Is this OK?

[mawil1013]

I'm 68 yo and made my first fermentation, found a YouTube'r recipe.
Fermented for 4 days then into the fridge.
My concern is the water above the cabbage seal was dark brown, with something that looked like coagulated brown. I used a smooth stone from some decorative stone bought. I scrubbed it with dish detergent and a wash cloth. Then boiled for 30 minutes. My uneducated guess is oxygenation? All the cabbage under the cabbage leaf seal looks great. My jar seal was a coffee filter, topped with a plate and weighed down the plate, then covered with a towel. So, what is the brown fluid? I carefully removed it with a spoon then, paper towel, then anything brown which was slight around top of good cabbage, then wiped inside of jar glass, then removed extra good cabbage to make sure any brown would be gone. PS: the fermentation raised the level in the up to almost top of jar. A half gallon jar, so came up about 3 inches, the smell is slightly sweet and vinegar. Once the brown above the cabbage leaf was all removed plus some good cabbage off the top. I nibbled about a 1/4 tsp 12 hours ago. Not dead yet!

[Christopher Weeks]

Welcome to Wild Fermentation!

I'm having trouble envisioning what you've got going from your description, if your produce was submerged it's can't have gone too awfully wrong. If the stone was submerged, it almost has to be the source of the brown. If it were a natural stone from the out of doors, I'd be pretty relaxed about, but as a product of industry and commerce, there's no telling what was put in/on it and whether you could clean it.

Also, the board is for introductions only, so you're unlikely to get anyone but me commenting. If you want to get this issue in front of more eyes, repost it to the veggie ferments board.

[mawil1013]

Welcome to Wild Fermentation!

I'm having trouble envisioning what you've got going from your description, if your produce was submerged it's can't have gone too awfully wrong. If the stone was submerged, it almost has to be the source of the brown. If it were a natural stone from the out of doors, I'd be pretty relaxed about, but as a product of industry and commerce, there's no telling what was put in/on it and whether you could clean it.

Also, the board is for introductions only, so you're unlikely to get anyone but me commenting. If you want to get this issue in front of more eyes, repost it to the veggie ferments board.

OK, I thought from instructions this was the only place to post for now, until approved. My mistake, I moved it over to Veg's for help. The stone was in a bag at Lowes, looks like large round smooth river rocks for around the yard. The cabbage in fridge still looks good to me, bright red with red cabbage and beets! Still has a slight sweet beet and vinegar scent. I'm chomping at the bit to try it! Thanks for your work on the Forum. I was on reddit but they are some strange characters.

[Christopher Weeks]

Oh, you were right, this was the only place you could post. New users post an introduction and then are given rights to everywhere else once I think they're a real person.