Tried a sealed crock for sauerkraut and got mold within 5 days

I went against the usual advice and used a fancy airtight crock for my last batch of cabbage, but within 5 days I had fuzzy white mold on top. Turns out the lack of airflow trapped moisture and killed the natural bacteria I needed. Has anyone else had better luck with a traditional open crock and weights?

4 comments

4 Comments

umamartin1mo ago

Swapped to an open crock after this exact thing happened to me a couple years back. I was dead set on those airtight gadgets working better because they seemed cleaner and more modern. Boy was I wrong. The lack of airflow just created a wet, stale environment that killed off the good stuff before it could get going. Now I use a simple ceramic crock with a plate and a weight on top, and my kraut comes out perfect every time. That first moldy batch went straight in the trash, and I sure as hell won't make that mistake again.

amy_murphy851mo agoMost Upvoted

Sealed crocks for fermenting are like putting a raincoat on a fish, totally missing the point. Must have been a sad little science experiment in there, with all the good bacteria gasping for air while the mold threw a party on top. Traditional open crocks let things breathe just enough, and a good weight keeps everything where it belongs. I've had a batch of kraut sit for a month with nothing but happy bubbles and zero fuzzy visitors. Live and learn, right? Did you salvage any of it or just toss the whole thing?

riley_west1mo agoProlific Poster

Whoa, hold on, you got mold in 5 days with a sealed crock? That's wild. In my experience, those fancy airtight ones are a total trap for stuff like this. The whole point of the traditional open crock with the weights is to let some air in, but keep the cabbage below the brine. I've had batches sit for weeks without a speck of mold that way. Your mileage may vary, but I'd bet money your natural bacteria just suffocated in there.

black.pat1mo ago

My neighbor down the street tried one of those fancy sealed crocks last fall and had the same problem you did. He was so proud of it too, showed up at my door with this expensive pot talking about how it would change his fermenting game. A week later he came over with this sad jar of fuzzy cabbage asking if I wanted to see what failure looked like. He went back to his grandmother's old ceramic crock with a dinner plate and a clean brick wrapped in plastic wrap, and now he's back to making the best kraut on the block. Sometimes the old ways are the old ways for a good reason, I reckon.