Three jars on a cellar shelf. In each one, three populations are racing:
the lactic acid bacteria you want, the kahm yeast you can live with, and the mould that ends it.
You do not get to referee. You only get to set the conditions.
1
Pack the jar. Peppers, salt, shelf temperature, a weight to hold the mash under the brine, and whether you burp it. Then twenty-one days run on a fast clock.
2
Watch the pH fall. Lactic acid bacteria acidify the brine as they grow. Once the jar goes under pH 4.0 nothing new can establish. Getting there first is the whole game.
3
Oxygen is the enemy. Mould and kahm need air at the surface. A weight that keeps the mash submerged matters more than any other single choice.
4
Then blend to a brief. Your mash lands somewhere in a six-axis flavour space. Capsaicin does not break down, so heat can only be diluted — and dilution takes every other axis down with it.
DRAG orbit the shelf 1–3 pick peppers W weight D burp daily B burp P press K skim [ cooler ] warmer ENTER commit R restart