Yucky whey pickes! Why?!

[Wanobot]

I have made a couple of yogurt whey pickle batches previously and they turned out great! Delicious and crisp. Recently, I made a batch of saurkraut with kefir whey and that turned out tasty too. At the same time, I tried to make pickles with the same whey but for some reason, the pickles smelled sort of like bokashi compost and were definitely falling apart. I would pick one up and my finger would go through half of it. I tasted they brine (probably not the best idea) and it was just salty, not tangy at all. I tried it again a week later with the same process and the pickles were still bad. Could it be the quality of the pickling cucumbers? All my failed batches were from the same place and they weren't the greatest cucumbers. What could it be? Can anyone give me some advice or does anyone know the answer to this pickling failure? Thank you!