Sauerkraut brine question

13 years ago

The recipe that I have for sauerkraut calls for 2 tablespoons canning salt per 3 lbs cabbage. Then it says to let it wilt a few minutes and then pack it tightly in a crock until the juice comes to the surface. The cabbage has to be completely submerged in the brine I suppose? When I was packing my cabbage I didn't get enough juice from the cabbage to fill in all of the air spaces. Is this because maybe there wasn't enough salt, or because I'm not pressing hard enough? I tamped it down with my hands as hard as I could without bruising it. Am I supposed to add liquid? The recipe doesn't call for any liquid so I thought I'd ask on here first. What do you think I should do?

Thanks!

Holly

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Comments (12)

annie1992
13 years ago
Holly, I even have an old wooden "tamper", I don't worry about bruising the cabbage at all. I normally get lots of brine but sometimes the cabbage is drier and then I have to add a brine made of 1 quart of water and 1 1/2 tbls of salt, boil and cool, then add to the sauerkraut.

My recipe is from Michigan State University, calls for 3 tablespoons of salt per 5 pounds of cabbage, and no added liquid.

The cabbage does need to be submerged in the brine, which is why it is topped with a plate and weights, or brine filled plastic bags, to hold the cabbage below the level of the brine.

Annie
readinglady
13 years ago
If you haven't seen this publication before you might check it out. It answers a lot of the questions people have about sauerkraut.

Here is a link that might be useful: Make Your Own Sauerkraut
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It could simply be that the warm temperatures accelerated the process and your batch of kraut is done. Before you taste anything, how does it look? Is the liquid cloudy? It should be yellowish in color. Red, pink, brown, etc., are strong indications that something has gone bad. How does it smell? If it smells sharp, crisp, a bit yeasty, and sour, chances are that it's fine. If it has an off, putrid, or "non sauerkraut" smell, trust your nose. Scald a fork and fish some out. Rub it between your fingers. How does it feel? Does it feel slimy, gooey, or very soft? That's a strong indication that things have gone south. If, however, it feels clean and crisp, not unlike fresh, but wet, cabbage, and it sort of squeaks when you rub it together, that's a very good sigh. Finally, and ONLY if it passes all those other tests, taste a very small piece. If it tastes like kraut, it's kraut. If, however, it tastes wrong, spit it out and rinse very thoroughly with Listerine.
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We shall see. I took your advice Dave, took the gloves off, took the top inch or two of kraut off the top and chucked it. Drained off most of the brine in the jar, added some fresh brine with it in a pot and heated it. Put in jars and processed. I did taste some of the leftovers stuck in the pot and it tasted good! I'm guessing I might have to rinse off some of the fresh brine when it's time to go but it had good flavor and a nice snap to the kraut. I didn't go blind from the stuff I ate so I hope I'm good!!
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Ahh that's what I was afraid off. That method has been discussed here many times but not always in full detail. Usually the discussions assume the reader knows the basics of making kraut. That particular set of instructions doesn't cover it all. It doesn't make clear the part about mashing and squeezing the cabbage with the salt to create the brine. When making kraut it is worked heavily with your hands before packing the jars. You work the cabbage with your hands in a bowl first squeezing and pressing until the liquid begins to develop - the salt pulls the water out of the cabbage. You then pressing it down into the jar - as bejay says, "tightly packing it, VERY tightly". In the process of doing that more brine is made and the level of liquid begins to rise in the jar. You keep packing and pressing until most all the cabbage is surrounded by the liquid. Within a few days more brine will develop and may begin to over flow the jar and that is why the lids aren't screwed down tight and you set the jars in a container to catch the overflow. You can dump those 3 jars into a large bowl and assuming you used the correct amount of salt (1 tsp. per pint) begin to work it well with your hands (some use a wooden mallet to actually beat the cabbage) until liquid starts forming. Then repack it into jars and press it down hard as you go. Those 3 jars will likely turn into 1 1/2-2 jars. Here is my copy of the more complete instuctions. Bejay Kraut instructions Regular canning jars - wide mouth pint jars. Shredded the cabbage, and added 1 tsp salt per pint, mixing it in well to the cabbage and then pressing the cabbage down hard in the jar. I used a regular canning cap and lid. Then set the jars in a plastic container - to catch drips. The covers should not be screwed down too tightly, as they will leak some. These are then allowed to ferment in a protected space - not completely sealed. After several weeks, the juices will flow out of the jar a bit and bubbles appear in the jar - smelling good. From time to time, open up and taste test - I don't remember how long, but when I think it tastes right to me, I go ahead and process it. Processing: Sterilize pint jars and lids (you know how already). Drain the kraut, bring the juice just to a boil. I taste the juice, and sometimes add a bit of white vinegar (my preference). Add the juice back to the kraut and heat just to boiling point - don't overcook. Pack in jars and seal, process BWB 5 minutes. (just long enough to seal jars). Hope this helps. Dave
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Agreed that most cabbage available in the wintertime is going to have lost natural moisture due to lower seasonal humidity. For the new batch of kraut I recently started, I had to boil an extra quart of water with 1 and 1/2 tbsp of pickling salt added in order to completely submerge the cabbage and the 'cover stones' ( using Harsch crock ). Also agreed that the salt ratio of 1 and 1/2 tbsp of pickling salt to every quart of contents ( water or cabbage or whatever ) is very important in regard to 'food safety'. The whole idea behind sauerkraut fermentation, or fermenting anything else by 'natural' means, is that the food will be preserved via lactic acid formation. When you place cabbage or anything else in your fermenting crock, you are relying on the fact that the natural 'lacto-bacillus' on the surface of the cabbage will be the only type of microbe that will be growing in there !!! Lots of other types of 'bad' microbes / mold etc. would love to 'eat' your cabbage instead ... and some of these can be toxic. Fortunately, not many of the 'bad' microbes can survive in a salty environment, and even fewer can survive in an oxygen depleted environment, and even fewer still can multiply well at a temperature below 70 degrees F. But the 'good' lacto-bacilli can. While the 'old school' fermenters rely on natural lacto-bacilli that is naturally present on the cabbage or whatever, consensus these days is that it helps to give the batch a 'jump start' by deliberately adding 'good' lacto-bacilli. Kefir Whey is excellent for this. Simply draining whey from everyday plain active culture yogurt works OK as well. And of course there are now a number of lacto-bacillus based 'starters' available from probiotic websites.
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digdirt2
13 years ago
Carol - wrong link ;) just leads back to this post.
digdirt2
13 years ago
Don't know if this is the one Carol meant to link to but it is the one we use.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Make Your Own Sauerkraut by Mennes
readinglady
13 years ago
Sorry, I don't know how that happened. Thanks, Dave. That is the link I was thinking of.

