My brother-in-law in Portland changed my mind about airlocks

I was over at his place last weekend and saw his kimchi jar bubbling away with just a cloth cover, no airlock in sight. He said, 'For a quick ferment like this, the gas pushes out any bad stuff anyway, and the cloth lets it breathe better.' I always thought you needed a proper airlock for everything (you know, like a rule), but seeing his setup work perfectly for a 3-day ferment made me rethink my whole process. Has anyone else moved away from airlocks for their shorter projects?

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3 Comments

ivan_schmidt5mo ago

That cloth method can work but it's a gamble. Seen too many batches go bad without a proper seal, even on short ferments. Airlocks are cheap insurance.

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jordan_walker5mo ago

I just use a rubber band to keep the cloth tight... never had mold in my short ferments. Airlocks are fine too though.

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kaimiller2mo ago

@ivan_schmidt I had a batch of hot sauce go fuzzy with cloth but then my dog ate it, so no big loss.

5