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As I read your comment I got more and more excited to the see a photo of the card that I was sure would be at the end! Thanks for such an entertaining story. I often think about all the cool presses and other tools I saw in art rooms throughout high school and college--many of them just collecting dust and a lot of them probably scrapped by now. I am 100% CERTAIN that somewhere in a high school or church basement nearby is an awesome press no one even knows is there.

Thanks! And you’re welcome.As for multicolor, go for it!

You have already made my day and it's only 9 in the morning. The upside-down photo doesn't make it look any less delicious. Thanks for sharing.

I didn't see this when you posted it, but I'm glad I found it eventually because this is awesome. I'm really glad you tried it and are happy with the results. It's pretty addictive stuff, isn't it? I'm kind of jealous of the speed. Maybe I'll have to try making some non-fermented powder soon as I'm almost out of the last batch and have been rationing it pretty tightly. That bitterness is something I'm always working to eliminate when it happens (not all batches have it), but you're right: it kind of disappears on food. One thing that's useful to know is that as you let the sauce age the bitterness decreases and is eventually almost totally gone. I had a batch a couple years ago that was very bitter. So bitter I considered dumping half a gallon down the drain. Then I forgot about it at the…

I didn't see this when you posted it, but I'm glad I found it eventually because this is awesome. I'm really glad you tried it and are happy with the results. It's pretty addictive stuff, isn't it? I'm kind of jealous of the speed. Maybe I'll have to try making some non-fermented powder soon as I'm almost out of the last batch and have been rationing it pretty tightly. That bitterness is something I'm always working to eliminate when it happens (not all batches have it), but you're right: it kind of disappears on food. One thing that's useful to know is that as you let the sauce age the bitterness decreases and is eventually almost totally gone. I had a batch a couple years ago that was very bitter. So bitter I considered dumping half a gallon down the drain. Then I forgot about it at the back of the fridge for 6-12 months and when I tasted it again it was perfect. Whatever chemicals are producing the bitterness, they apparently don't have staying power.Thanks for updating your progress!

For the first couple weeks it's good to be sorta warm (70-ish?), but once the bubbling dies down you don't have to worry about it. One way to think of it is that the bubbling stops when the bacteria runs out of sugars to eat, so after that you don't really need to keep them comfortable. At some point it's not really fermenting any more, it's aging. Still need to keep the air out so molds don't take over. I put mine in the dark in the basement where it's probably never out of the 60s and leave them there a long time. I wouldn't worry about stagnating--that's kind of what you want: a lifeless existence where flavors can develop. The other thing about the after-ferment period is that if the bacteria ate all the sugars, they also squirted out lots of lactic acid. That means the stuff in the j…

For the first couple weeks it's good to be sorta warm (70-ish?), but once the bubbling dies down you don't have to worry about it. One way to think of it is that the bubbling stops when the bacteria runs out of sugars to eat, so after that you don't really need to keep them comfortable. At some point it's not really fermenting any more, it's aging. Still need to keep the air out so molds don't take over. I put mine in the dark in the basement where it's probably never out of the 60s and leave them there a long time. I wouldn't worry about stagnating--that's kind of what you want: a lifeless existence where flavors can develop. The other thing about the after-ferment period is that if the bacteria ate all the sugars, they also squirted out lots of lactic acid. That means the stuff in the jar is pickled and should be pretty well protected from yeasts/molds/etc. while it ages.

I'm excited that you're going for the full deal. Keep a good eye on it until it gets going and don't let air in. Sounds like it's going to be hot. Good luck!

First, this comment made my day. I like that decisive action. Please, please, please leave another comment when your sauce and powder are done! If I remember right, that batch got me around 3 quarts of hot sauce and a quart and a half of powder. (I smoked about half of the sauce. Incredible. You should try that with some of your sauce.)

Awesome. Let me know how it goes.

Thanks. I wondered if anyone would notice the hops.

Thanks a lot. Glad you like it. You're right: the heat depends on the peppers. Smoked paprika is an interesting idea, though it might get pretty expensive if you want a lot of smoke flavor. Maybe it would be best to mix it into the powder after grinding the mash, since it's already smoked pepper powder. I think fermenting can slightly reduce the heat, though not much in my experience. It does seem that the drying process might take more heat away, as the powder never seems to be as hot as the sauce from the same mash. I've got a batch fermenting now with Thai peppers that will be the hottest I've made so far. It will be interesting to see how that translates in the powder. Let me know how the smoked paprika works. That's a REALLY good idea. I might have to go back and add it to my instruc…

Thanks a lot. Glad you like it. You're right: the heat depends on the peppers. Smoked paprika is an interesting idea, though it might get pretty expensive if you want a lot of smoke flavor. Maybe it would be best to mix it into the powder after grinding the mash, since it's already smoked pepper powder. I think fermenting can slightly reduce the heat, though not much in my experience. It does seem that the drying process might take more heat away, as the powder never seems to be as hot as the sauce from the same mash. I've got a batch fermenting now with Thai peppers that will be the hottest I've made so far. It will be interesting to see how that translates in the powder. Let me know how the smoked paprika works. That's a REALLY good idea. I might have to go back and add it to my instructions as an option.

