turkob wrote:Does it need to be air tight? Mine is sitting in a stock pot with a towel on top.

When I first make kraut and fermented pickles, I did the plate, weighted down with a water filled mason jar and towel covering the opening. I spent a lot of time dealing with yeast.

When I changed to the ziploc bag, I had very little yeast or mold to deal with. What I have was just around the edge where maybe a piece of kraut was over the top and exposed.

Regards,
Cathy2

We always had it weighted down properly and had cotton cloth on top.

Puckjam wrote:We always had it weighted down properly and had cotton cloth on top.

Were you the one monitoring the fermentation?

I found once I used the filled ziploc bag to cover, I could peer down to see what was happening and had far less issues with yeasts. The beauty the gases get released from the edges, though little seems to get it.

The first few times I did any fermenting, I used a three-gallon glass jar. Once I had confidence in the process, I switched to plastic pails.

Regards,
Cathy2

Thanks for the tip Cathy. I moved two heads of cabbage with a 3% brine solution to a 2.5 gallon ziploc bag. They are fully submerged and looking good.

Feeling under the weather and this sounded good so I improvised. Tossed in a leek and some mushrooms and upped the tomato and paprika. Easy and delicious.

C2--
How is your layout arranged? do you have the 2gal ziploc laid on top of the brine, functioning as both a weight and a cover? I can't quite get the picture, sorry.

Geo

Geo wrote:C2--
How is your layout arranged? do you have the 2gal ziploc laid on top of the brine, functioning as both a weight and a cover? I can't quite get the picture, sorry.

Geo

Yes, it acts as a weight and cover.

Top is 2-gallon food safe bag filled with water replicating the brine (in case there is a leak).
Bottom is the food safe bucket with the sauerkraut or pickles.

Regards,
Cathy2