If that scum is white and a bit "fluffy" then it's likely to be yeast. You can tell the difference between yeast and mold. Mold would be the usual blue furry spots floating in the mixture. That would be something to worry about. A brine bag is not only to hold the cucumbers down below the brine, it's also to keep out the air. When you removed it, you exposed the brine to lots of air, which encouraged the formation of yeast. Take out a pickle. Is it firm? Cut it lengthwise. Is it a translucent olive green? Smell it. It should smell good. If it passes all those tests, then taste. If the cucumbers are firm, smell nice and taste good, you're fine and so are they. If you want to use the brine, you need to strain and boil it. I prefer to rinse the pickles and use a fresh finishing brine because the original brine is "funky" to me, but assuming the brine is uncontaminated, you can re-use it. Carol

Fermentation experts say not to save pre-made, unused salt water for more than a week? Do you happen to have a written source for that, either on the internet or in paper publication? I cannot presently imagine the reason, but am open to having it explained to me. This is not about saving money on salt. It would not save any money at all. For me, it is about saving time when I have just picked pounds of vegetables to clean, trim, pack in freshly washed containers, spice, and carry to the shelves in the cellar. I can have cooled brine whenever I need it.

You made me look at ebay where I saw them for as little as $6.95 for five of them, though I did not look at what shipping would be. I had been thinking to pick them up at Target where they were $21 for four of five of them (not sure)-- Pickle Pipe brand, I think.

Oh yes, the idea is not lost on us, and folks are trying it in a variety of ways. There are infrastructure dollars available right now supporting towns in this effort. We shall see how viable this all ends up being. I have seen many cute places with great ideas go out of business. We had a wonderful outlet from a local apple orchard with fresh local produce and also many local made gifts and food items. As I mentioned, it went out of business last year. We have upgraded all the parking, roads and actually the buildings too. Also built apartments downtown. Have a viable library, theater and now Children's Museum is going in. There is a local brew pub, pizza pub, Mexican restaurant and coffee house along with a long time beloved local diner. An high end antique store, craft shop, Mexican grocery, photography studio, bridal boutique that just opened up and a couple of hair salons. All new, Other buildings are just waiting for viable businesses. I am actually very involved in a blossoming community center downtown next to the park that is on the four corners of our town. That has also been revitalized, (the park). It is adjacent to three of of the mainline churches, two of which are historical landmarks. The potential is there, but the question is will the customers come in enough volume to make it work at the bottom line financial level. Stay tuned. We've had versions of all of the above before, and they all went out of business. Some quite rapidly. My church is one of the historical ones, our congregation numbers are way, way down and show no signs of picking up. Mostly elderly, and they are dropping one by one and no new generation taking their places. But that's another story too . . . We have all the festivals, etc. to, to bring folks downtown. But the level of poverty here is quite significant, and the folks with money to spend downtown is quite a small cohort. Folks have gotten out of the habit, and can find cheaper alternatives online or at Walmart and other marts out on the edge of town which is full of strip malls. Of course many storefronts empty there too, ironically. But that has become pot shop central. And not for houseplants, marijuana, which is legal in MI. I have at least seven within a mile of my house. Plenty of fast food chains there for when the customers get the munchies! As much as folks on CF might love a fermented foods shop, no way would such a thing ever be financially viable in my small rural Midwestern town. We couldn't even keep the shop selling authentic Venezuelan arepas going. That building is empty now looking for a new business. It was once the home of a fabulous family-owned upscale department store. We all fondly remember shopping there. The building still has all the classy real wood elements and antique elevator . . . nothing has been able to survive there since the 2000's.