I'm not sure where the half-cup measure came from, but if you used weight to volume for canning and pickling salt, 5 1/2 ounces would be just shy of 3/4 of a cup, not 1/2.

If you used Diamond Crystal Kosher your problem would be magnified. It only weighs about 5 oz. per cup, so if you measured by volume and used 1/2 cup of the kosher you'd be even worse off.

I'm guessing your brine was indeed shy of salt, which would explain the decay.

Carol

Yep, i do know that kosher salt is less salt per volume, and did add more, but not nearly that much. Thanks a bunch, sounds like thats a big part of the problem.

If you don't have the info already, you might find these weights helpful:

table salt - 10 oz. per cup (not recommended due to the free-flow agents)

Morton's Coarse Kosher salt - 7.7 oz. per cup (also not recommended due to free-flow agents)

Diamond Crystal Kosher - 5 oz. per cup (pure salt)

Canning and Pickling Salt - 7.8 oz. per cup (pure salt)

Carol

Hmm, hadnt seen anything like that before, all ive been able to find were generalizations (i.e. this much kosher is about this much pickling). Makes more sense too why all the other recipes ive seen have nearly twice as much salt in them.

In case you haven't already seen this, I linked the Fermenting guidelines from NCHFP below. You may wish to review them before trying your next batch. ;)

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Fermenting Guidelines

Your recipe is almost identical to my grandmother's. She (in her words) used a scant 3/4 cup of salt in a gallon of warm water (which sounds right based on Carol's mathematics) along with the dill and garlic. She also would take a knife and slit the cucumbers all the way through the center, but leaving the ends intact, so the brine would penetrate into the cucumbers. Then on the top of the brine, she always put a slice of rye bread, covered the crock with a flour sack towel and left it in the sun for five days. Then she'd strain the brine, put in a few fresh garlic cloves and a bit of vinegar (I use about 1/4 cup or to taste), and they went into the refrigerator. These have always been my favorite pickles.

malna, I've heard of the rye bread method. Slitting the cucumbers is interesting.

adinin, in addition to the resource Dave mentioned, check the one I've linked to also. It does have some good info on fermented pickles and salt ratios.

Also, there are many previous threads that address various troubleshooting issues for pickles, fermentation temps, etc.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Homemade Pickles and Relishes

Fermented pickles are like the little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead. When they are good they are very good. When they are bad they are horrid.

Jim

Thanks for the help all, everything ive found as well as what you are all saying seems be point to lack of salt as my problem. i came across the NCHFP link as i was searching, but the pdf is a nice find. I had also come across some of the pickle problem threads, thats what led me to this forum, but none seemed to have this particular problem. Tomorrow should see the start of the next batch of pickles, with any luck these will turn out good.

If you have a scale (and ALL of us Alton Brown Good Eats fanatics have scales, even if they are kind of unitasker oriented....) try weighing your salt.

Mr. B. and my new hobby, bread-baking, have turned me into a "weighing-kind-of-guy" instead of "measuring-kind".

Good luck,

John Scott Smith