Hello all, from Hyampom California

I am a farmer, gardener, lover of ferments and kim chee was my first ferment experiment. I have made it a few times but just had my napa cabbage get big enough to make a batch. Here is the recipe:
http://tigressinapickle.blogspot.com/2009/07/kimchi.html?m=1
I just bought some new ferment tools, the glass weights and new air locks, pretty lids with gaskets. I forgot how to use the air locks, so using the instructions for new air locks, didn’t put brine in the center tube going down into the jar. But put it all around the outer receptacle and put little lid on. 6 days in, I opened the jar and the liquid level in the jar was about an inch down. I tasted it, but it wasn’t the sparkly flavor I had previously experienced. Is it still good? If it was bad would it be really funky or stinky? How can I tell if it worked? Thanks!