We grow 12-14 heads of cabbage each year in our garden. After the coleslaw season is over we turn the leftover cabage in to Sauerkraut. We pick the cabbage and wash it in our wheelbarrel, then trim off the unwanted leaves. I wash the sink, tools and crock with water and bleach then everthing is rinsed well before use.
The cabbages are cut in half and shredded into a clean food grade five gallon pails, when a pail has ten pounds of cabbage in it, I dump the pail in to the next bay of the sink and add six table spoons of canning salt to each ten pounds of cabbage. mix the cabbage well and let it sit wile the next ten pounds of the cabbage is shreddded.
I use this setup to make sure each pail has ten pounds of cabbage .
After mixing and letting the salted cabbage sit for a half hour to wilt, I fill five gallon pails and carry the salted cabbage to the crock in the basement. ( be sure to add the juice in the bottom the sink to the pail too), The first year I filled the crock in the garage and tried to carry it to the basement, I will never do that again. Our crock holds 50 pounds of cabbage and the crock weights 60 pounds also. You should keep the crock at a temperature around 70 Deg. F.
Dump one pail of cabbage into the crock and pack it down with the back of your very clean hands, do the same with the rest of the cabbage.
Pack the crock to about three inches from the top, I made a lid to cover the gabbage from a stainless steel pan cover I found at K-Mart. I removed the handle and ground the edge down till it just fit freely inside of the crock.
Place the lid on top of the cabbage and put a clean one gallon jar full of water on top of the lid to hold down the cabbage. If there's not enough juice to cover the cabbage, you can make a brine from a mixture of 1 1/2 tablespoons canning salt to one quart of water, bring to a boil and let it cool before addinng to the crock. cover the cabbage with 2-3 inches of liquid.
Cover the crock with a clean bag and check the crock each day to see if fermentation has started. If it has you will see gas bubbles around the edge of the lid.
The bubbles show a good fermentation has started.
The scum that forms on the top of the cabbage juice needs to be removed each day, it only takes a minute. Use a fresh clean spoon each time, I clean the crock edge and glass jar too. The Sauerkraut will be done in 3-6 weeks when the bubbles have stopped. At this point you can freeze it or put it up in jars. Here is a great link for canning saurkraut:
http://msuextension.org/publications/HomeHealthandFamily/MT200902HR.pdf
