Handsome & Brave is spoiling me to a ridiculous degree. He bought me a 15 L fermentation crock. It's a beautiful deep brown color and weighs a ton. It's setting next to a one-gallon jar of sauerkraut in the fermentation area of my apartment (also known as my bedroom). It's a bear.
Why something so big in an apartment so small?
I wanted a fermentation vessel because they're designed exclusively for fermentation. The top is seal-able to keep pesties out (which is what the cheese cloth does in the kraut vessel on the left). It's heavy (so heavy I can't move it once it's filled) which will control the temparture, and it has weights to hold the pickles under brine.
To keep the cabbage under brine in the kraut jar on the left, I've put in a plastic bag filled with salted water, topped by a small jar, sterile and filled with water. The whole mess is topped with cheese cloth. I occasionally overfill the kraut jar so as fermentation begins, some of the brine spills out, making a salty, smelly mess. This fermentation method is crude but effective.
So I'm super excited to finally use the crock. Today I filled IT (the vessel) with cucumbers. Here's the formula/recipe I used:
Fermented dill pickles
20 pounds cucumbers
2 gallons water
2 cups vinegar
1-1/2 cups salt
1/2 cup pickling spice
1 15L fermentation vessel.
Alas, it'll be two weeks before I can un seal it and check the pickles.
This crock is da b0mb. The lid rests in a channel that's filled with water, sealing the whole thing.
How will I ever wait two whole weeks??
I need a name for the crock. Behemoth? Nah...
