Sauerkraut

[Finster]

Santa brought me a fermentation starter kit.
Making homemade sauerkraut for the first time.
I plan to let it fester until my birthday in early March.
I'm amazed that I was able to squeeze 2 lbs of cabbage into a 1 quart jar.

[DavidNorcross]

Very nice. Fermenting is a great way to preserve food. Especially cabbage and onions

[barelfly]

Fun! What all did you add to it? Any caraway or juniper? I always enjoy a little red chile flake added in to mine. But you are gonna love that kraut in March!

[Steve B]

Cool. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

On a side note, the wife has no desire to move down that way. But thanks for your input a couple of months ago. 👍🏼

[Michael_in_TX]

It took me quite a while to get comfortable with giving this a try. I mean, it goes against everything you intuitively know about safe food: room temperature.....for weeks?!

But that first batch of kimchi I made was divine.

[bbqLuv]

Hotdogs and Sauerkraut go together.
One of the best Sauerkraut had caraway seeds in it.
So good.

[Finster]

I added celery seed. Plan to try the caraway seed next time

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I love fresh kraut, my wife is iffy on it because she's become so accustomed to the store bought "pickled" stuff. Does wonders on the gut.

[jtw]

i love my homemade sauerkraut - i never have the patience to go two months, usually i end up jarring it after about a month. enjoy!

[jerrybell]

Excellent - you're going to love that kraut. I had to toss out a 5 gal batch a few weeks ago on account of a bad crock. After carefully inspecting the glaze my other crocks (all antiques) I decided to order a new crock. This is supposed to be delivered Friday.

[Michael_in_TX]

I am going to give this a go! Cabbage and just salt this time around. (And one heavily sanitized large Ball jar!)

[TomfromtheSoo]

Finster

I’ve been making sauerkraut for about fifteen years in a 5 liter crock. Love the stuff.

I always weigh my cabbage and salt to a 2% ratio and ferment for 4 weeks. Then into half-gallon jars and in the fridge. The results a very consistent (good). A gallon of finished kraut lasts us about nine months.

Save any extra juice you may have and drink it. Probiotic punch. We sometimes mix the juice with tomato juice for a morning drink. Also, the juice can be used as a starter in other ferment like homemade mustard.

Here’s a couple photos from previous batches:

[Finster]

I followed the directions that came with the kit. 2 lbs of cabbage and however much salt ( I think 1/4 C).. directions said to let ferment for 6 weeks, but could do longer. 8 weeks sounded like a good round number

[Finster]

Okay folks. One week in. Should I be concerned with this liquid leak? I know it's supposed to let gas escape without letting oxygen in, but there was a small (2Tbs roughly) puddle under the jar when I checked it this morning.

[TomfromtheSoo]

Can you post a photo of the side of the jar showing the cabbage inside?

It would be normal for gas bubbles to develop during the fermentation process. As the fermentation progresses, some liquid can be displaced. This will subside as fermentation advances.

Maybe needed a little more headspace in the jar to allow for expansion.

[Michael_in_TX]

This reminds me I need to get going on my batch! Now if I could just remember where I put my special ball jar lids and my gas let-out-things.

[Finster]

TomfromtheSoo

[DavidNorcross]

I am no expert. But I think you are fine. Next time, maybe leave a bit more head space.

[TomfromtheSoo]

I think you are fine as well. Difficult to tell from photo but probably just expansion during fermentation.

[Finster]

Thanks guys. I will keep an eye on it

[JCBBQ]

I think I’ve seen videos on YouTube where they say to always have a container/tray under the fermentation jar bc if you using what you are using it will absolutely ferment out the top and all over the counter if there isn’t some to catch it. So totally normal.