make sauerkraut

Yesterday the brine in my sauerkraut got to be so much that it pushed my water filled plastic bag against the lid of my container and spilled water everywhere. Apparently putting the lid on the bucket is a bad idea… just use the bag (or a plate/weight if you go that route). At least I know the right things are happening!

On Saturday I purchased cabbage. I let it sit on the counter at home for several hours before I was ready to gather the required instruments, sterilize them, and cut all the cabbage for my sauerkraut. By the end of the day I had spent 3 hours cutting, salting and tamping cabbage and had 25 pounds of it in my 5 gallon bucket.

The sauerkraut should be ready November 11th – 6 weeks from Saturday. I’ll continue to check on the bucket occasionally, but so far it looks like there is plenty of fluid covering the cabbage. I’m crossing my fingers it turns out well since this is my first time making it. For those interested, I followed this recipe.
(Also possibly of interest… I used two glad turkey sized oven bags, one placed inside the other and filled with water, to cover my sauerkraut in the bucket, then put the bucket’s lid on top. I’m hoping this water bag method will help keep that bad things out so that it won’t spoil.)