Can't say what Mom used to do but many did store their fully fermented pickles in the cellar or a root cellar because the temps there were about the same as fridge temps 40-45 or even cooler in the winter. But even then they won't store for long so they'd need to be eaten within a reasonable length of time. Now days the guidelines read: Fully fermented pickles may be stored in the original container for about 4 to 6 months, provided they are refrigerated and surface scum and molds are removed regularly. Canning fully fermented pickles is a better way to store them. So processing them after they are fully fermented allows for longer shelf storage and it also eliminates the need to skim them every few days since the processing prevents any molds, listeria or yeasts from developing. Here is a link that might be useful: Fermented Dill Pickles instructions

I still have the lime here (Mrs. Wages brand) and it did help to hold the cukes a bit firmer for the all vinegar sour pickles. I do not use alum anymore and because it still seems to be linked to aluminium and allzheimers I was not going to even try going any further with it. The lime was used, and the whole cukes were soaked in it for 24 hours in the fridge. I used huge stainless steel bowls that take up a whole shelf in the fridge. I cut off the tips of both ends prior to the soaking, They did get a long rinse afterwards, but even for that, there was a bit of white sediment in the brine after a few days. I also used a bit of tumeric for some color. They were quite pungent. I could have even added a bit of my acid blend and made them even more potent.. My sours are not fermented. They are just 100% plain white distilled vinegar, salt, and a little tumeric. My pickled pepperoncini are also done that way, but without the tumeric. My half sours are just a salt brine with a dash of vinegar added after they sit on the counter overnight. Ive also use the pickling lime for making some sweet mixed, but it was just for the cukes to soak in first. The amount of alum used in a 7 quart batch of sour pickles was something like about 2-3 teaspoons for the toatl amount of vinegar brine. With Pickle Crisp, you do have as slight flavor of chlorine, but that tends to dissipate once they are opened and allowed to 'breath' a few minutes before serving. A chilled pickle always seems to be a bit crunchier than at room temp. FYI> Rumford brand baking powder has no alum in it. Baking soda is basically bicarbonate of soda and nothing else. There is also a bakers ammonia that is still used today for some Swedish cookies and pasteries. I can't taste Pickle Crisp, but that might be because of the heat of the peppers, or the strength of the flavors and spices I use in regular pickles. Mrs. Wages and Ball mixes are the primary ingredients I use when making spiced pickles, and I add extra spices like dill, celery seeds, mustard seeds and such to the various kinds of pickles.There is nothing worse (besides a sour or mushy cuke) than a bland tasting pickle. A recent America Test Kitchen episode dealt with making a flaky pastery for a big berry tart. They mixed the butter and flour to a very course mix, then used their palms to press the flour into the butter lumps. This helped to spread the butter into thinner bits. Ever made puff pastry? I have, with excellent results. MUCH better than the Pepperidge Farm frozen stuff. It does take a long time, a cold work surface, lots of patience and lots of rolling between each chilling.

We just canned some kosher dill pickles and some of the jars didn't seal so we put them in the refrigerator over nite and the next morning they looked sealed. The little pop up was down and concave. Do you think they are really sealed? I took one out and took the ring off then turned it upside down and it remained sealed, what do you think? Every jar we put in the refrigerator looks the same as the one I took out.

It's great stuff. Here's the recipe I used: ~1 gallon of blended up raw peppers (mostly Jalapenos); I added a little filtered water to help blend them (but you might want to use some of the vinegar below instead) 3 cups of distilled white vinegar 4 to 6 tablespoons of pickling salt (6 might be too much for it to ferment properly, but I don't remember how much I used) Some cardemom (I didn't measure) Stir everything together and boil it for 20 to 40 minutes. Let it cool until it's warm enough for probiotics to live (I just waited until it was cool enough not to hurt when I held the pot). Add a probiotic starter (since it's been boiled). I added about 3 billion organisms per quart, and there were three quarts at this point (the probiotics were in the form of chewable probiotic wafers containing L. acidophilus and B. lactis). Put in jars and ferment. I put a tight lid on it with a silicone seal, without an airlock, and just watched (felt the lid for pressure) it to see if it needed burping. It didn't need it very often, if at all, actually, but eventually, the sauce fermented (the sauce in the cooler location took a lot longer than the one in a warmer location). If you open the lid to taste it, be sure to stir it before you put the lid back on. The warmer jar tasted fermented after about seven days, but it tasted a lot better the day after first tasted it (after I opened the jar; opening the jar at some point and/or stirring it seems to encourage faster fermentation).