The outside white stuff seems super thick and there’s a couple tiny spots. There was a fiasco where the oven got turned on, then it got moved to the freezer to cool down, then back to sitting in the oven turned off.

For months my homemade tempeh was hit or miss. I used the oven with just the light on, and the temperature kept drifting. Result: mycelium only in patches, black spots, blocks that crumbled when I cut them (pics 1–2).
What fixed it was stable heat. I built a janky prototype: an old wooden crate, a reptile heat lamp, and a stainless bowl over it to spread the warmth. Now I get dense, fully white blocks every time, with red beans, black beans, whatever (pics 3–4).
A few things I learned:
Around 30–32 °C for the first ~12 h, then the tempeh starts making its own heat, so watch it doesn't overheat
Ziplock bags with small holes work fine, but don't stack them
Drying the beans properly after cooking matters more than I thought
What's your incubation setup? Curious whether anyone has found something better than an oven or a cooler box.

Hello, this is my second time posting and my second time doing tempeh, this time I wanted to try peas and the results overall look good to me, I’ll share the pic right after.
I’m writing this post because the taste is sweeter than soybeans but slightly pungent, and I wondered whether it had something to do with drying.
After boiling before inoculating, I’m searching for an efficient way to dry the beans without lowering the temperature under 30º, because mine stay a little bit wet in the process. I would to control humidity for incubation, to see whether it reflects on taste.
Anyone willing to share a working method?

Hi all!

This is my first time making tempeh from scratch, so I would really appreciate some feedback from people who make it regularly.

I used about 300 g of dried split peas. I boiled them, added about 2.5 tablespoons of bio apple cider vinegar, and mixed in roughly 2 g of Rhizopus starter.

I incubated the pre-drilled bag at around 30–32 °C at first in the oven. After about 28–30 hours, the tempeh started producing quite a lot of heat by itself, so I put the bag out of the oven on a grid and let it continue at room temperature with good airflow in every direction.

After about 42–43 hours in total, I put it in the fridge.

The cake is fairly firm and holds together well. When I cut it open, the inside looked normal to me: the peas are still clearly visible, but there is white mycelium growing between them and holding everything together. I cannot see any obvious green, blue, pink, or orange mold.

The smell is very sour/fermented and reminds me quite a lot of beer, especially the smell left in an empty beer glass. It does not smell rotten, strongly ammonia-like, or like urine.

My only concern is that a few areas are less densely colonized and the exposed peas there feel more moist. On a very small number of peas, if I touch them with my finger and lift it, I can sometimes see a very short transparent strand, less than about 1 cm, which breaks immediately.

However:

- there is no obvious thick slime or gelatinous coating;

- most peas do not do this;

- I can barely reproduce it when using the flat side of a clean knife instead of my finger;

- the peas are still intact and do not fall apart;

- what sticks to my finger looks more like tiny pea/mycelium fibers than mucus.

I attached some pictures to let you see both sides, a close-up of the mycelium, and the inside after cutting the cake.

Does this look like normal split-pea tempeh that simply colonized a little unevenly, or would the slightly moist/sticky areas concern you?

ChatGPT told me it's completely okay, and I know nobody can confirm food safety from a picture alone. My concern is only due to the exposed peas that I touched and the wet sensation. I am mainly looking for comparison with what experienced homemade tempeh makers normally see. Thank you 🫰🏻

I can't seem to get the process right with an oven light and ziplock bags. I can never make those perfectly uniform white cakes.

Post this to encourage you to do it and try it! The flavour, smell and taste of this tempeh is truly the most peculiar I have ever tried. 35h total time

Brewed in instant pot (yogurt mode) because cold here. Works fine without disposable bags.

Cut and fried - one plain and one breaded. Nice with sambal badjak or oelek

Soyabeans with a small amount of adzuki beans. Micro holes 2cm apart throughout the ikea pruta containers and lids. Worked well. I may add more starter next time. Love fresh tempeh!!!

Multiple bean tempeh

I just made a post saying how much I hate soybean husks and want to provide a success story to offset the negativity lol. Gotta remind myself it was beyond worth it

What are y'all doing for soybean Husks?? This is with a huge bowl and the float and skim method and I feel like there's an entire block's worth of beans down here.

Literally been doing this for at least 3 hours. I know I don't have to get EVERY skin off but Jesus Christ there has to be a better way to do this.

Thanks y'all!

Hi, its me again.This was left 72hs instead of 36 or 48hs. Used toasted chickpea flour to disperse the tempeh spores (had no rice or tapioca flour at hand), and the substrate had pressure steamed shiitake. Happy with the dense mycelium but worried about that yellowish colour. Taste was good and I am still alive. But what do you think could have happened?

Separated the beans into big and small so I could cook them all without the small turning to complete mush. Haven't tasted yet but it's looking great after 24 hours

This is my first batch of tempeh and where should I store and how should I store it

To be honest, I was really nervous before the first try ... after 30 hours this is the result and I'm nothing but happy and proud and can't wait to try.

And still impressed how good the oven kept the temperature between 30-32° with the light on. Removed the packs after 10 hours and kept them under a tea towel for the rest of the time.

Just wanted to say thanks to anyone sharing experiences here. I learned a lot in preparation!

1) 1st set of soy; 2) 2nd set of soy; 3) garbanzo

I'm pretty sure I need to work on oxygenation and temperature control. All were placed onto a tray above a seed mat, set to 85F, and left for approx 36 hours. My seed mat supposedly adjusts to what the probe senses; I put the probe atop one of the blocks. I lightly covered everything with a lightweight plastic dome.

I dehulled the soybeans after soaking, as I found it to be super easy, but it seems the germ comes off as well, so I may go back to dehulling after cooking to see if the germ stays on better. I

I did not poke holes in either the parchment or banana leaves.

Nothing is slimy and everything smells just fine, so I just sauteed some of the black sporified soy and garbanzo in butter. Butter and tempeh are so amazing together, IMO. The black was def drier, and I overcooked the garbanzos in the initial cook from dry.

So, I'll continue to practice because I now know how fresh tempeh can't even be compared to store-bought, and I can never go back to store-bought.

I’m based in EU (France), looking for ferment for my very first trial of tempeh ! Any suggestion is welcome !

I want to make Tempeh, for that I need good quality Tempeh Spores sourced locally in Bengaluru India. Please give the contacts. Thank you so much.

I made tempeh twice, first was with soy and it was quite a success, yesterday I tried with split pea. It's been 24hours however the fermentation looks quite done. Are the little hair on the top normal? It looks like it lacks some mycelium in the middle, was my tempeh too thick?

Is it safe to eat? I notice some slightly redish spots

Started off with chickpeas a few weeks ago and now soy beans.

Hello all, wanting to find out if anyone is aware of any fresh tempeh makers in the area?

Willing to travel outside of Sussex, too.

TIA - S2K2P

texture and smell seem totally normal to me