Which ferment for your first batch
Every ferment on this bench runs on the same three inputs — salt, sugar, or time — but the first batch should be the one with the fewest moving parts and the fastest feedback. The comparison below uses each ferment's post on this site: the salt bases (every percentage names its base), the pH line (4.6 and what it buys), the vinegar ceiling (titration and the 5% line), the fizz (the second ferment window), the ladder (sweet to salty), and the two garums (warm-held and ambient).
The five, side by side
| Sauerkraut | Kombucha | Vinegar | Miso | Garum | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gear | a jar, a cabbage, salt | a SCOBY you buy or are given, sweet tea, a second jar for F2 | booze, then acetobacter, weeks-to-months of patience | koji, soybeans, months of quiet | fish, salt, a warm spot |
| The one number | 2% salt — by the right base: 18 g massaged into 900 g cabbage, not 10 g into the brine | the pH line: starter at pH 4.0 or lower (NCHFP), finished below 4.5 (USU), both under the 4.6 line | the 5% line: the acidity NC State lists as the minimum for pickling — titrate to check you're at or above it | the ladder: sweet white at months, salty red at a year-plus | the warm-held vs ambient split: same fish, two calendars |
| First feedback | days — the kraut tells you as it bubbles | the fizz window in the fridge | a titration at the end, a sip before | months | weeks |
Which one is your first?
- Start tonight, first taste in two weeks, done in three to four (at 70–75 °F): sauerkraut. The simple-sauerkraut guide needs one jar and one calculation done correctly — and the salt math only goes right when you name the base (the percentage post's two methods give two different jars).
- You want fizz: kombucha, but it begins with a health check no sauerkraut needs — a live SCOBY and the pH line crossed (what 4.6 buys). If you know someone with a kombucha kitchen, their SCOBY is your ticket in.
- You want a pantry staple that keeps on the shelf once it's finished: vinegar — the two-stage calendar is the cost, and it isn't finished until it titrates at 5% or more. The vinegar guide carries the titration read.
- You want umami, and you have patience: miso — months of quiet with nothing to do but look, and the ladder's sweet-to-salty range to climb over the years.
- You want strange and ancient: garum. Fish and salt, the warm-held vat or the ambient jar — the two ways — and the strongest-tasting tablespoon in your kitchen.
When it's done
Every ferment above gets the same off switch: the fridge, a ferment's stop button. Kraut, kombucha F2, vinegar at the ceiling — the cold slows the batch while you decide what's next. The wizard's batch planner prints the dates and the salts for whichever one you pick; the fridge and the taste test do the rest.
Name the base, pack the jar, and taste something this week. — the cellar crew