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Yeah, you're right. A kimchi fridge I've owned had a temperature dial with a little chart next to it, that if I recall advised around 1-4C for halting fermenta
by sho_hn 2y ago
Yeah, you're right.
A kimchi fridge I've owned had a temperature dial with a little chart next to it, that if I recall advised around 1-4C for halting fermentation for long-term storage and around 11 or above for active fermentation, and encouraged being mindful of the stage in your kimchi's, uh, lifecycle.
Pretty interesting to find a flat-out-wrong Wikipedia article in this day and age!
- 4ad 2y agoThanks, that is interesting to know. I don't like kimchi (it's just worse sauerkraut) but I ferment other things and I always wanted a fridge just for that. I didn't know these things existed.
- asdasdsddd 2y agoCan't you just leave it outside to ferment, then bring it into the fridge to halt?
- 4ad 2y agoNot really, no. The microbial culture composition is strongly dependent on temperature. Yeast prefers high temperature while bacteria in general prefers a lower temperature. Each specific thing you ferment has an optimal fermentation temperature. Plus there are other temperature effects unrelated to the culture itself. For example, enzymatic activity, which is also dependent on temperature, might destroy whatever you are trying to ferment before it ferments enough. In practice, you will get a poor result if you ferment at high temperature. Texture goes off first, but you can also get weird alcohols or formaldehyde forming. From my experience, the lower the temperature (and the slower the fermentation), the more complex the flavor. This rule seems to hold for almost everything, from vegetables, to kombucha, to bread, etc. For beer, it depends what kind of beer you like. You can get very funky beers at high temperatures.