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My sauerkraut turned to mush and I spent a week figuring out why
I had a batch of red cabbage kraut that came out soft and slimy after 10 days. I thought my salt ratio was right, but it was still wrong. It took me 5 tries over a week to realize my kitchen was too warm, around 75 degrees. I moved the next jar to my cooler basement and it was perfect in two weeks. Has anyone else fixed a mushy ferment by changing the spot where it sits?
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wren_carr5mo ago
Why didn't you just pop a cheap thermometer in your kitchen to check before you wasted a whole batch? That's what got me after my first oops. I started with a $5 one from the grocery store after my pickles went soft, and now I know my fermentation spot without guessing. I feel like people way overcomplicate the science, but ignoring it completely is how you end up with mush. Your grandma's basement was probably a stable 60 degrees, not a toasty 75 like your kitchen. So here's my real question: did you ever take the temp of your basement to see the exact difference that fixed it?
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cole_davis476mo ago
Ever read that book by the guy who wrote about wild fermentation? He talks about this exact thing, how a few degrees can make the wrong bacteria win the race. My own kitchen runs hot too, and I lost a couple batches of pickles before I caught on. It's wild how moving a jar just ten feet can change everything.
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reese866mo ago
But is it really that big of a deal? I mean, people have been fermenting stuff forever without thermometers. Maybe we're overthinking it. My grandma just left her crock in the basement and it always worked out fine. Idk, feels like sometimes these books make it sound way more fragile than it is.
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