I changed it. Thanks again.

No judging! I've always meant to try liquid smoke but have never remembered that when I was at a store. There are definitely times I'm lighting a smoker for inappropriately small quantities of food. As far as submerging the peppers, I find that as long as the headspace is free of air there's no problem with mold. I think that in general keeping oxygen out is more important than keeping things submerged. If you do make a version of this, please come back and leave another comment about how it worked. I'm very curious to know how it would turn out with liquid smoke.

Oops, I did it backwards! It was late and I was converting all sorts of stuff quickly. Somehow got derailed and went from 2.2 lbs = I kg to 2.2 kg = 2 lbs. Thanks for catching that! I'll fix it.

I love making fermented hot sauce (among many other fermented vegetables) but I always puree everything in a food processor as I've found peppers to be more prone to yeast than other vegetables. I then weigh it all, figure out what 2.5 to 3% of that weight is--metric makes this a lot easier--and add that much salt. Then I pack it in jars, airlock it and let it go. The only times I've had anything other than lacto fermenting happen were when I chopped it up instead of using the food processor. It seemed that the increased surface area (of the chunks) made it possible for the yeast to take off more easily. You probably avoid that possibility by using a brine instead of relying--like I do--on the water that the salt pulls from the peppers, etc.

Thanks!

The slope is a big help, I think. It should be pretty simple to scale this down to fit whatever space you have. Remesh is easy to cut, or you can use any other mesh, fencing, etc. I'd stay away from anything with openings smaller than 4 inches or so as it's harder to clean the old vines off in the fall and cucumbers (or whatever) can get trapped on the upper side where they're harder to see or reach. Please post a photo of what you come up with (or write an instructable, of course).

Thanks. Cedar/redwood aren't easy to get and are pretty expensive, so I have purchased some of the non-toxic wood treatment mentioned in an earlier comment. I will build the rest of them out of pine that I will treat myself. It will be interesting to compare how they age alongside the PT one.

Cool idea and execution. I've daydreamed a lot about using float valves with my rain barrels and garden, but never got very far before getting sidetracked. This is getting me back on track.

Cool. Thanks.

You're welcome. Thank you.

Two more things I probably should have addressed!Regarding the effect of the treated wood on the hardware: none. The old staples holding the remesh on the old trellis could have been reused on the new one. In fact I just tossed them into the container of staples and may well use them again. They were a little darkened with age, but didn't seem compromised at all. There was no visible effect caused by the remesh's contact with the wood. The deck screws that held the old one together were rusty, but they weren't coated so I expected them to be worse than they were. They all unscrewed without any heads breaking off or stripping. As far as rusting goes, remesh comes pre-rusted from the store. The stuff I bought recently is covered in a powdery rust that rubs off on everything. I do plan to wi…

Two more things I probably should have addressed!Regarding the effect of the treated wood on the hardware: none. The old staples holding the remesh on the old trellis could have been reused on the new one. In fact I just tossed them into the container of staples and may well use them again. They were a little darkened with age, but didn't seem compromised at all. There was no visible effect caused by the remesh's contact with the wood. The deck screws that held the old one together were rusty, but they weren't coated so I expected them to be worse than they were. They all unscrewed without any heads breaking off or stripping. As far as rusting goes, remesh comes pre-rusted from the store. The stuff I bought recently is covered in a powdery rust that rubs off on everything. I do plan to wire brush one and spray paint it, just to see how well that lasts (though it's going to be a pain). The one that was out there for 10 years is dark and rough--it's definitely oxidized--but it's not badly damaged. It's still plenty strong to do its job. You can see it in the photo of the cut-off sections.

My pleasure. Thanks for the compliment. I've got 4 varieties of cucumbers going this year so I won't be doing any beans, but building this has me already thinking about how many different climbing vegetables I could grow next year.

If they climb, it should work. I don't know if the fruit would hang down, though. Raspberries are pretty lightweight, so they might end up on the upper side where you can reach them easily. You could make it hinged somehow, maybe, so you could lower the top half for picking. Most of my raspberry experience has been with free-growing tangled canes, so I can't offer much insight. If you try it, or if you adapt the design, please come back and let us know what you did and how it worked.

I just built a bunch of these almost identical to yours, also using cedar fence pickets. As far as I can recall, I never saw this instructable. I haven't filled mine yet (because it won't stop raining). A question: does the soil push out the boards on the long side, bowing them outward in the middle? The pickets are fairly flexible so I'm wondering if I should add some sort of center divider to keep everything square.(I hadn't added to top rails to the long one yet when I took this photo.)