Hi all,
I am new to fermenting and just made my first small test batch of sauerkraut.
I explained in detail in the introduce yourself thread, oops, should have done that in here, sorry bout that.
Basically, I just bought one of those large glass container with the rubber seal glass clamp down top type (like the old fashioned canning jars) and used that as a fermenter with just cheesecloth and a rubber band to seal it.
I used one medium green cabbage, and 1.5tablespoons of himylayan sea salt, nothing else.
I put a few leaves of cabbage on the top of the kraut and a small jar with a weight in it to weigh it down.
After about 2.5 weeks it was to my liking, tasted very close to the expensive health food store sauerkraut, nice and crunchy and pretty vinigary.
The only problem was the small patches of black and white fuzzy mold that was growing on the leaves on the top, so following the advice here, I just picked off the fuzzy leaves and threw them away.
It's now in the fridge, and no more mold has grown since.
I'm still alive after eating the kraut, so I'm assuming it's ok:)
So, the questions I have are fist about washing the cabbage, I always wash my veggies well, but i never see anyone wash their cabbage first, why not?
I'm not just concerned about contaminants but also pesticides because it's not organic. I know you can't get all the pesticides off, but every bit helps.
The other question is about airlocks as opposed to open fermenter.
If I used a sealed top with an airlock, would this solve the mold issue?
What happens if the veggies are not weighed down and protrude above the brine, but you have an airlocked container, would it go bad?
I'm pretty much an expert at brewing beer, but never made kraut until now, so I'm wondering how similar the processes are, I'm big on sanitizing everything well when making beer.
Thanks for your advice!