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Troubleshooting Q&A
Appears in
Published 2019
| THE PROBLEM | REASON WHY IT HAS HAPPENED | POTENTIAL SOLUTION |
| My sauerkraut, pickles or kimchi are all soft and mushy | This could be a number of things. Most commonly it is due to too little salt; salt will keep the vegetables crunchy, so if you don’t use salt or use too little they can become soft. Too high a temperature during fermentation is another possible cause; the ideal temperature is 18–20°C/64.5–68°F. Or, if less commonly the reason, perhaps the vegetables you are using are too old or non-organic. | It is perfectly safe to eat soft sauerkraut, but if you don’t like it you could use it in cooking. |
| My ferment is slimy | This is due to either fermenting in too high a temperature or using too little or no salt. | This is most probably the beginning of a rot. I would throw this kraut in the compost bin. |
| There is a white foam or scum on top of my ferment | This can happen when the vegetables are exposed to air. Perhaps you did not have a good enough jar with a tight-fitting lid to ferment in. Or you opened the lid a bit too often and for a bit too long. | Just skim the foam off the surface and scoop the top layer of the ferment out and throw away. The rest should be fine. |
| There is a white cloudy layer floating on top of my ferment | This is top yeast or Kahm yeast, and is often mistaken for mould. Kahm yeast is white in colour and appears to float on liquid in a thin layer. Mould is different, coming in a variety of colours (often green) and is not floating on liquid. | Top yeast is not dangerous, but it means that your ferment will not keep for long, so eat it straight away or use it in cooking. If this is seen on your newly fermented sauerkraut, just scrape the top off and the rest should be fine. |
| There is mould on or in my fermented vegetables | Check it is definitely not Kahm yeast, explained above; mould is often multicoloured with lots of green or blue, it can be furry, and it smells like mould. Mould can happen when the fermenting environment has not been anaerobic, and unwanted bacteria has been able to interfere. Your fermentation jar might not have had a tight- enough lid so oxygen has been let in. It could also be because of bad hygiene, or possibly you are fermenting in a room that has a mould or mildew problem. | It is likely that the mould is only on the surface and whatever has been fermenting under the water surface is fine and mould-free. Some fermentation professionals argue that It is safe to scrape the top mould away and eat what is underneath as long as it has been under the water. I would personally throw the ferment away, and try and work out why it was mouldy to do the necessary adjustments next time. |
| My ferment is too salty | This often happens if you don’t measure your salt. In the beginning do follow the recommended amount of 1.5–2% salt for dry-salt ferments and 3–5% for brine ferments. | You could try and wash your kraut in water to get some of the salt off. Or mix it with another kraut that is less salty. You could also perhaps use it in cooking. Make a coleslaw out of it; adding lots of fresh cabbage to make it less salty might work well. |
| My fermentation jar is leaking from the top | Basically, you have put too much vegetable in the jar. You need to leave a larger gap next time so that the gases can come out and vegetables can expand a little. You might also have forgotten to burp your jar. | You might want to take some of the kraut out. Open the lid to let gases out and burp more regularly. Put your jar on a plate for the rest of the fermentation to catch liquid coming out. |
| My fermented vegetables smell rotten | This depends if the smell is just when you open the lid, or continual. If only when you open the lid it is probably just the smell of sulphur from the cabbage, which is normal. Fermented foods have a specific kind of smell that you need to get used to. If it smells the whole time it probably is rotten. Sometimes non-organic vegetables rot rather than ferment. Also, it can happen if no or very little salt has been used. | If it is properly rotten and not just the normal sulphur smell of sauerkraut, there is only one thing to do with it. Throw it in the compost bin. |
| My kraut is changing colour | It is normal for the kraut to change colour slightly. White cabbage mixed with red for example will take the same colour as the red cabbage during the fermentation process. If you add fresh turmeric to white cabbage the cabbage will eventually all turn the same yellow colour. However, sometimes white cabbage turns pink or red cabbage turns brown. This might be because you have used too little salt, or in some cases too much salt, or if you used a cooking or table salt with iodine added. It might be yeast causing the colour as well. | Unless it has changed colour for the obvious natural reasons as explained, you might want to actually throw this kraut away just to be safe. |
| My ferment exploded | This is very rare! But you must be careful to check on your ferment regularly and to burp it to release the built-up gases. If you are using a jar with a tight lid, like a screw-on lid, there is more risk of pressure building up. | Remember to burp your jar, or if you aren’t sure you will remember to open it up regularly to let the gases out, do use a proper fermentation jar with a suitable lid or a bespoke fermentation crockpot. |
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