This is a "Sunbeam 732-500 King Size Heating Pad with UltraHeatTechnology" which I bought on Amazon for $20. Its key feature is that it won't turn off. Many heating pads have a timer that shuts them off after a while. That won't work for this method.This is a "Inkbird ITC-306T Pre-wired Electronic Heating Thermostat Temperature Controller and Digital Timer Controller for Aquarium, Seed Germination, Reptiles, Hatching ect, Without Cooling Controlling" which I bought on Amazon for $30. It has a thermometer and a thermostat, plus a socket for the heating pad. I set the thermostat to 88 degrees Fahrenheit with a range of plus or minus 2 degrees.I put the heating pad in the bottom of a cooler, turn it to "high", then plug it into the temperature controller. I place the thermometer in the cooler so that it dangles about half-way up the side. The controller will turn the heater on and off, keeping the cooler at an even temperature in the range which encourages tempeh mold to grow.Here's the pound of dried pinto beans. I've made the tempeh with black beans, soy beans, navy beans and chickpeas. They're all pretty similar, except for chickpeas. For some reason, chickpea tempeh gets much more funky. The other beans make mild tempeh with a bit of yeasty smell. Chickpea tempeh can get stinky like a ripe cheese. I've used canned beans, too, and it works great.I soak them in water overnight, then bring to a boil. After they boil, I cover and let sit until cool. That's enough to cook most beans, but some very hard & dry ones need a second boiling, or to let simmer for a while.Drain the beans really well.I split the beans up into two glass dishes. The ones I'm using are "Anchor Hocking 12 Cup Glass Refrigerator Storage Container" which I bought on Amazon for $13 each. Any glass dish is fine, as long as it's flat and has a lid. The beans should be about 1/2 inch thick.The only other ingredients are apple cider vinegar and tempeh starter. I bought my starter from Tempeh Info (www.tempeh.info). For a pound of beans, I use 2 tablespoons of vinegar and 1 teaspoon of starter.Here are the beans mixed up with the vinegar and starter, with the lids on their container and ready to go into the cooler.I put a square dish on top of the heating pad to raise the first glass dish up a little.Here's the first glass dish. Next, I'll put the second one right on top of it.Here are the beans after 12 hours.After 18 hours.24 hours.36 hours. Look how much moisture condenses on the lid!36 hours.40 hours.44 hours. It looks like a really thick mat of mold and there wasn't much change since last time, so I'm calling it done!Here's what the bottom looks like.A beautiful thick mat of mold holding the beans together.
