Do any of you guys ferment your own. I’ve been thinking about it.
I have several Asian stores in my neighborhood that I can bike to and pick it up cheaply, so it wouldn’t be worth fermenting it myself.
John S
PDX OR
I’ve been fermenting my own natto for many years. To get really good natto you need to keep the fermenting temperature between 100F and 105F for 20 to 24 hours. If you ferment too hot or too long you will get an undesirable ammonia smell. Also, small soybeans are better than the normal ones available. And unless you want to cook them for nine hours, a 45-minute cook in a pressure cooker is advised.
Have you tried using beans , like navy bean, pinto bean, etc other than soybean to make natto?
I bought natto starter culture, and am thinking not using soybean
I had tried several different beans but changing the bean didn’t make it taste any better. It takes a long time to aquire a taste for natto. All beans will ferment but soybeans ferment the best.
@Livinginawe – Thanks a lot. In other fermentations – such as cheese, yogurt, kimiz – I’ve started to use nested containers. The fermentation is in the inner container; water is in the outer container. My sous vide appliance maintains temperatures in the water, which maintains temperatures in the fermentation. So if I try nato, I’ll follow your guidance.
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black beans are the second most common beans used for Natto in Japan. I have seen people on youtube use garbonzo(chick peas) several times. At this point I assume the legume does not matter.
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Sous vide I love mine. but I would be afaid depriving natto of all O2 might not be good for the culture.
the Yogurt button on an electric pressure cooker like an Instapot would be a better choice.
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You misunderstood me. I don’t enclose the ferment in a plastic bag. I just use the heating device to warm the surrounding water.
Here’s the set-up. This is a 1st attempt at koumiss, 24 hours in. At this point the bacteria have acidified the milk enough to curdle it but the yeast have not yet transformed any material amount of the sugars to alcohol. The drink is a mix of curds and whey, so i’ve stirred it. Steppe nomads would shake or beat the goatskin container.
What starters are you using? I think the purpose of the churning is to render the butter out. Do you have a plan for that? Have you ever tried this drink before. I understand calpis is modeled after this drink.
I got my hands on a starter from Turkey, where it is called kimiz. It has a very nice blend of bacteria and yeast that compares well with published scientific literature on organisms that produce good koumiss.
None of the many sets of instructions I’ve read, including the instructions on the starter, mention butter. I’m not worrying about, just as I ignore it when making yogurt, kefir, farmer’s cheese, etc. My inference is that because the whey is not drained, the batch needs to be shaken, stirred, pounded etc. to offset the natural separation of curds and whey. For example, one set of instructions says, “Stir, then drink after the mix achieves the right consistency.” Whatever that means. 
No, I have never tasted it before. This is totally an experiment. I was reading books about steppe nomads and got interested. FYI, for the milk I added lactose to whole pasteurized cow’s milk to create a faux mare’s milk that is 7% lactose by weight.
What interested me most was the inclusion of yeast, which causes the mix to become mildly (e.g., 2-3%) alcoholic and fizzy.
Modernized versions of this are Calpis - Wikipedia and Yakult - .Wikipedia Both of which I find delicious.
I hope it works out and you can keep that starter going. Does not seem might want to bum some off you in the future
Thanks. Checking quickly it seems that these two products are similar to koumiss. Calpis claims roots in the Mongolian version of koumiss. But there are differences. Specfically, these products apparently (1) include no yeast, so there is zero alcohol; (2) add sweetening such as glucose, fructose, sucrose; (3) add extra acid, specifically citric acid and lactic acid, and (4) add fruit flavoring. So these are another version of drinkable yogurt, more or less. Maybe akin to ayran, which is simpler.
None of that is bad. I love commercial ayran, specifically the version sold with mint. I can see adding fruit flavoring. I’m less excited about sweetening but might try just a little.
One question: Whether I should stir more vigorously (or blend mechanically) to break the curds into tiny pieces that will remain longer in suspension.
Im just assuming the drunk makers aimed for a simular flavor. There goals where sto use up there surplus of milk products originally.
No idea how to homogenize the end product. A blender just make it smaller.
Yeah, I’m not looking to homogenize it, just make it drinkable without bothersome curds.
Well, FYI – The presence of lumpy curds in my 1st batch of kimiz was most likely a result of human error – fermenting too long. I kept the batch fermenting for 48 hours because it was not obvious to me that the yeast had become active (e.g., no CO2 bubbles). I may have been right about the yeast, but 48 hours gave the lactic acid bacteria too much time.
I come to this conclusion based on two bits of evidence. First, in instructions for making kefir I read that (a) lumpy curds and (b) whey separation are symptoms of fermenting too long. Next, I made a second batch of kimiz using some of the 1st batch as starter. This 2nd batch seemed well fermented – including CO2 bubbles around the edges – after only 16-18 hours, so I stopped. I funneled the batch into a plastic gallon jug. It was not lumpy. Instead it seems to be a frothy liquid throughout – and very tasty.
I leave the jug in the fridge. I can pour 1-2 cups a day as a high protein, low carb drink. Supposedly the fermentation will continue in the fridge at a slow pace, so I need to make sure that the top is not too tight, An explosion of kimiz in the fridge would not be good. Meanwhile I’m going to experiment with additives such as mint, fruit juice.
p.s. Coffee-flavored syrup is a RI thing. I just threw some into my kimiz. The resulting drink is excellent. It’s like a tangy coffee milkshake.
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Granted i was experimenting with alternate ingredients in this post. When i stick to the basics this rdrink comes out great.
Korean rice punch or chinese … insert correct name later
I tried a batch of natto with black beans without success. Not sure what was the problem, maybe the starter was not fresh. I use instant pot on yogurt setting with reduced hours. I may try
soybean later. Strangely, soybeans are not easy to be found in grocery stores
At least in this part of the country, soybeans are not easily found anywhere. Not even in feed stores.
A couple years ago, I was interested in using soybeans as a protein source for a medium used to grow mushrooms such as shiitake. I totally struck out.
I hope you succeed eventually because I hope to try making natto using black beans.
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Have you tried edamame in the frozen section? They are soy beans. We can find them in the grocery store. I live on the West Coast, so Asian culture may be more prominent here.
John S
PDX OR
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