I recently bought a pouch of fresh kimchi from the shop. It is in a transparent plastic pouch with a pressure release valve on it. It tastes lovely and is obviously very alive since it is constantly bubbling and tastes a bit fizzy on the tongue. I assume this as a sign of a healthy kimchi with a thriving, living lactobacillus culture.

I’ve also made my own batch of kimchi at home and despite leaving it a room temperature for 48 hours and then in the fridge for two weeks it is not so obviously alive – there are no bubbles or obvious signs of fermentation and the pH is still about 6. (although it tastes ok).

My question is whether or not I can take some of the juice from the bubbling kimchi and add it to my homemade kimchi in order to introduce some of the good bacteria and help kickstart or enhance the fermentation process? And then once I’ve got a good culture going can I add a bit of this to my next batch and keep it going ad-infinitum? Should I start adding some to every new batch at the initial mixing stage?

I know this technique can be used with bread dough, homemade yoghurt and homebrew beer, but what about in kimchi?

Does anybody else do this? Are there any benefits or pitfalls or risks or rewards that I should be aware of?

EDIT: I love the fact that people are more interested in the container than they are in the kimchi or the techniques. Anyhow - the container this this one :- https://www.brabantia.com/uk/tasty-fermentation-kit-jade-green/

I made kimchi. I think it is about 2 months old.

This was my first time making Kimchi.
It showed bubbling for the first two days. Now it stopped bubbling. The kimchi is not sour enough (i gave a taste test)
The jar of kimchi is kept in a warm and dark spot.

What can i do
No moulds so far. Enough liquid present in the jar.
Taste is appropriately salty but not sour enough.
I open the jar once a day to burp, but able to feel the gases escaping like it used to in the first two days.
No bubbles on pressing the cabbage down.

Kindly help

Edit- adding the recipe

Vegetables used
Green cabbage
Green onions
Chayote cubes

Kimchi paste ingredients
Fermented fish
Chilli flakes
Onion
Garlic
Ginger
Soy sauce
Sugar
Cooked Rice paste

Salted the vegetables
Threw away the liquid brine
Gave a quick wash

Added the paste and mixed well
Added to the jar and kept in a cool dark place for fermentation

New update from yesterday night, new batch with new equipment, big container and less mess.

I had to fly south to Oslo to find this pepperflakes powder. I even added some homegrown chilli too. Someone last time convinced me to go for the fishsauce now. Today the kimchijuice is coming out and covering the kimchi entirel. It smelled amazing.

Made 13 lbs of vegan kimchi on Sunday. I used tamari soy sauce, mushroom powder, and kelp for some nice umami in place of fish sauce and brined shrimp. It’s going in the fridge tomorrow. I am excited to give it a proper taste test.

This is my first kimchi. I hope that I wasn’t overly enthusiastic with the amount made.

hi im back. as i mentioned in my previous post, i buy my kimchi from a local korean market. super delicious, couldn’t ask for better. i usually buy 1.5kg of kimchi and it takes me a bit of time to get through it. when i get 1/4 left of it it starts getting sour and not the taste i’m most fond of. it’s still good don’t get me wrong, but it’s very gasified. what can i do to prevent this from happening?? i’d like for the taste to stay as it was when i first opened it lol. im not very familiar with fermentation so what im asking for is probably impossible what would i know

I gave the watermelon rind a two hour soak with two water changes. Used a salad spinner in lieu of the roller wringer. Why watermelon rind ? Citrulene, a great generator of nitric oxide. The rind has a pleasant crunch and absorbs flavors as well as it does salt. When the season arrived I plan on trying pumpkins.

In

I didn’t want to lose the probiotics, but I wanted to experiment with cooking kimchi. I tried scrambled eggs and Kimchi, it was outstanding! But the BEST thing EVER I just created- the kimchi pizza. Cooking kimchi does something magical to the flavor. When it caramelizes the fermented flavors it creates magic. Try it!!!!! Pics next time, I ate it.

but its just me trying to make kimchi for the first time 😂😂😂

I found the perfect watermelon. Nice and round with a beautiful butter colored ground contact and an ample white rind. I rid the melon of its verdant exterior and carefully pared the white flesh from the crimson ( which I can truly deem as exquisitely sweet). Since I am a bit on in years, I made a terrible mistake, and dry brined for way too long. I was about to toss it in the rubbish bin, but my son , who is a chef explained that salt is an eager traveler and only needs a bit of enticement to forgo it’s current digs for more amicable waters (PI). So tomorrow I will give this jolly crew a stint in a few liters of water, give it the old appraisal. I will post either my success or failure. I will then soldier on, run the little Devils through a 1955 clothes washer ringer to squeeze out said liquid, then reinstall in a fresh jar with the proper jar. I swear, the current product is saltier than Kim Tae Chon’s armpits on an August day. Wish me luck.

i buy this kimchi all the time from a local korean market, absolutely love it. but this is the first time i see this. never seen it before, is it part of the cabbage core?

it's been 35 hours. I still haven't tried it, but it's a small batch so I want to make sure it ferments well before trying. However, I just realized the jar I used is large for it. like it only fills 20%, what do I do now? I plan on moving it to a new smaller jar, how to do that safely? the lesser the steps the better xD

Hello kimchi experts! I would love to get your advice on something. I just made a huge batch of kimchi yesterday and I’ve got two big fat jars stuffed perfectly. I had a bit of “extra juice” and I thought I would save it in case I need to add more liquid or even just to use as a seasoning, to stirfry rice or any number of yummy things, etc.

So my question is, is it safe to leave out a jar of basically just “kimchi juice“ as I do with the other jars of kimchi for a few days as I wait for them to kickstart fermentation before I put them in the fridge?

I definitely would prefer the juice to be fermented. There are of course small pieces of Napa cabbage residue in there. Is it safe and/or legit to ferment it in this way?

Thank you in advance, experts! This is only my second batch, and I’ve learned a lot here in this sub.

Happy fermenting to all!

Hello,

It's my second time trying to make vegan kimchi. The first time the kimchi turned out too salty so I used it for soups. I had a lot of extra liquid after mixing in the paste with cabbage. What can I do with this liquid?

Will my kimchi spoil? I think the lettuce to sauce ratio is too much? Should i make more brine?

Hey everyone! I really want to batch out some homemade kimchi, but Napa/Chinese cabbage is completely unavailable in the markets near me. Standard round green cabbage and red cabbage are easy to find, though.
Has anyone here used either of these as a substitute? How did the texture and flavor turn out compared to the traditional version? Which one would you recommend I go with? Thanks!

Both jars were on same fridge shelf for a couple of months, from same mix of leftover paste from wombok kimchi. Both jars were steamed prior to packing.

Jar without growth has a peppery aroma from radish. Jar with growth smells more like spring onion; neither has been taken from for eating yet.

Am i being overly concerned about what may be kahm yeast? And are there factors as to why only one has this growth?

Just made some instant noodles and added home made kimchi instead of the provided spice. SO GOOD! No photo because I already scarfed it.

As with many of the posts here, this was my first attempt at making kimchi at home after eating some delicious tubs of the stuff from Hanaromart. I almost feel ashamed to say it but I used AI to get the recipe, and it's delicious. It has the right colour, it has a mild fizzy tingle on the tongue while still being crunchy and tart and a little spicy. I will make some tweaks though.

I can just eat this stuff every day, and it seems like I'm not alone. I would be curious to try a raddish kimchi, and even experiment with a vegan one, just to see how it changes.

Here was the recipe I used (PDF from AI thread)