TIL you can over-stir your sauerkraut and ruin the ferment

I was making a batch of kraut in my tiny apartment kitchen in Portland last month and kept opening the jar to poke at it every few hours because I was paranoid about mold. Turns out all that extra oxygen killed the lacto-bacteria and I ended up with a slimy, rotten-smelling mess I had to dump down the garbage disposal. Has anyone else wrecked a batch by just being too hands-on?

2 comments

2 Comments

logan2631mo ago

Oh man, have you tried weighing the cabbage down with a glass weight or a ziplock bag of brine? I made that mistake once too and now I just let it sit with a good weight on it and only check once a week. Makes a huge difference.

rowan2621mo ago

Keep a plate on top of the cabbage too, that works well. I learned the hard way that checking on it every few days just lets too much air get in there. Now I leave it alone for at least two weeks with a good weight and a tight seal. Comes out way better and less chance of mold showing up.