Bokashi composting -- moldy rice water ?

[got2garden]

this is my first attempt at Bokashi Composting, when I let my rice water set for 8 days it developed gray and black mold on the surface of the water, can I still use this? I used par-boiled rice, is that ok? -Thank You

[applestar]

Can you explain what you are trying to do a bit more? I'm not sure if you are trying to set one up from scratch or trying to feed the bokashi microbes with rice water or if you are asking if it's Ok to put this in your bokashi bin in general.

However, in either case, my intuitive answer is no because typically black mold is to be avoided and you don't want to introduce bad fungal spores that can kill the bokashi microbes.

I think par-boiled rice is dead and lacks the natural enzymes, etc. found in live, sprouted brown rice if that's what you were trying to accomplish. Brown rice rinse water is good, and even the first rinse water of inexpensive, not overmilled/polished white rice can get you a bit of nutrient water. (Good for watering plants too.) For simply feeding or inoculating with concentrated bokashi microbes, you need rice (or other grain like wheat or oat) BRAN -- outer coating of the rice seeds -- I can get this at the feed store here.

[got2garden]

this is my initial set up: I soaked the rice in water, removed the rice and covered jar lightly and let it set for 7 days, now I have black mold. I will try regular raw rice -thank you

[applestar]

Oh cool! I haven't tried this yet myself, but from what I've been researching, you want the red rice mold or white mold.

If I remember correctly, it's also helpful to add Koji -- rice wine mold

...ah ha... Looking at this, there IS a black species, but I don't know how you can tell the good one from the bad one...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergillus_oryzae

Here's a bit on wiki about the red one
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monascus_purpureus

(wiki isn't an authoritative source of info, but it IS good for first look and general info)

It would be great if you could keep us posted on how it turns out with the raw rice and your progress. I'd love to get a first-hand account.