I am not a Bokashi expert but just wanted to say, I would not recommend wasting half-done compost because it had mold of any kind in it. I would bury it or add to another compost pile if there is one available. Not much can happen to compost that actually makes it unusable.

Sorry I can't help you with the more pressing question of what colors of mold are OK in the Bokashi environment.

The whole idea of adding sugar(a valuable food substance) to any kind of compost is really annoying to me. Bokashi to me is just another kind of compost variation that was wasteful and tries to be different from and better than traditional compost but failed. Adding sugar to compost just defeat the purpose of making compost in the first place, if not stupid.

Are you trying to make Bokashi in your tumbler or adding fermented Bokashi to the raw ingredients in your tumbler?

I would not do either. I have made a huge batch of newspaper Bokashi media this year, and made about six Bokashi buckets. Some I put in the veg. garden area. Some I put into a large compost bin.

To repeat, I would not add Bokashi material to any pile/tumbler/composting system that you expect to get hot.

I am not clear as to what your method and final intent is.

ceth, I agree with you to an extent. Bokashi does have special characteristics that make it a potentially valuable method. It is one of very few methods that make it possible to do it indoors without odors. That's a redeeming factor in my book (although I haven't tried it). There are millions of apartment dwellers who could divert food waste this way. The pros and cons and overall life cycle cost/benefit are open to discussion but it does have its benefits.

To the OP, there are spores everywhere, so if you're doing this in an outdoor tumbler, there is no way on Earth to limit it to only the microbes you put in.

Randi, you are going to have to provide more info if you wish for advice.

Step 1 -- making serum out of rice wash or other material.
Step 2 -- Purifying serum
Step 3 -- Moving serum to media (in my case newspaper.) Drying media when done.

Step 4 -- Making a bokashi bucket with your material (such as fruit and veggie wastes) and your bokashi serum laden material (in my case the serum newspaper). After two weeks you have completed bokashi.

Step 5 -- Put bokashi material to work in your garden. You might add bokashi to a compost pile, but it should be a cold pile.

Some folks buy bokashi laden media and skip the first three steps.

At what point are you finding molds you are worried about? When the bucket is done, the bucket should have a smell close to cider vinegar.

Bokashi composting requires two elements that I don't see in the OP:

1) The process is anerobic - no oxygen.
2) You need to drain the liquid during the composting period without exposing it to oxygen

When you said you were using a "bin" it made me think that the container is not airtight (gasket seal) and you are not draining the liquid. See the link provided for an inexpensive container system with sealed lids and drains. You can buy the food container buckets for $4 at Lowes and the spigot drain at a beer supply store. The lids are available online.

Also - what are you using for effective microorganisms?

Here is a link that might be useful: Bokashi bucket

@ceth - bokashi composting is an ancient practice that the west has only recently discovered. The process is fermentation not composting as we know it. Once fermented, the material is added to traditional composting methods (or just buried) where it rapidly breaks down.

I love bukake.