Knowledge Base

Lactic Acid Bacteria

LAB

Microbial culture · Master Cho · KNF

Rice-water microbes fed on milk into a yellow serum that opens up the soil, solubilizes phosphate, and swells fruit and leaf.

All stagesSoil
Easy to make
5–7 days ferment
1:1000 dilution
microbes, soil-aeration, phosphate-solubilizing supplied
＋ Start a batch from this recipe

Dilution calculator

Dilution 1:1000

Enter a water volume to see how much to add.

Ingredients

  • Rice-washed water1 part
  • Milk (raw, unboiled)3 parts (3:1 milk to rice water)
  • Jaggery / brown sugarequal to serum for room-temperature storage

How to make it

  1. Step 1

    Pour rice-washed water 15–20 cm deep in a jar, cover with paper, and leave in shade.

  2. Step 2

    Wait until it smells sour — LAB propagate at 23–25°C.

  3. Step 3

    Add this sour rice water to milk at a 1:3 ratio (3 parts milk).

  4. Step 4

    In 3–4 days it separates into three layers: floating curd, clear yellow liquid, and debris.

  5. Step 5

    Remove the floating curd and strain off the yellow liquid — that is your LAB serum.

  6. Step 6

    Store the serum in a bottle, cool and shaded or refrigerated.

  7. Step 7

    For room-temperature keeping, mix the serum with an equal amount of brown sugar.

What it is

LAB are anaerobic microbes that break sugar into lactic acid. You collect the strongest ones in nutrient-poor rice-washed water, then multiply them on raw milk. The finished serum is a clear yellow liquid that improves soil aeration and drives rapid growth of fruit trees and leafy vegetables.

On the Nutritive Cycle: LAB is an all-stages and soil backbone. It aerates and softens the ground, solubilizes phosphate, neutralizes ammonia gas, and speeds compost and IMO fermentation — but ease off as crops approach the later stages.

When to use it

  • Basic dilution 1:1000 in water.
  • With FPJ — LAB works better paired with FPJ than alone.
  • Livestock — LAB 1:500 with FPJ 1:300 as drinking water to recover digestion.
  • Phosphate soils — 100–200 ml LAB in 1000 ml water solubilizes accumulated phosphate.
  • Reduce the amount as crops reach later stages.

Materials

  • Rice-washed water 15–20 cm deep in a jar
  • Raw, unboiled milk (cow's milk is best) — 3 parts to 1 part rice water
  • Porous paper, rubber band, clay or glass jar
  • Brown sugar for room-temperature storage

How to make it

  1. Sour the rice water. Cover and shade it until it smells sour (23–25°C).
  2. Feed it milk. Add the sour water to milk at 1:3 (three parts milk).
  3. Let it separate. In 3–4 days it splits into floating curd, yellow serum, and bottom debris.
  4. Harvest the serum. Skim the curd, strain off the yellow liquid, and bottle it.

Signs it worked / troubleshooting

  • ✅ Good: clean sour smell and a clear yellow middle layer.
  • ⚠️ No sour smell = too cold or too soon → keep at 23–25°C and wait.
  • 🚫 Rotten, foul odor = contaminated → discard and restart.

How to store

Refrigerate or keep cool and shaded (1–15°C), out of direct sun. To hold it at room temperature, mix the serum with an equal amount of brown sugar and stir with a wooden ladle.

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