So many fellow coffee ground people on this site its a great Xmas present! Good advice with adding to wood chips, lawn clippins, or leaves, and keeping the whole stack moist is a good tip also. I've found that when they are used in isolation it can cause problems with crusting and preventing air and water flow to the lower levels, so always have some additional materials ready to add. When adding to the worm farm, the best results seem to come from letting the bag of UCG ferment for a week or two and then add them in with lawn clippings or kitchen scraps, again never on its own. Here is a link that might be useful: Ground to Ground

Gardenman, I'm not Dave, but I'm up early! :) Standard kraut recipe is 3T. salt to 5 lb. of shredded cabbage. I layer the cabbage in a large bowl, sprinkle with salt, repeat. Then I mix it well with my hands. Pack it tightly into a large container. It will create its own juice and that should cover the cabbage. Sometimes I have to wait a few minutes and press it down more to have the juice level high enough. Then fill a ziploc bag with brine and place on top of the cabbage to "seal" it. I make mine in a 2 1/2 gallon, barrel-shaped Snapware container with the snap top left ajar. Do not put a tight fitting lid on it, but loosely covered is good to keep out dust and curious critters. The gasses need to escape. Store for 3-5 weeks (guideline, depends on temperature) at 70-75 degrees. I start tasting at 3 weeks. When complete, you can leave it where it is (if cool enough for long term storage), can it, or refrigerate it. If you choose to can, it does NOT require pressure canning. Because it's officially now a pickle (through the formation of lactic acid), it may be BWB. You can find all the directions for making the kraut and canning on the National Center for Home Food Preservation website. Deanna

Another agreement, that's far too short for truly fermented sauerkraut, although I have no idea what a picklemeister is. I use the same technique Grandpa used, which coincidentally is the same as is posted by Michigan State University at their "preserving food safely" website. They even give a time frame for fermenting, depending on temperature. SAUERKRAUT 25 lb. cabbage 3/4 cup canning or pickling salt QUALITY: For the best sauerkraut, use firm heads of fresh cabbage. Shred cabbage and start kraut between 24 and 48 hours after harvest. YIELD: About 9 quarts PROCEDURE: Work with about 5 pounds of cabbage at a time. Discard outer leaves. Rinse heads under cold running water and drain. Cut heads in quarters and remove cores. Shred or slice to a thickness of a quarter. Put cabbage in a suitable fermentation container (see explanation following processing times) and add 3 tablespoons of salt. Mix thoroughly, using clean hands. Pack firmly until salt draws juices from cabbage. Repeat shredding, salting, and packing until all cabbage is in the container. Be sure the container is deep enough so that its rim is at least 4 or 5 inches above the cabbage. If juice does not cover cabbage, add boiled and cooled brine (1-1/2 tablespoons of salt per quart of water). Add plate and weights, cover container with a clean bath towel. Store at 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit while fermenting. At temperatures between 70 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit, kraut will be fully fermented in about 3 to 4 weeks; at 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit, fermentation may take 5 to 6 weeks. At temperatures lower than 60 degrees Fahrenheit kraut may not ferment. Above 75 degrees Fahrenheit, kraut may become soft. If you weigh the cabbage down with a brine-filled bag (6 tablespoons salt to 1 gallon of water), do not disturb the crock until normal fermentation is completed (when bubbling ceases). If you use jars as weight, you will have to check the kraut 2 to 3 times each week and remove scum if it forms. Fully fermented kraut may be kept tightly covered in the refrigerator for several months or it may be canned as follows: Hot pack--Bring kraut and liquid slowly to a boil in a large kettle, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and fill hot jars rather firmly with kraut and juices, leaving 1/2- inch headspace. Process pints 10 minutes, quarts 15 minutes in a boiling water bath. Raw pack--Fill jars firmly with kraut, and cover with juices, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Process pints 20 minutes, quarts 25 minutes in a boiling water bath. SUITABLE CONTAINERS, COVERS AND WEIGHTS FOR FERMENTING FOOD A 1-gallon container is needed for each 5 pounds of fresh vegetables. Therefore, a 5-gallon stone crock is of ideal size for fermenting about 25 pounds of fresh cabbage or cucumbers. Food-grade plastic and glass containers are excellent substitutes for stone crocks. Other 1-to 3- gallon non-food-grade plastic containers may be used if lined inside with a clean food-grade plastic bag. CAUTION: Be certain that foods contact only food-grade plastics. Do not use garbage bags or trash liners. Fermenting auerkraut in quart and half-gallon Mason jars is an acceptable practice, but may result in more spoilage losses. Happy canning! Annie

Bejay, both my husband and I so enjoy the crunch of my sauerkraut, that I have no desire to can it, and lose the texture as I am sure I would. I can't imagine that spoilage will be a problem, since my last batch is still very crisp and tasty and I've discovered several friends that like sauerkraut...my last batch I used 10 pounds of cabbage...made much more sauerkraut than I and my husband will eat before Fall, and certainly takes up more room in my fridge than I'm willing to deal with. Cabbage is cheap, now that I know how, I can always make more! :D Now, as someone who has misty memories of my Nana buying corned beef at the local market, which had a barrel in a dark, cool corner...grey and not particularly tasty looking, but my, once it was cooked (YUM!)...learning to corn my own beef is high on my list!