrees, PH 9.7. I add 35g of lime/kalk to higher the PH. right after the mixing, it goes up to PH 10.27 and I hope it goes up even more in the next hours.
18:00 Log by Madlen. Vat temp 23.2, PH ?? (I did not explain how to use PH meter so PH is missing.)
June 15: Day 2
12:30, Morning (?) mix, and cooked 20L more ash water.
The sun is hitting the hütte and the room temperature was 40 degrees! when I came in. Not sure if this temperature sensor is correct as it did not feel that hot. PH 11.08, vat temp 27.8
20:00 Evening mix by Madlen. She says it smells like Kuhstall 😉
June 14: Day 1
see the starting of the fermentation vat documentation>> https://nerding.at/circular_blue/fermentation-vat-start/