Sauerkraut Fermenting Kit with Pounder

This kit is the same as the Sauerkraut Fermenting Kit with the addition of a one-of-a-kind, hand made pounder. See more information on the pounder below.

Ferment yourself at home with this sauerkraut/kim-chi/vegetable fermenting kit with pounder. Over the last 8 years we’ve tried fermenting in everything and with everything. We’ve tried fermenting on a small scale and a large scale.

There are some difficulties with fermenting such as:

- mould growth

- fruit flies and other pests spoiling the batches

- exploding jars

- breaking airlocks

- hard to clean airlocks

- and more

We’ve put together the best fermentation kit that we’ve been able to build.

Included Sauerkraut Fermenting Kit with Pounder:

• 2L Glass Jar

  Glass is the perfect material in which to ferment. As the veggies ferment they become pretty acidic (up to a PH of 3.5). If you ferment in plastic, the acidic veggies leach flavour and chemicals from plastic over the (recommended) month of fermentation. Glass is great because you can see what your veggies are unto during their month of fermentation . This jar has a wide mouth to make it easier when packing the veggies in and it’s just the right size to fit in your fridge door once the fermenting is done.

• Airlock

  An airlock is essential when fermenting fruit or veggies. You don’t want fresh air to get into your Sauerkraut or mould WILL grow (nasty stuff, even if you scrape it off the spores go everywhere!) usually after 3 – 5 days. The problem is that veggies create carbon dioxide as they’re fermenting which can cause a tightly sealed container to explode if the gases can’t release. This airlock lets gases out, without letting air in. This airlock is also a single piece of food-grade silicon which can be easily cleaned and cared for. Other airlocks we’ve tried have 7 pieces that are impossible to clean, and rubber o-rings that break and start leaking. This airlock has made our fermenting life easy.

• Wooden Pounder

  Breaking down the structure of the cabbage (or other vegetables) through “pounding” is an important step before packing the vegetables into your fermenting jar. This helps to release the juice from the vegetables, break down the structure of the cabbage (so the bacteria can more easily feed on the carbohydrates) and it helps to mix in the salt thoroughly. A Pounder is also mighty useful when packing your veggies into a glass jar. This pounder is made from Queensland wood (either Silky Oak, Red Iron Bark or Oregon). Each pounder is hand made and unique, no two are the same. See more information about our pounders here. When you purchase this you can request any of the three wood varieties in the order notes and we will include that selection if we have it in stock. If you don’t tell us your preference we’ll select our favourite pounder for you.

• Glass Weight 

  This glass weight helps to hold the veggies down so they don’t putrefy or oxidise during the fermentation.

• Sustainably Sourced Salt 

  Salt is essential to stop the veggies from putrefying as they slowly transform into Sauerkraut or Kim Chi. We’ll supply enough for your first batch.

• Instructions 

  To ensure that things go smoothly using this fermenting kit we’ll email you instructions. These instructions provide step-by-step instructions, teaching you how to ferment Sauerkraut and Pickles. They also have some suggestions of other vegetable combinations that you can try.

We do not sell any starter cultures for fermenting vegetables. Wild Fermentation (that’s just creating an environment in which all the locally sourced, naturally existing bacteria that live on any vegetable, can multiply and propagate) gives better flavours and higher number of bacteria. Wild fermentation takes time (Approximately 25 days at an average temperature of 25C). All the fermented vegetables that we sell are fermented wildly.