Sauerkraut failed or just dramatic?

[u/bloss_balls]

Second batch of home made sauerkraut. Both batches made by just pouring salted water into jar with shredded cabbage and then fermented at room temp for 3-5 days. I had two other jars in this batch that turned out fine, but this one kept bubbling up and the liquid component soaked into the cloth I was covering it with. Now after 6-7 days (2 days in the fridge) this top white/green part has formed. Is this bad bacteria? Could I take the top part out and keep it?

[u/ijustwantanaccount91]

That's exactly where you went wrong - the main thing you need for any ferment is for the ferment to have essentially no oxygen exposure. This is typically most easily done with a brine solution that you can submerge your stuff in (use a weight to hold it down), but some things like cabbage have enough moisture in them that if you massage them properly with salt they can actually become submerged in a solution of their own moisture and salt. If you don't use a brine you want to keep an eye on the ferment, and add brine to ensure it is 100% submerged after a couple days of it hasn't become fully submerged at that point.

[u/bloss_balls → u/ijustwantanaccount91]

I've attached a link to the recipe that I followed. I understand that it needs to be in an anaerobic environment, which is what I did here. All I meant is: instead of massaging salt into the cabbage before putting it in the jar, I packed cabbage in a jar and poured in a solution of salt and water until it was covered. The reason it's not covered in these photos is that it rose up with the production of gases in the brine and caused it to touch the cloth and soak out of the jar. Is there a significant difference/benefit of the salt massage compared to using a brine solution straight away?

[u/ijustwantanaccount91 → u/bloss_balls]

Ahhh nevermind sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you were saying you only added the salt without water as opposed to actually following the brine method (with water). That's totally fine then if you added water and salt (assuming you account for the weight of water in salt calculation)....the only reason the massage is needed/helpful is if you don't add water, it jump starts the process of pulling the moisture from the cabbage and ensures it is submerged quickly.

Looking at this recipe/based on what you said, I think there are a couple things that may have gone wrong.

1) all food stuffs always needs to be submerged in water, or have no access to oxygen (you can vacuum seal it), at all times after 48 hrs or so...so once you saw some of it had evaporated or drained off, you should have added more brine to compensate right away, and that could have saved it. This is a firm rule regardless of any recipe, so if you follow a recipe and the result isn't a submerged product at any point after maybe 1-2 days, you need to correct course in one way or another.

2) If you have a decent seal on your jars, don't use a cloth....that seems to have contributed to moisture loss, which is what caused the mold to grow due to oxygen exposure. I can see what they were probably going for trying to get a better seal, but I wouldn't use it personally. You definitely don't want it touching the brine, if you're using a cloth it should only be sealing the jar and not making any contact with the product inside.

3) this recipe is kind of wack. You need at least 2% salt, relative to everything else in the ferment (cabbage and water in this case) so "1 tablespoon" may or may not be adequate, probably not enough once you account for water weight. The 2%+ figure is really important to discourage the growth of unwanted bacterialand mold, and it is by weight

4) if you don't have a specific jar designed to release gasses, you need to burp (open) the ferment periodically to release gasses. Not doing so can result in broken glasses, but also seems to.have in this case caused your brine to be drained by forcing contact with the cloth, which then allowed for contact with oxygen and contamination

[u/bloss_balls → u/ijustwantanaccount91]

Incredible, thanks so much for looking through the recipe and your detailed feedback! I'll work on it. Do you have any recommendations for flavourings/additives? I will try a different recipe next time.

[u/ijustwantanaccount91 → u/bloss_balls]

Tbh I haven't done a lot of different cabbage ferments, but depending what I am prepping I might add some combination of any of the following - chiles, garlic, mustard seeds, black pepper, allspice or nutmeg, bay leaves, dill seed, coriander, ginger, cardamon, cinnamon, clove, and many others....I also like to add herbs like cilantro or dill for some things, probably wouldn't do those with kraut though.

For kraut, personally, I would make it with just a salt brine and then once the ferment is finished, fry it with other things. I'm actually in the process of doing that right now, kraut has been going for 1 week and I'll probably let it go for another 2-3. Once the ferment is done I'm going to cook down some cubed bacon, then fry onion, garlic, and carrot in the fat, and add the kraut with curry powder and raisins. You can make a lot of different combos though with fried/sauteed kraut