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Sauerkraut

14K views 44 replies 10 participants last post by  Fivej 
#1 ·
Chopping cabbage today and wondering if I could add carrot slices to the mix for color and I suppose taste. Or other vegetable. I don't want to make kimchee so won't be adding peppers, pepper paste and fish parts. Must be people here who know these things? Love to hear what you do.
 
#32 ·
I have my equipment, recipe,and read here and watched a bunch of youtubes. I can't seem to find the answer to one question: How do I stop the fermentation AND store the kraut? I know that I can put it in the fridge to stop fermentation and it will be good there for a year. But I am making a big batch and can't possibly put the jars in the fridge. I assume once fermentation is stopped, they can be stored in a cool/dry place? So, how do I make a big batch, put them in 30 mason jars and have them keep?
 
#33 ·
To answer my own question, I decided to "bottle" the kraut in stages and put it in the fridge, then store it in the basement. I will mark the jars with how long it fermented and next time I will have an idea on how long of a fermentation I like. After one week of fermenting in my bucket, i am going to jar some up with jalepeno peppers and finish their fermentation in the jars. J
 
#34 ·
I guess it is full disclosure time. We had a brutally cold February and early March. My Kraut mine is in an unheated portion of our basement and I thick the little acetobacters were too darn busy shivering to do much fermenting. In addition instead of applying salt by guess and by golly as I was taught I was told about the need to have a certain percentage of salt so I measured that and put it on. This resulted in my kraut being oversalty and awfully crunchy and under fermented. Rinsing it took care of the excess salty but it was still under fermented. I cold bath canned most of it which will take care of the crunchy and a miracle may take place and move it above mediocre on the scale. But when cabbage goes on sale, I get to try again, so it is no big deal. I will have carrot and maybe corn in the next batch.
 
#35 ·
Glad you fessed up Vance because I fear I may be in the same boat. I took a taste of mine yesterday and it was VERY salty even though I am (almost) positive I followed the recipes. I also see very little evidence of fermentation and moved mine to a warmer spot in the house. I did some more research and know that you want 2% min salt for it to be safely preserved. So I ordered a saltometer which I didn't even know existed and plan on testing my brine and go from there. If too salty, I will save the brine, rinse the kraut and dilute the brine to 2%. Hopefully,it is fermenting enough.
Now, have you ever made honey mustard....
 
#36 ·
My brine came in at 10%!!! How in the world that happened, I don't know as I feel I followed the recipes as far as salt goes. I rinsed it, diluted the brine to about 1.7 figuring there is still salt in the cabbage. Will recheck in a few days. On a positive note, it is getting soft,so it did at least start fermenting. Not sure if this can be saved, but giving it a shot.
 
#38 ·
Just following up for future kraut makers. I was able to save my too salty kraut. Today, the salt was at 3%, fermentation is taking place. Cabbage is much softer and tastes fantastic. I again rinsed the kraut, squeezed it and returned it to my fermenting bucket after diluting the brine to 1.7% again. I anticipate that the brine will get between 2 and 2.5% as more salt leaches from the cabbage. Tips if it is too salty: Use warm water to rinse the kraut. When diluting the brine, remove some brine and add warm water. The reason for this is that my house is cool and heating season is over and you need 60F min for a good fermentation. Keep the too salty brine to add if you dilute too much. Buy a refractometer for salt. Only cost me $20 on Amazon. Next batch I make, I will invest in a digital scale to weigh the salt. It appears that it is very easy to get the brine too salty and if too salty, the cabbage will not ferment and it does't taste good either!
 
#43 ·
Excuse my bravery but I want to put my cents in that conversation - summer cabbage isn't good for making sauerkraut - it not contain to many sugars for right fermentation plus temperatures too high for that purpose. Few post above I have posted a link to similar discussion (different forum) on some topic. Please check last 3 pages. Maybe it will help.
 
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