I used to just eyeball my brine ratios and hope for the best

For the first year of making pickles and sauerkraut, I was a total rebel about salt. I'd just toss in a big handful and cross my fingers nothing molded. Then about 6 months ago I lost a whole 5 gallon batch of hot sauce to kahm yeast because my brine was too weak. Now I weigh EVERYTHING on a kitchen scale and stick to 2% salt by weight for veggies. My ferments are way more consistent and I haven't had a failure since. Anyone else have a bad batch that forced them to get precise?

2 comments

2 Comments

anthony_lane5525d ago

Dude that hot sauce story hits hard. I used to think scales were for baking nerds but after losing a batch of kimchi to mold I had to admit I was wrong. Weighing everything now and my ferments are way more consistent.

viola_cooper6225d ago

Oh man, that kimchi loss sounds brutal! So did you switch to a scale after that, or were you already weighing other stuff before the mold incident? I'm curious if the scale changed your brine ratios completely or just helped you eyeball things better? Because I always thought kimchi was more about feel than precision (which is probably why I'm still inconsistent with my ferments).