pickling brine

[facetious]

I got started with fermenting this summer. So far I have made three batches of sauerkraut.

I watched a bunch of YouTube videos and read what I could find on line and have tryed three kinds. A one gal. crock of just cabbage and salt, sat three weeks, one with garlic and dill, and after the wife was eating it in less than three weeks I went to wally world and got a two gal. crock and did four heads half green and half purple and salt. all turned out good and we didn't get sick.

Now when reading and watching stuff every one used about the same amount of salt, 3 tablespoons for for five pounds. That is what I did for all of them.

Now I would like to try pickling some other stuff, and am finding that when reading different things. How much salt to add to a given amount of water seams to vary a lot.

I started a batch of cucumbers in the two gal. crock. I used five tablespoons salt to a quart of water to make the brine like in one of the videos. It has been one week and thy are starting to look and smell like pickles and I had to cut the end off one to try and thy tast good, but could see that thy haven't pickled all the why through yet. All I added was salt,dill and garlic. Wife didn't want them hot or spicey.

What I would like to ask is how much salt do you use to make your brine for stuff. I would like to try some more things like the little onion's, peppers and other vegies. But it seams every one uses a different amount of salt to make the brine thy use. Also how long do you let it ferment? I did the big batch of kraut for four weeks and it was about the same as the stuff that sat for three weeks.

[Oily]

I did some for awhile but can't remember the ratio. Just google lacto fermentation and you will find your answer.Didn't like the pickles but the gingered carrots were awesome.The most important thing I came away with was to be sure you keep everything submerged, Oxygen is your enemy as this will allow bacteria to form.If I remember right you make at the same ratio the brine and add it to your produce no matter what it is. Can't wait to try the kraut as I love it. And pickled hot peppers OMG. Supposed to be good for you with the probiotics it produces. To know when fermentation is complete you will have to fit it with a airlock as if you were making wine.Simply put you need to enclose the top of your vessel and put a airlock on it and watch for bubbling to subside.In other words when CO2 gas has diminished being produced. If you are doing in a crock you can simply put saran wrap over the crock when you think it is done and watch for the wrap to not expand anymore

[dale2242]

I use the hot brine method to pickle veggies.
My brine: 3 cups water
1 cup vinegar
1/4 cup salt
Pack your veggies in a sterilized jar.
Heat your brine to a slow boil.
Fill the jar with the hot brine.
Screw on lid tightly and invert on a hot towel.
As the jars cool, they should seal.
Let them ferment for a month or so and enjoy....dale

[claude]

I make my brine by weight, each salt has a different specific gravity and a table spoon of one is different than a table spoon of another. Kitchen scales take the guess work out of it and give you a consistent brine every time. Additionally you can tailor the percentage to suit your needs. For anaerobic lacto fermentation, I use a 2.5% solution and have very good results and an end product that is crisp and not overly salty. YMMV

https://www.makesauerkraut.com/salt-by-weight/

[GhostHawk]

The old recipe was add salt until it will float a fresh raw egg.

It still works.

Like you I made my first kraut this summer. Still have some in the fridge. Good stuff.

Wife likes to make refridgerator pickles, the onions are the best. After they have pickled for a couple of weeks she'll have a jar with most of the cukes gone and I'll sit and eat the onions. Flavor is mild but has a little kick to it. No tears, no burning just good stuff.

[Xringshooter]

I use the hot brine method to pickle veggies.
My brine: 3 cups water
1 cup vinegar
1/4 cup salt
Pack your veggies in a sterilized jar.
Heat your brine to a slow boil.
Fill the jar with the hot brine.
Screw on lid tightly and invert on a hot towel.
As the jars cool, they should seal.
Let them ferment for a month or so and enjoy....dale

This is what I use also. Just before adding the pickling liquid I'll add any spices I want to flavor my pickles with (fresh dill, garlic cloves (eat them also after pickled), whatever you like). One added thing, if you want your pickles to stay crispy/crunchy, put some acidic leaves in with them. The tannins in the leaves keep the pickles nice and crunchy. I use fresh grape leaves but any leaf with a lot of tannins will work (Black tea leaves, oak leaves, cherry leaves, or even horseradish leaves).

[MaryB]

I made old fashioned fermented pickles last year, they were gone by Christmas. Friends couldn't get enough of them! Only made one gallon of kraut, that lasted until Feb. with just me eating it(I did not share!). I use the 2.5% brine too and weigh the salt. Haven't tried it but fermented mustard greens are supposed to be good stuff. And I want to try making kimchee this fall. Love the stuff and it is very expensive to buy around here.

