Why isn’t my bokashi fermenting?

If your bokashi bucket hasn't developed a foul odor and there isn't green, black, or blue mold forming on the contents, your bokashi probably IS fermenting. 

A fermenting bucket will smell yeasty, vinegarish, or alcoholic, but this smell may not be terribly strong. 

The scraps inside the bucket will look pretty much the same as when they were added, although they may have some mycelium growth on them which looks like a white, webby, mold-like substance. 

If your bucket smells foul, or you see more than dime-sized spots of colored mold forming, something has gone wrong. Dump the bucket, bury the contents away from food crops, wash the bucket with hot, soapy water, and start over.

There are a few factors that may cause a batch of bokashi to start to putrefy rather than ferment as it should:   

• You put something that was already spoiling or moldy into the bucket. This spoiled food contained mold or bacteria that out-multiplied the "good" bacteria/yeasts in the EM/LAB.  
• You allowed too much air to get into the bucket. Fermentation requires an anaerobic environment. Look for cracks in your bucket and make sure the lid fits tight. Don't open your bokashi bucket more than once a day. Instead, collect scraps in a small container and put a day's worth into your bokashi bucket all at once. Compress the contents of your bucket each time you add new material and cover the top layer with a piece of plastic to keep air out.  
• You didn't add enough bokashi bran or EM/LAB spray to jumpstart the proliferation of the bacteria/yeasts that drive the fermentation process, and "bad" bacteria have taken over.
• There was too much moisture, and/or the leachate wasn't drained away often enough. Drain your bucket at least every other day. If you open up your bucket and there is condensation on the underside of the lid, the contents are too wet. Add more bran or a bit of shredded paper to absorb excess moisture. If you are using a fermentation vessel without a chamber to collect the leachate, make sure you are adding enough absorbent material (shredded paper, etc.) to keep up with the volume of "tea"  being produced during the fermentation process).