John in the other thread mentioned glass beads in muslin bags. I used a plate in a 5 gallon bucket but had to put a jar of water on top.

Where did you get your steel weights, and how do they "leak" do you mean they rust?

I know it was a little crude but I cut small blocks of carbon steel (about twice the size of a deck of cards) wrapped them in plastic and set them in several zip lock style bags. The bags leaked and I assume contaminated the kraut. I probably should have ground the edges and painted them. The fermenters are ~2 gal food grade buckets from a local home brew store.

It might not be food grade though, but they make the MSDS sheet available so you could check.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plasti-dip

I have a Harsch crock for my kraut and it comes with two half moon weights made of what looks like unglazed ceramic that are used to cover and weigh down the cabbage.

Following this concept I'd imagine that if you need to weigh down a plate in a bucket that you could use a large smooth stone that you've boiled clean.

That was going to be my suggestion - buy a set of the regular weights sold for the fermenting crocks. They are inexpensive ($15-20 @ amazon for example) and come in several different brands and sizes.

Personally I have never had a bag of brine break or leak so I have always found that to be sufficient. I use ziplock gallon freezer bags and keep the bag sitting upright and since there is no need to handle and thus damage it after it is in place, leaking is prevented. You can always double-bag it if you wish.

Dave

> John in the other thread mentioned glass beads in muslin bags.

I have at times used glass beads in nylon tulle bags for weights. Don't really have a good picture showing them in a jar of something being fermented though.

A better shot of the glass beads:

I buy the glass beads and the tulle at a local Hobby Lobby.

Nylon Tulle
Glass Beads

The glass beads can be boiled and sterilized, but I throw away the plastic netting they come in and use the tulle instead. The nylon tulle also makes fantastic blossom bags for those of you into saving seed. I don't think the glass beads in netting would be suitable for a large surface area container like a 5 gal bucket for example. I do like for 2 gal and smaller glass jars though.

john

If you want to make your own fermenters, you can buy the little black rubber 0-ring that the airlock sets into at some home brew stores. You may have to ask as they may keep them behind the counter. Just drill a hole in any bucket lid and pop the o-ring through. An ice-cream bucket might work for small batches.