As I have mentioned before, more than once, I have made sauerkraut and it has worked pretty well. This was true even last spring, when the temps were warm. Holly at makesauerkraut.com indicates that the flavor is better when temps are lower (she says below 72, which I have often hit, but I now think it might be below 70). All of my past batches have turned out about the same, but this fall I made some that was different.
I didn't start it until late November, after temps had crashed in the house and I was using the wood stove. This time, the temperatures were solidly below 70, not just for the first few days but throughout. The only caveat is that I initially located the crock in the same room as the stove, where temperatures hit 80 for brief periods when the stove is in use. Holly specifically warns about this. I thought the increases were too short to matter, but maybe not: I had extreme sauerkraut tides to deal with; the moat would be almost dry then overflowing. When I moved the crock to another room the situation improved, but on a day when the temp was lower indoors, the moat completely dried up.
When I carried it into the kitchen, some water did flow back in, so it was being sucked up. On opening, things looked pretty normal.
And I got about the normal amount of kraut (eight pounds went into the crock, pretty much the standard amount).
The flavor was different, however, and much improved. It has a nuance and subtlety that I haven't noticed before. Maybe the cooler temperatures did allow different bacteria to work and leave their imprint. My other sauerkraut has been okay, and even good. But I'm going through this so fast that I'm going to need more soon. I've downed the two quart jars in less than a week, minus a half pint I've given to someone else.
Maybe this is a one-time thing, but I'm hoping I can replicate it. Whatever I did this time worked out very well.
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