Masontops Complete Mason Jar Fermentation Kit - Easy Wide Mouth Jars Vegetable Fermenting Set - DIY Equipment Essentials

Kit with four silicone tops, four glass followers, and a pickle packer made from acacia wood. The silicone tops are excellent and allow gasses to escape but keep dirt and contamination out. Being silicone they are easy to wash. They are made to fit Ball wide mouth jars but they also fit Ravenhead Kilner jars from the 70's, the ones with a red or orange plastic screw ring instead of metal screw rings. You can buy them on ebay or find in charity shops. Leifheit preserving jars are no good as the neck is only just wide enough for the glass follower and once inserted, you can't get it out again. Standard kilner jar openings are too small. The pickle packer included in the kit is a nice object, and very light, but I found wearing a disposable glove and using my knuckles was far more efficient when making a batch. You can get to the edges and corners better. The pickle packer is handy when I've taken some kimchi out of the jar and just want to give the remaining contents of the jar a quick squash to keep air out. It rinses clean under the tap. The glass followers are good - very hygenic, but seem to chip easily. I chipped the edge of one on first use, or it was chipped when it arrived. Eventually I will find the perfect stones to use instead but finding the right stones is not that easy even when you live in Cornwall only a couple of miles from a stoney beach. These will keep me going while I hunt. Beautifully packaged making the kit an ideal gift for a healthy foodie type.

A nice kit that brings you, almost, everything you need to get started with fermentation. Just add jars and you're good to go. All of it is of very high quality and functional to the highest degree. Can't recommend it any more.

Can’t recommend this, they were clear with no mason jars, that’s fine. The set doesn’t include a lid to facilitate the silicone lids. Bought myself a termination jar for £20 and it covers an air lock. Don’t buy from these guys. Waste of time and money.

Bought this for myself as it was cheaper than buying the individual items separately ... I did wonder if I really needed to buy a wooden 'pounder' but its proven invaluable and is of the highest quality... Its would make an excellent gift too.

This is an excellent pack. The pickling pipes work really well, the glass weights are exactly the right size for wide mason jars, and the packer is a really nice bit of kitchen equipment. It makes fermenting food incredibly easy. My only quibble is the price. For what is essentially a few silicone moulds, 4 pieces of glass and a wooden packer, the price is slightly ridiculous. I guess it's a one off purchase, and if you are into your fermenting as I am, it's a fantastic set of equipment that actually works. Update: Having used the pickling pipes I can report that they aren't a guaranteed way of avoiding problems. I ended up with yeast on a few batches, but no mould so far. Another problem I found is temperature fluctuations. The jar can suck the pipe in when it is cold. I have found that if you are very hygienic, you can avoid yeast. Basically, you have to wash everything - including the jar, stone and pipe - in very hot water, although boiling water isn't necessary. If you use a brine, boil it first then let it cool. I've had much more success doing this. I still think they're a great product, you just have to be careful - you can't just forget about the fermentation as Masontops claim.

I’ve yet to use it as I am waiting for my mason jars to arrive. I didn’t read the small print which probably said no jars included. When I saw COMPLETE fermentation kit I thought it meant just that - It doesn’t! Jars aren’t cheap either I’ve discovered and it’s also a little confusing as a beginner trying to work out what jars you need.

Exactly was I needed for making Sauerkraut. Perfect fit for Mason wide mouth jars.

A complete pickle accessory kit

Prodotto di buona qualità. Unica pecca non aver messo le ghiere metalliche/acciaio inox per i tappi in silicone, in quanto difficile da reperire in commercio della misura compatibile.

They should clearing display what is inside your KIT. They do have "In your KIT" which we get after delivery.

Great kit – before purchasing the Masontops Kit I had made quite a few batches of beer, wine, and carbonated lemon-lime drinks sort of like 7up or Sprite. But I’d never made my own fermented food. Now, courtesy of this kit, I’ve made Korean kimchi and traditional German-style kraut many times. With four of the little pretty-much-goof-proof airlocks, you can keep several batches going at once. Ferment four different things, or do a little experimenting on four jars of the same veggie. Almost everything you need to get started is here. Four very simple-to-clean, simple-to-use airlocks, four weights to place in the tops of your fermentation jars to keep your veggies from floating up to the top; and significantly, a great wooden “tamp” of sorts to push things like cabbage into the bottom of the jar. The tamp-thing can also be used to mash the cabbage or other leafy veggies to get them macerating even before they land in the fermentation jar. (Many things, you won’t want to mash at all; but if ‘kraut or kimchi are in your future, this wooden tool will work great for you, you’ll be glad you bought a kit that includes it.) You will need to get your own quart-size mason jars, and a food or mixture of foods to ferment. But just make that just a head of ordinary cabbage, if you want to start with the super-simple. And you’ll need salt – any granularity of food grade sodium chloride will do in a pinch. Well, you need more than a pinch of salt…but you really don’t need much salt at all, and that surprises some people. Maybe they’re thinking that they need a bunch of salt to preserve the incipient product. Definitely not. Be careful not to overdo it on salt -- you want the correct type of bacteria to be able to grow above all else; that’s the natural process that will ferment your product and render it delicious! I love the fact that this kit doesn't presume a particular food that the buyer wants to make. If you’re buying a higher-end starter kit like this one, you might very well have something other than a head of cabbage or a cucumber in mind for your starting point. While kimchi, sauerkraut, and pickles do get their "fair ups" in the short illustrated recipe book, the company clearly acknowledges adventurous folks who are sooner-or-later interested in the fermentation of foods in the more general sense. There is no expectation to restrict yourself to their recipes…it’s just a neat prepackaged starting point, and it does a great job of explaining how to use their product to make everything easier for the small-batch home fermenter. If someday you want to take a little break from the fermenting hobby, the box is super-sturdy, and is tailored with snug spaces to stow and protect each item in the kit. If you’ve tried something of this ilk before and have been frustrated because your pickles weren’t as crisp or tasty as you’d hoped, this could be your chance to jump back into the hobby. The presentation of other opportunities in the recipe book will have you back in the produce department, farmer's market, or in your own garden to find great new items to ferment – and some day you can try pickles again, too, maybe with a different sort, or fresher batch, of Kirby cuke. If you’ve tried ‘kraut, even if it was the sterilized kind that comes in the cans at the grocery store, you’ve already done more than enough mental prep. This makes the kit a great gift for pretty much anyone who’s not afraid to eat something that doesn’t smell the same way it did when they dropped it into a jar. The only caveat here is that you would not want to buy this for someone who isn’t willing to follow some instructions – we’re looking for certain desirable biological process when we ferment things, and with this kit, that is almost certainly what you’ll get. Follow the instructions and all will be well – more well for you than before, perhaps, since your recipient will be dining on a probiotically enhanced diet, and having fun doing it. And fermenters love to share! :) If you, too, are willing to store a vegetable outside of the refrigerator, give this a fermenting thing a try. There are a few people out there who will forever refuse to eat anything that’s intentionally left to stew in bacteria or fungi – but if you have read this far, that’s definitely not you. Bet you can taste that tangy, zesty product now!

Good product, as a beginner would have preferred to have jar included option .

TOP+