Kimchi refrigerator – information please!

I found few things.

Temperature in the compartment should be somewhere around 1 C to 4 C. I took my spare fridge and cranked it up all the way up, and instrumented it for measurement at various points. Temp was somewhere around 3 to 4.5 C. A local Korean market owner also told me not to open it often. That means current batch will stay in my regular fridge and rest will stay in my spare. It might work….

I will be experimenting with it shortly as tomorrow is a Kimchi production day!

This is where science and engineering meets cooking!!

By the way, the aforementioned Korean grocer told me it is possible to buy a real Kimchi fridge in US. But it will cost $1.5K to $4K. Grrrrr…..

I made a batch on November 14, mid-day and kept it at room temperature – about 80 F. Just few hours ago on November 16, about mid-night I tasted it and it was perfect, so I decided to put it in my “Kimchi refrigerator.” (um…. I ate half a jar already)

Now few hours later, it is having issues cooling. Fridge air is 5 c but the jar itself is 37 C. I forgot! Fermentation process is exthothermic! I don’t know if my semi-mini fridge has enough cooling power to stop the fermentation process…. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow. (I have 3 sensors to monitor the inside air and one sensor to monitor the cap of the mason jar).

If I have to, I’ll pack vegetable drawer (lowest drawer) with ice and water to bring the temp lower quickly. Otherwise, temp rise by fermentation might overcome the cooling by fridge. I got to stop the fermentation, so I can lower the temp enough to stop the process. (argh! feedback!)

This is now turning into a science project. No effort spared for that perfect kimchi!!!!

Continuing saga of Kimchi fridge….

Discovered sensor #4 is defective. The Kimchi jar itself is actually 1 degree C. Yay.

Today is almost a month after starting this experiment: Use a standard refrigerator, put a jar of kimchi and keep the temp slightly above 0 degree C and keep it closed. I had thermometer all over the fridge wired to outside. Temp stayed near 1 C.

Today, I took the kimchi jar out.

A “control”, another jar stored in other fridge that was opened many times a day has become too sour, so I started using it to make jigae.

One kept in independent fridge was slightly sour but still very crisp. It has become a well fermented but not overly so. So the experiment was somewhat of a success. Keep it cold and avoid temp variation will keep kimchi fresh for longer.

Hope this effort helps someone.

Taka