What a difference a couple of days make

Hasn't been 48 hours, but this is what the crocks look like this morning. Don't be alarmed -- it's normal!

All that yucky stuff is not mold, it's foam generated by the fermentation process, which creates lots of air bubbles. Sometimes large ones bubble up with a burp, just as often it's bunches of small ones, which make the foam.

Still, I can't stop thinking and wondering if in my fogginess I really added enough salt. Salt keeps the bad bugs, including mold, from growing, although the desirable lacto bacillus that do the fermenting also do a good job with this. They multiply so fast that they simply crowd the bad bugs out. Maybe they eat them, too. I don't remember that tidbit but that's what the salt is for, anyway.

As I understand it, more salt is needed in warmer temps, as all bugs will multiply faster. No need to speed up the fermentation, either, because these will sit a full 3 weeks to allow for best probiotic development. So I've read, anyway.

Thinking thus, I skimmed the scum off, removed about a cup of liquid from each, and added back a more concentrated salt brine, just to be sure and so I'll feel better. I also moved the weight from the left crock and added it to the other. I only have one saucer, and that will hold the pickles below the surface of the brine by itself. A few were trying to float to the top, and one small one had fully escaped. So -- both weights will keep them under control. And keep the mold away.

They're starting to smell good, like old-fashioned dill pickles, which is just what they are. Yum.

Second day of a cooling trend, which is wonderful. Didn't even have to use the AC yesterday, and certainly won't need to use it for the next few days. I love having the windows open, night and day, so I'm a happy camper.