Big brick dreams

[terji]

Hi,

I recently switched to a big baking tray (32x40cm) from couple of small containers hoping to produce biggest tempeh brick so far but I am running into some troubles.
Tempeh just grows on the sides and slightly on the top but nothing in the middle (almost 70-80% of the cake).
First I noticed that the middle is significantly cooler (4degrees C) so I put the temp probe in the middle for the second batch to correct for that but the problem stayed the same. Temp was probably higher on the side because the fermentation was going on in there.

The thickness is around 3cm but in the small containers (around 1/4 of the size of the tray) I was able to make perfect tempeh regardless of the thickness (2-6cm).

One thing I changed is that I put baking paper on the top thinking it will keep the top a little bit moist and not dry up.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

T

Here is the pic after ~30 hours when I chopped it up and turned it inside out and around.

[terji]

Just and update: After I sliced it and flipped it and got rid of the baking paper (now covered only with tea towels) the temperature shoot up and I think tempeh spores are starting something, will keep and eye on it...

[cerbu]

trays are ok, but use a little bigger legumes to allow air in the middle (or thinner layer in the middle , holes there) , cover loosely in newspaper , time is shorter to reach sporulation, unplug the heat source earlier, even take the tray out if it gets hot

[terji]

post mortem: Getting some more air in helped and spores exploded everywhere but it was already 48h in so I gave it another 24 but it was too much for the bits that were already done so I tossed it.

Everything should be ok next time with some air throughways and no baking paper at the top.

How do you keep the top beans from drying out and having the spores creating nice smooth surface?

[cerbu]

every now and then I spray water on the loosely newspaper cover, tray of water in the incubator