My sauerkraut brine disaster took a full month to fix

I started a big batch of sauerkraut in my crock, using a cabbage from my local farm. After two weeks, I checked it and the brine level had dropped way below the cabbage. I tried adding more salt water, but it kept getting mold on top. I had to scrape it off and re-weight the veggies every few days. This back and forth went on for over four weeks before it finally stabilized. Has anyone else had this much trouble keeping everything submerged?

3 comments

3 Comments

caseypalmer3mo ago

Keeping the cabbage under the brine is the hardest part. I had a batch go bad last year from the same problem, and it's so frustrating to keep fighting the mold. Using a plastic bag filled with extra brine as a weight finally worked for me.

palmer.val3mo ago

A friend swears by those glass fermentation weights for keeping everything submerged.

thomas_roberts1mo ago

Man, is mold on cabbage really that big of a deal? I get that nobody wants to toss a whole batch, but I've had a few floaters in my time and I just scoop them out. Everything below the surface was always fine. Unless you're feeding a family of ten off one jar, seems like a lot of fuss over something that usually just sits on top. Did you actually try eating the rest of the batch before tossing it?