We made sauerkraut in my microbiology class, as an experiential lesson in good microbes. Only the instructor’s turned out. Ours all rotted. :( But his was good. Nothing like the canned stuff.
Kraut (or kapusta) 101. It has to be cold. If it rotted it was probably too warm. I make it ever year, sometimes just a #6 crock, sometimes a #6 and a #8. We are in west Michigan with an attached garage. I put it up in the garage on a table late October and in mid January it is done and I can most of it in quart wide mouths. In Chicago where I grew up, Dad did it in a separated garage. Not a big deal if it freezes, just not frozen solid for a month. My dad was the sauerkraut guru. He walked into a bar once and as soon as he smelled the air he said to the owner, “someone’s got kraut going bad in here.” Sure enough the owner took him in the basement where he had a barrel right near the furnace. Dad helped him dig out what was still good and they put it somewhere colder.
Sterility is very important, as I understand it. It’s almost like making wine.
I had forgotten that my husband did try it once; it was ‘clean’, but he didn’t like the way it tasted, and tossed it. He thinks he ‘fooled around’ with it too much, instead of just leaving it be.
A project for another day. (We did small batches in big mason jars, and I really think you have to do it the giant-crock way.)