Asked by akmoline ·September 19, 2018 ·21.3k readers

Some funky fish smell FAA

I may have been over confident in using some fish that was starting to have some funky fish smell for my lastest batch of FAA- it has had a pretty solid stank to it for the first few days. I added a good bit more sugar, some imo 2, ohn, some wood chips covered in hyphae and LAB. It seems like maybe the smell has decreased a tiny bit, but the funk is lingering and it is definitely nothing like the tasty smell of my first batch. Is there anything that can be done to hopefully turn it around so it's still usable? Give it more time to see if it gets less pungent? Thanks!

faa bad-smell-faa

The answer

Drake Weinert Foundation · Sep 19, 2018 ✓ Marked as the answer

When making KNF Fuel, if you start with bad fish, it's like they say, bad fish. If you study a good batch of KNF Fuel you will find that it is predominantly KNF Police that are preserving the solution. This is not to say that there are not other microbes doing their work to break down and disassemble the amino acids, but if other microbes get in there first and the KNF Police are unable to get dominance because of that, it's best to start over. The solutions you have tried to rectify it are exactly what I would recommend to try to fix the situation. The one last suggestion is to make sure all the fish is submerged below the liquid layer or covered entirely with sugar so there is no air exposure. In this anaerobic environment at room temperatures the KNF Police will have the environmental conditions in their favor and maybe be able to quell the riot. Your nose knows though. If the smell is like rotting flesh, the KNF Police are not in charge and your body is warning you of high pathogens present and metabolizing the system. Masking this scent with other things like wood chips is just that, a mask. The face behind it needs to be transformed. Under no circumstances put this in your body, unless somehow the scent turns to sweet, and I mean sweet, fish sauce. I'd wait at least 6 months with this batch, and if you can't rectify the rotting smell in the next week, perhaps just put it away and smell it then. No sense throwing it out unless you live in a tiny home. If you do go to throw it out, put it into a large compost pile and let the thermophilic microbes do their decomposing magic. Kill it with fire as they say.

From the KNF library

From the KNF library Drafted by Claude from Office Hours and the books · Sep 2026 · 7 sources

The library backs the steps already taken. It adds three points.

Cho's notes say to check the batch for smell over the next 3 days and add more sugar if it smells. (Cho's Solutions, p. 13) You did that.

Drake's test is his nose. He eats FAA when it smells sweet. (Office Hours Ep. 27, 34:50) Another answer in the library says FAA is working fine as long as it doesn't smell like rotting fish. (Office Hours Ep. 21, 37:56)

Time may help. FAA can be used after a couple of days, but it gets smoother and more effective over months to years. (Office Hours Ep. 69, 1:05:12) Cho's recipe says at least 6 months for well-fermented FAA. (Cho, Recipe, p. 50) So keep sugar on it, keep it sealed, and smell it again in a few weeks.

The sources disagree on your additions. One says skip IMOs and OHN in FAA and use just sugar and fish. (Office Hours Ep. 17, 1:05:50) Cho's recipe lists IMO #4 and OHN among its materials. (Cho, Recipe, p. 48)

The library does not say how to tell a lost batch from one that can be saved.

Sources