My neighbor watched me prep my ferment jars and said I was killing my culture by not using a proper airlock

She told me my cloth cover was letting in too much oxygen after my last batch of sauerkraut turned moldy on day 5, so I swapped to glass weights and airlocks and haven't lost a jar since, anyone else get a reality check from a random observer?

3 comments

3 Comments

leo_fisher17d agoMost Upvoted

So I was basically running a mold farm with a fancy cloth hat" is what I told my neighbor when she gave me the airlock speech. I had the same moment with my kombucha. I was using a coffee filter and rubber band for months until some lady at the farmer's market told me I was basically inviting fruit flies to a buffet. Now I use a proper airlock and my booch doesn't taste like someone's attic. It's funny how the nosy neighbor turned out to be the hero of my fermentation story.

the_faith17d ago

That coffee filter line hits hard, it's wild how the right tool changes everything including your confidence.

leo_fisher3d agoMost Upvoted

So how do those coffee filter believers explain away the two week mold bloom? They must have some secret technique or maybe they just don't mind scraping the top layer off every batch. Did you ever actually get a good ferment going with the cloth, or was it just blind luck when it worked?