I swapped my regular jar lids for the ones with the little airlock bubbler thing

I was making a batch of kimchi in my kitchen and got tired of burping the jar every day. So I bought one of those cheap plastic lids with the bubbler airlock for about five bucks. The kimchi with the airlock lid fermented way faster and had a much sharper taste after just a week. The batch in the regular jar was slower and tasted a bit off, almost yeasty. Has anyone else seen a big difference with those airlock lids on their ferments?

4 comments

4 Comments

xenam841mo ago

So you think the airlock just lets it breathe better without letting bad stuff in? Makes me wonder if my regular lids are basically choking my ferments.

shanes661mo ago

Read a blog post that said airlocks are more about keeping oxygen out than letting CO2 escape. Regular lids can build up pressure and might actually slow things down. Makes sense if you think about how yeast works.

faithpatel9d ago

Well bless their little hearts, your regular lids are probably just holding all that CO2 hostage like a bad roommate. Might be time to set those ferments free from their gassy prison.

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anthony_jackson311mo ago

That blog post shanes66 mentioned is spot on about oxygen. I had a sauerkraut batch go moldy under a regular lid, but the one with an airlock was perfect. It seems like that tiny bit of trapped air under pressure really does change the whole environment for the microbes.