Re: Kimchi fermentation

hi maangchi,

i made kimchi 3 days ago. i packed it into old glass pasta sauce jars and screwed the lid on tightly. i left 2 jars in a dark cupboard in my kitchen, and put the remaining jars in the fridge to ferment more slowly. i unscrewed the lids of the 2 jars left out only once, just to let some of the gases out (but i didn’t open the lid all the way), then screwed them back on. after 2 days, i put the 2 jars into the fridge. today (day 3), i decided to taste some to see how it is doing. well, it is very sour (more than expected after just 3 days?) and tastes kind of carbonated or “fizzy”! the cabbage is also a bit softer than i am used to with store bought kimchi. did i do something wrong? is it still safe to eat? is there a way to get rid of the fizziness (i don’t like it like that).

also, when making kimchi, after packing the kimchi into jars, i found that there wasn’t much kimchi juice (the sauce was more like a paste). i added a bit of brine (salt + water mixed in with the little remaining kimchi juice in the bowl) to cover the kimchi because ir ead that a few other places online (and also, i was worried about the kimchi being exposed to air an going bad in the jar). after a day, i noticed lots of bubbles and the brine seemed to get less liquidy? is this all normal too?

thanks!