Carol
riley17
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks so much!!!!
stonethecrows555
13 years ago
Hi all, I have a related question: can I add brine at a later date? Upon checking my kraut after about a week, I found the crock must have a slow leak, and I'd lost a good amount of brine. It has been very cold here and I don't believe much fermentation has occurred. I'm hoping I can just add more liquid and not have to chuck 12 heads of cabbage. Any thoughts?- Thanks, Stoney
Linda_Lou
13 years ago
I say it is worth a try. Can you get it warmer ? I wonder if a heating pad on low would work to get it started fermenting ? How cold is it where you put the kraut ?
readinglady
13 years ago
Yes,you can. If it's not too difficult, you may want to transfer the cabbage to a different container (glass or food-safe plastic) before continuing.

How cold is it? Can you move the kraut to a warmer location?

Carol
stonethecrows555
13 years ago
We're in No. California. I put the kraut up in the barn as we were having beautiful spring-like weather. Then 3 days ago,bang, snow up the wazoo! Have since brought it back down to the house and added more brine. I'll let you know if it works - Thanks, Stoney
John__ShowMe__USA
13 years ago
For controlling the temp try putting in a cardboard box with a trouble light. Close the flaps, insert an indoor/outdoor thermometer probe and change bulb watts to vary temp.

If you are comfortable with simple wiring you could splice a cheap rheostat into an extension cord to change the heat output of a light bulb. I first used for precise control over temp for starting seeds in '93. Previous to that used a string of the old-time Christmas lights and would add or remove bulbs until got desired temp.
John__ShowMe__USA
13 years ago
Bubbling nicely. It was at 76 degrees before I moved it for the picture. 78.3 degrees now. I followed the recipe from the link that Carol posted (thanks much!) except put one tablespoon kefir whey into the jar before adding the cabbage. First time have ever used that much salt. The glove just popped up into a full high five! (21 1/2 hours) It was completely deflated and tucked into the jar at the start.

Red/purple cabbage. First time have ever made w/o other ingredients such as juniper berries added.

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Sauerkraut brine question

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annie1992

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