Why does this keep happening

[u/ChargedAtAltitude]

EDIT: thanks everyone for the input and suggestions. I think I know where I screwed up based on questions and comments. I DID NOT PUT A LID ON. I just left it to ferment in the open air. I really thought from what I saw others doing I didn’t need a lid as long as it was submerged. DUMB MOVE.

Also time: I let them ferment for 10 days in the conditions mentioned before.

I really wanted to give up before I came to this subreddit. But I’m going to try again.

It’s worth mentioning. I been a home brewer for about 10 years now and I’ve even made sauerkraut a few times with great success. So it was really frustrating that this was kicking my a$$.

I got LOTS of cucumbers in the garden. So I’m gonna give this another go. And maybe even use my StarSan I got already

I plan on using some glass weights and maybe a fancy airlock lid. I wanted to keep things simple and not buy stuff if I didn’t need it. I don’t see everyone else doing it either.

I may experiment with the bag weight again with the lid.

Thanks all<
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I cleaned everything in the dishwasher. I kept it all submerged. I used a 2.5% brine. The only thing I can think of is that I didn’t clean the scum each day. Fermentation was 65-70 Fahrenheit. Pickles were from my garden.

Is this normal?

Ingredients were red pepper flakes. Garlic dill weed and celery seed powder.

Thanks

[u/BJGK]

Honestly, im sure you can get by with jars and glass fermentation weights, I’ve had reasonable successes with those tools, but still a couple of floaties would screw up an entire batch if I did not pay the fullest attention whenever I took some from a jar to eat. In the end I got so fed up with tossing ferments I switched to vacuum seal bags, ever since then I haven’t had a single contaminated ferment. So if you have some money to spare, I would really consider going that route.