A gentle hand wash in warm soapy water is best. It is generally not necessary, but for a more thorough clean, or if brine has bubbled up through the gasket, slip out the one way valve gasket as well as the sealing gasket in order to give it all good manual rinse. 

Like everything else with our Easy Fermenter lids, the date dial is designed to be easy to use. Simply set the date to the day you started the ferment. Now it’s easy to keep track of your ferments and when you need to start taste testing them. 

It’s best to hand wash the lids. All of the components are dishwasher safe, but the jets from dishwashers can knock some components loose, so we don’t recommend it. 

Absolutely! Once your ferment is ready, simply remove the Easy Fermenter lid and replace it with a regular lid for storage. No need to transfer your ferments. 

There are a few ways to check if your ferments are ready and the Easy Fermenter lid, used with clear mason jars, makes it simple to test. 

• Cloudiness. If the jar has gone cloudy, your ferments are getting close. 
• Bubbling. Bubbling is a good sign and means that the lactic acid bacteria are creating the gases necessary for fermentation. 
• Smell. The brine should have a pleasant vinegar aroma. 
• Taste. If the brine is still very salty then the ferment is probably not done. 

If the fermenting process is done and you’re happy with the taste, simply replace the Easy Fermenter lid with a regular lid and move your ferment to cold storage. If it is not ready yet, just put the Easy Fermenter lid back on and give it a pump or two, then wait a little longer. The speed at which different foods ferment will vary depending on the environment in which they are so just keep checking them until you are happy with the result. 

Any food that is not below the brine during the fermenting process does not get fermented. So to get the most out of the Easy Fermenter lids and the delicious foods you can ferment, we recommend using weights. If you don’t have weights make sure to remove the top layer of vegetables before eating or transferring to cold storage. 

The fantastic thing about fermented foods is that they can last for months after they are ready. Once your ferment is ready, remove the Easy Fermenter lid and replace it with a regular lid. Place the jar in cold storage (like a fridge) and make sure to keep the contents fully submerged under the brine. 

Headspace or headroom at the top of your jar is most important when dry brining. For dry brining, it’s best to leave at least 2-4” of headspace as dry brining causes expansion as the fermentation takes place. 

Wet brining doesn’t cause as much expansion, but if you don’t have enough room, some foam may push through the valve. For wet brining it’s best to leave a couple of inches to start with. 

With practice and time you will learn how much headspace is ideal for your ferments. 

The pump is another handy feature of the Easy Fermenter lids and is used for removing oxygen from the jar if you have opened it to test your ferment and found that it needs more time to ferment. Opening the jar introduces oxygen to the jar, making the batch susceptible to mold. 

To evacuate oxygen, place the rubber end of the pump over the lid (with the pump handle in the pushed in/down position) and exert downward pressure so that the rubber end maintains a constant seal around the valve, then pull up on the pump. This counts as one pump. 1-2 pumps should be sufficient to remove the oxygen. 

We strive to ensure that all our products are high quality and all our customers are happy with their purchases. But if you decide that fermenting is not for you, you have 365 days to contact us and return your purchase, as long as the items are unused and in their original packaging. Some items, such as perishable goods or gift cards are non-refundable. Read our full Refund Policy for more information. 

At this stage, we only ship to the U.S. We charge a $6 flat rate for orders sent to the continental U.S. and other fees apply for Alaska and Hawaii. For purchases over $70 shipping is completely FREE!