Sauerkraut Update

To recap:

I put about two-thirds of a chopped red cabbage in a jar with a clasp and a rubber seal Thursday lunchtime. I had to top it up with water, as even after 30mins soaking in salt it hadn't given off much liquid (might sea salt be better next time?). I probably overfilled the jar, there was maybe half an inch of air space. I stuffed about four whole cabbage leaves on top to keep the chopped cabbage below the liquid line.

Over the weekend the liquid line rose and liquid started to seep out of the seal - I had to open the jar a few times to let the air/gas out, and put the jar on a plate to catch the escaping liquid (it had already stained a wooden tray thing we use as kitchen storage - red cabbage!). There was no sign of any mould at any time.

Today is four days since the start date, so I just tried it. The liquid was basically filling the jar when I opened it. I poured some away, removed the top leaves and tried a piece. It was too hard, and more sweet than briny. I put the leaves back and resealed the jar. I reckon I'll try again on Thursday.

Lessons learned: I was very hesitant at the start of the process, asking lots of questions and overthinking it. This is because I was afraid of messing up the first batch and then just giving up. I feel relaxed about it now. I had mistakenly thought of the process as being three days' effort on my part that could be wasted, in fact it was about 20 minutes of effort on my part and the rest is just the cabbage. If I end up throwing it away, it's just a 70p cabbage, I'll start again.

UPDATE: It seems I haven't been properly accounting for gas bubbles / air pockets - will go give it a good poke with a wooden spoon.