The brine in six of the jars is too low for my liking. I decided to open them so I could push the weight down and get some brine covering the top again.
Since I opened them, exposing them to oxygen, I transferred them to my ‘fridge. I am comfortable transferring them to the refrigerator at this point since they are well into the second ferment and so close to the third stage which only lasts a couple of days.
The jars were tested a final time before placing in the refrigerator. And that includes my first taste tests!
I will be testing these jars after they have been refrigerated for two weeks. The cold temp slows the LAB activity down a lot. I will compare the samples taken today with the ones I’ll take in two weeks to see if the glucose level dropped any more.
I swapped the jars that had white lids with test port and/or airlock with a plain white lid. Jar #12 with the gasket I left, but plugged the airlock hole with a black stopper as a pressure release - I did the same with Jar #9 - simply plugged the test port hole as a pressure release.
It will be interesting to see how well the white lid will keep the oxygen out of these jars in cold storage.
The Jars & Brine Samples for Day 23
I took before and after photos of each jar. The “before” photo shows how it looked when I opened it and it was dry on the surface. The “after” photo is how it looked after I pushed on the top with a wooden spoon and submerged the weight below the surface.
Although I just tested the brine two days ago, I took brine samples again to compare with cold storage samples I’ll be taking in a couple of weeks.
How did they taste? They all tasted the same: a wonderful sweet and salty tang. It was hard to resist eating a whole bowl 
Brine sample was reviewed using this AmScope microscope. Photos were taken on the microscope with this AmScope camera.
Jar 5 (Cabbage Leaf, Shot Glass, White Lid), Day 23
The cabbage leaf looks great - no decay on the cabbage at all, even though the brine was lower than the cabbage leaf.
Jar 6 (White Lid), Day 23
Sauerkraut looks nice with no decay showing.
LABs are nice and mature, active, and well populated. Slinky spotted.
Jar 7 (White Lid with Baggy), Day 23
Sauerkraut is starting to dry, but hasn’t spoiled yet.
LABs are very dense and look great. Small slinky spotted.
Jar 8 (White Lid with Airlock), Day 23
Sauerkraut looks great. I guess I can just call it sauerkraut 
LABs look great. Slinky family detected.
Jar 9 (Metal Lid), Day 23
Sauerkraut looks great.
LAB population is wonderful and active. Small slinky and long Y slinky found.
Jar 12 (Lacto-fermentation Air-Lock System generously donated by Cooking God’s Way), Day 23
Sauerkraut looks great in this jar.
Check out the density of these LABs!
Stay tuned for my next post on Day 28. This is when I will be opening the Pickl-It, Fido, and Harsch.
THANK YOU!
Many of the supplies (including the cabbage) purchased for testing were mostly covered by the donations from Loving Our Guts, Pickle Me Too, Easy Natural Food, Common Sense Homesteading, Lisa M., Traditional Foods, Grocery Geek, Rachel C., The Urban Hearth, Hybrid Rasta Mama, Sarah M, Miriam R., and Leslie C. THANK YOU!
The Lacto-fermentation Air-Lock System was generously donated by the manufacturer, Cooking God’s Way.
The Pickle Pro was generously donated by the manufacturer, Homesteader’s Supply.
The Pickl-It was purchased through the generosity of GNOWFGLINS.
The Harsch crock was purchased by the generous donations largely from Homesteader’s Supply along with with GAPS Diet Journey, Hybrid Rasta Mama, and Dishrag Diaries.
If you would like to contribute funds to this experiment, I would be ever grateful. Please send PayPal funds to: [email protected]. If you have a blog I would be happy to link to it as a contributor. Thank you!
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| Lea Harris founded Nourishing Treasures in 2006. A mom passionate about her family's health and well-being, Lea believes education is power. Encouraging others to take baby steps in the right direction of health for their families, Lea's goal is to raise awareness of what goes into our mouths and on our bodies, providing natural alternative information that promotes health and prevents disease by using traditional foods and nature's medicine.
Lea is a Certified Health Coach graduate from Beyond Organic University, and a Certified Aromatherapist graduate from Aromahead Institute. "Like" Nourishing Treasures on Facebook, join the Nourishing Treasures Group on Facebook, follow @NourishTreasure on Twitter, and subscribe to our newsletter. You can also find me on Learning About Essential Oils forum, and Fido Fermentation Facebook group. Disclaimer: I use affiliate links wherever possible. So if you click on a link, and make a purchase, I might make a small commission, but it doesn't cost you any more. |
Day 28 is going to be exciting!
I agree — can’t wait to see day 28!!