Fermenting.

[Worth1]

I just finished making about 33 pounds of sauerkraut before I was through doing it the stuff was bubbling.
The carrots haven't done anything yet.
Pictures coming soon.

Worth

[Worth1]

Here we go sauerkraut.
I worked with 2 1/2 pounds of cabbage at a time mixing in 1 1/2 tablespoons of canning salt.
squeezing and pounding until I got some good water going in the bowl.
That was then dumped into the crock and tamped some more and pressed to the bottom as good as I could get it.
I kept doing this until I had all of the cabbage in and would you know it I guessed it just right.
33 pounds of cabbage put me right where I needed to be with a 15 liter crock.
I didn't add any water because I had a little over an inch over the weights.
Before I was through the cabbage was starting to foam and work.
The last pictuer shows the water trough filled and the lid on.
I wont open this thing for another two weeks at least.
Worth
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[Karrr_Luda]

Ooh, 33lbs that's a lot of kraut, will last you till next fall Those pictures look fabulous, the one with the stone and lots of brine is my fave, super nice stones, lots of brine, everything nicely submerged, means job well done!!

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by akgardengirl

I used a similar tool to pound the cabbage...a turned rolling pin. It worked good with the crock set up on a stool so I didn't have to bend over too far. Almost 3 weeks now so I will try out the taste soon.
Sue

Sue I was going to buy a wooden softball bat but I looked on line and almost fell over.
They want over a hundred dollars for a darn ball bat.
So scrap wood it was.

Originally Posted by Karrr_Luda

Ooh, 33lbs that's a lot of kraut, will last you till next fall Those pictures look fabulous, the one with the stone and lots of brine is my fave, super nice stones, lots of brine, everything nicely submerged, means job well done!!

I was worried about having to add water I didn't want to.
Somehow I felt it would dilute the good organisms.
I only wanted to use the water the cabbage had in it so I took my time to let the water come out.

The handles are where you want to stop at and it dawned on me why when I went to put the weights in.
If you over fill you cant get the weights in because you have to go longways first and then flatten them out.

Worth

[Karrr_Luda]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I was worried about having to add water I didn't want to.
Somehow I felt it would dilute the good organisms.
I only wanted to use the water the cabbage had in it so I took my time to let the water come out.

The handles are where you want to stop at and it dawned on me why when I went to put the weights in.
If you over fill you cant get the weights in because you have to go longways first and then flatten them out.

Worth

You are right, cabage juice and water give you very different results. But you have enough liquid, everything covered so no need adding water. It looks beautiful!

My grandmother made this kraut and bean soup with sour cream and she used a different technique to ferment cabage for the soup specifically. She just used salty brine, or sometimes a piece of sourdough bread on top to make it. Fermented it for a week. The result is very different tasting cabage, but perfect for this soup. She removed bread, cooked all of it with the liquid, adding water if too sour, adding beans and cooking some more, then adding sour cream(mixed with the broth from the soup to make it more liquid, possibly adding a spoonfull of flour to the sour cream - not nessessary) stirred, slow boiled for a minute or two. All done, my fave soup from childhood, I make it once in a blue... Called "Habart káposzta leves" in Hungarian.

[Worth1]

Lyuda for some reason I cant quote today.

Thanks for the compliments.
So are you Hungarian?
I am assuming you may be around artists of all types could you not find one that makes and glazes pottery?
It would be a simple task to turn one of these out on a potters wheel bake and glaze it.
But yet a 5 liter one isn't that expensive.
One thing I read on line several times is the smaller quart fermenting contraptions have a higher rate of failure/spoilage.
I suspected this before I read it and is why I got the 15 liter one.

Krockatoa which is what I have decided to name my fermenting crock started burping last night and has continued to burp all day today and is getting faster.
It is burping about every two minutes.
The temperature in my house is right at 70 degrees.
So far the carrots are just sitting there doing nothing.
Never had anything sit around the house and burp before it is pretty cool.

Worth

[sdambr]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Lyuda for some reason I cant quote today.


Krockatoa which is what I have decided to name my fermenting crock started burping last night and has continued to burp all day today and is getting faster.


Worth

Let's hope there are no eruptions!

[Karrr_Luda]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Lyuda for some reason I cant quote today.

Thanks for the compliments.
So are you Hungarian?
I am assuming you may be around artists of all types could you not find one that makes and glazes pottery?
It would be a simple task to turn one of these out on a potters wheel bake and glaze it.
But yet a 5 liter one isn't that expensive.
One thing I read on line several times is the smaller quart fermenting contraptions have a higher rate of failure/spoilage.
I suspected this before I read it and is why I got the 15 liter one.

Krockatoa which is what I have decided to name my fermenting crock started burping last night and has continued to burp all day today and is getting faster.
It is burping about every two minutes.
The temperature in my house is right at 70 degrees.
So far the carrots are just sitting there doing nothing.
Never had anything sit around the house and burp before it is pretty cool.

Worth

Krockatoa!! Worh you are hilarious! Erupt it must now!, but not with this batch of cabbage! I don't remember my carrots bubble ever, taste them to see if they are doing anything really, maybe give them another couple of days?

Not around any pottery artists anymore, and asking people to do stuff for me is not my thing. (got a problem here!) Plus it's not a necessity, more of a luxury for me, since I can do without. I can admire and appreciate someone's beautiful crock without getting worked up about it. Maybe one day when I feel like making myself a present...cause those are the best as you probably know.

I am a mix of things, only part Hungarian from my mom's side. I do speak it.

[Worth1]

I understand.
Who in their right mind would do this.
In the process of painting KROCKATOA on the thing now.
in south pacific letting I dreamed up.
Worth
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[Karrr_Luda]

That is FAN-CY! Happy birthday Krockatoa!!

[sdambr]

Four hours later, still laughing at Krockatoa! Love it. Now going to start fermenting in the mini version. Quart size mason jar kit from fermentools.com. Can somebosy talk me out of this before I start another endless hobby. Worth I will need a name for my bubbly.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by sdambr

Four hours later, still laughing at Krockatoa! Love it. Now going to start fermenting in the mini version. Quart size mason jar kit from fermentools.com. Can somebosy talk me out of this before I start another endless hobby. Worth I will need a name for my bubbly.

You can call it Anak Krakaktau this is Indonesian for child of Krakatoa or Krakatau.

I changed the spelling of Krockatoa to Krokatoa and left out the c..
The stencil messed up so I just hand painted it.


Worth
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[sdambr]

I love it, Anak it shall be! Keep us updated on how it turns out. Will patiently await results and my fermenting kit.

[Worth1]

I don't know why I didn't think of this before.
Homemade Air lock.
The bottle lid has tiny holes in it.
Worth
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[Father'sDaughter]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I don't know why I didn't think of this before.

Homemade Air lock.

The bottle lid has tiny holes in it.

Worth

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Good thinking! In the beer making world we use something similar referred to as a "blow off tube" when fermentation is too violent for a small airlock.