I made a batch of sauerkraut (pictured) over a period of a few weeks and it seemed to be going along really well. I never saw much bubbling but the liquid level definitely rose a little bit as it was fermenting as some brine got into my airlock a few times. I followed the recipe from Sandor Katz' Wild Fermentation but didn't measure my salt amount or the mass of the cabbage (have since remedied this with the purchase of a kitchen scale). However, I used the amount of salt meant for about a whole cabbage and only used a half, so I think that my salt level is definitely high enough to ward off most bad stuff. I threw in a few cloves of garlic and a handful of caraway seeds as well. During fermentation under my counter for about three weeks, the kraut was always submerged fully under the brine and I used a glass weight to maintain that state.
Before leaving for a 9-day trip last week, I put it into the fridge as it smelled pretty good by then and was ready to end the main fermentation. The liquid level was covering the kraut and most of the glass weight upon placing it into the fridge. However, checking it today, I noticed that the liquid level has dropped quite a bit, exposing the glass weight and about the top half inch of kraut. The big leaf I had covering the shredded cabbage has what appear to be white mold spots and there's some blue discoloration in the middle of the jar (although this area was covered by brine when I checked it).
Any thoughts on if I'm ok to just discard the molded leaf and remove the blue discoloration? Or do I need to restart? It currently smells absolutely wonderful for what it's worth. I'm just waiting to get some feedback before eating it in case there's something clearly wrong.
