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RE: Sauerkraut is Made With Cabbage, Salt and a Healthy dose of Kneading and Pounding.
That reads like you ferment it in the fridge. Is that what you meant? I'm more used to fermenting it at room temp, then putting it into the fridge once it's done.
I usually let mine sit overnight at room temperature to make sure that it's producing some bubbling gas and then I put it in the fridge after about 12 hours. I have kept a 5 gallon pail of it in my cold storage for the better part of a year, but it takes some different care, (than what's needed to make 1 jar at a time). You definitely need a weight to hold the cabbage under its own juice and a storage vessel in which the gas can escape as it needs to.
I wonder if the period till it starts bubbling differs by location. How warm is your house? In New Zealand, where are houses are mostly not centrally heated, it would take a lot longer then 12 hours for it to start bubbling. Especially in winter.
I believe it is affected by temperature. We heat by woodstove and our house is hot in the winter and hot in the summer. I have never had it take more than overnight to reach bubbling level. It's the same when I make kombucha. My house is also 55 years old and I don't use any chemical cleaners in it. I clean with vinegar and essential oils to try and live symbiotically with bacteria, thinking that part of the gut problems that we are dealing with is linked to the push to live in a sterile environment.
We all need to eat more dirt... LOL
Agree with you on gut bacteria.
It takes a week in summer and more like 10 days in winter for kombucha to brew in our house!
Wow! I would have never guessed it would take that long.
I have just edited this post @kiwideb to add more specifics about waiting for the fermentation process to become visible before putting the jar in the fridge. (~Just to add additional clarification to the process for those who may try to make this for the first time.) Thank you for asking about this.