White plaque on ferment?

[Fehr]

Dear all,

I recently made some mixed pickles and I noticed some kind of white plaque on the surface. Could you help me and check out the image, I attached? Is this normal?

Also, some of the vegetables now float on the surface of the brine but look fine. Would you rather open the glass or just leave them where they are?

Thank you so much and kind regards

David

[Christopher Weeks]

Are these two pictures different from one another? In any case, I can't see well enough to know for sure what you're drawing our attention to.

In a brine, you should expect to see an off-white dusting form on the upper surfaces of your produce and on the bottom of the jar. It's just dead bacteria and their excrement. The same stuff forms in kraut, but it gets hidden in all the crevasses.

With regard to the floating veggies, it's best practice to make sure they're submerged so that they can't form an anchorhead for mold to colonize. However, I have many times ignored that advice in a FIDO jar where the top surface is constantly kept under a blanket of CO2, and had it turn out fine.

[Fehr]

Thanks a lot, that helps! I can see exactly what you described.

Thanks you and kind regards