My airlock bubbled over during a sauerkraut ferment last night and made a huge mess on my kitchen counter.

I had to quickly rig a blow-off tube with some food-grade vinyl hose I had left from a beer brewing kit to save the batch, but has anyone found a better way to prevent overflow with really active vegetable ferments?

3 comments

3 Comments

emery1811h ago

Wait, you had a five gallon bucket of kraut?

hernandez.jordan3d ago

Feel your pain, that sticky kraut juice gets everywhere. I always leave way more headspace than seems reasonable now, like a third of the jar empty. The blow-off tube was a smart save, honestly that's the move for the really wild ones. Some people swear by fermenting in a big food grade bucket with a lid for the first few days.

kevin_sullivan3d ago

That bucket trick is interesting. I've always worried about stuff falling in during the first active phase. Do you just set the lid on top without sealing it, or do you actually clip it down? I picture a five gallon bucket of kraut just slowly pushing the lid up over a few days.