[facetious]

It has been 15 days and thy are clowdy. Going to give them a taste later and see how thy are.

Here are a couple of youtube videos that I used to start from. I was wrong it was five table spoons to TWO quarts water. In one video the guy uses five spoons of salt and the other the guy uses three spoons to two quarts water. So it seems that it dosn't mater if you are off a little ether way on the salt. One thing I saw was to use more if it is warmer and less if it cooler. In the video of the guy cutting them in to sears he is using a crock just like the one I got at Wally World.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgGuHg-aVNc


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rCxstMkb0E&t=1s

[facetious]

Well I tasted one and boy do thy tastet picklie!!!!!! took them out and put them in a tub with a snap lid and put them in the Refrigerator. I think 15 days was to long. Think I will try ten days next time. Even with the grape leaves thy still got soft. Also the cucumbers were to big I think, thy said thy were for pickling but were fatter then I would have liked but are the same size as in the videos. Thy got kind of mushie on the ends were I trimed them so I trimed them off before putting them in the tub. The out sides are firm and crunchie but the in sides are soft, and some were hollow inside. Also I think I ended up with more brine then I started with.

[DerekP Houston]

The pickled eggs thread got me started again. The jalapenos out of that jar are the best I've tasted in awhile. Not too mushy and plenty of heat. The bit of sugar and salt mixed gives them a really nice flavor. I'm tempted to toss some on a pizza.

[MaryB]

I always quarter cukes over 3/4 inch diameter. You need to make sure you trim enough off the blossom end to get the enzymes that will make them mushy. I do about 1/4 inch. Can leave stem ends alone.

[Xringshooter]

I'm with MaryB on this (anything bigger than 3/4" you might want to cut). When I do refrigerator pickles (I don't do processed pickles any more, they are never crunchy) I let them sit on the counter only for a 3-4 days then into the fridge for 2 weeks minimum before eating. I recall mine getting only barely cloudy and that cleared up within a couple days when put in the fridge.

The " some were hollow inside" pickles tells me the cucumber grew too fast, the insides didn't have time to grow at the same rate as the body. This could have been caused by too much water too fast.

I have had success with big cukes but I would always cut them into spears and remove the majority of the seeds. Personally, I like the baby cucumbers (immature) that are about 1/2" dia by 2" long.

I have an Amish market near me and they will sell me what I want, size wise, same with small potatoes (red skin or white). I like the ones that are 1 1/2" diameter or less, great for making a pot full of ham, green beans and potatoes.

[facetious]

Well here's a update, haven't died or got sick yet.

I think thy turned out ok I had a guy I work with try one and he liked it and didn't get sick so I think I may be getting the hang of this. Now I will have to try somthing else.

If you look at the cut up one you can see the seeds are getting on the big side. The out side is real good, the in side taste's good also but is soft and kind of jucy to put on a sandwitch so I just cut that part out an eat it and cut up he rest for the sandwitch.

So what I have learned is the next time I am going to cut them into spears and clean out some of the seeds and try ten days, I am also going to use a bit less dill. The first day I ate three of them and burped dill all night. I am going to try some spice also. It may be a bit, the fridg is full of krout and pickles now.

Today the wife and I went to the Costco and some gal was handing out little dill pickles, so we gave them a try and after eating the fermented ones I made she said thy didn't tast like any thing. No zing just vinegar'y. I saw that thy had some little cucumber's that didn't look like thy had been waxed but is hard to tell through the bag. I may get some later just to try. So for now I am eating the picked beets we picked up so I can use the juice to try and do some pickled egg's.

The wife says it is a said it must be a sign of old age when you find it iteresting to put stuff in jar's to watch them rot just to see if you can eat it and not get sick.

[Gewehr-Guy]

Your wife's comment made me laugh !

[MaryB]

To crisp them make sure to use some grape leaves or other tannin containing leaves(horseradish is one), or allum(canning aisle at the grocery store). I prefer the leaves over a chemical...

Fermented pickles have a depth of flavor you will not see from commercial pickles that are vinegar brined and water bath canned(or steam or however the big guys do it). A week in the fridge also helps firm them up some.

For sandwiches I slice the cukes in slabs or rounds 1/4 inch thick... slabs are nice because one or two covers a sandwich. They also take less time to ferment.