Question about a sudden pH crash in my sauerkraut batch

Last Thursday, my 3-gallon crock of cabbage, which was on day 5, went from a perfect 3.8 pH to under 3.0 in less than 24 hours. The room temp spiked to 78 degrees when my AC failed. The kraut turned mushy and way too sour. I lost the whole batch, about 15 pounds of cabbage. Has anyone else had a ferment go bad that fast from a temperature swing?

2 comments

2 Comments

lily5741mo ago

Wait, you lost 15 pounds of cabbage? That alone is a tragedy. I have to disagree with avery_walker30 about the temp not being the main cause here. A jump to 78 degrees is a huge deal for an active ferment. The bacteria go into overdrive and basically digest everything too fast, which is exactly how you get that mushy, super sour result overnight. A steady warm temp is one thing, but a sudden spike like that with a big batch can absolutely wreck it.

avery_walker301mo ago

Honestly, that pH swing sounds wild, but I don't think the temp alone wrecked it. My place gets hot like that all the time. For me, mushy kraut almost always comes from not enough salt or not keeping everything fully under the brine. A quick temp rise usually just speeds things up, it doesn't ruin it overnight. Might have been a combo of things already being off before the AC quit.