[ContainerTed]

I have found that you don't have to leave the container open to achieve fermentation. It seems that the raw tomato juice and flesh has plenty before being exposed to the air in the house.

Sue, you'll make your job a bunch easier if you just put some water in there. About half an inch would be great. If I may, I'd like to suggest that you can do your fermentation in half pint jars like I do and put rings and lids on them to control the stink. You can even write the variety name on the old canning lids. I wash the jars and lids when we finish a jar of canned garden stuff. I put the old lids and rings on the jars for storage to keep dust out

I've been using this method for a while and it works wonderfully. Most folks know I wrote "A beginners guide to Fermentation" which explains how to get started and what to look for to guarantee success. It's found over at Tatianna's Tomatobase. However, I've spent the last three years using this method of putting the "soup" into jars that I can close. I still get the white fungus mat and the fermentation is still finished in about 3-5 days. I also give each jar that's working a little swirling shake each day. This mixes up the contents and seems to accelerate the process slightly.

So, take a half pint jar with lid and ring and put the seeds and pulp and some water in. Swirl it each day to mix up the contents. You'll see seeds sinking to the bottom after each swirl. Then, just remove the seeds when fermentation is done, rinse, dry, and store.

The fungus gnats are thick here in Tennessee right now, and I absolutely know that this keeps the odors of fermentation and, at least some of those little devils out of the house.

Edited to add: Also, you won't get any maggots with closed jars.