Polish Fermenting Crock with Stone Weights, 5 L, Burnt Sienna

I really like this crock. It appears to be high quality, it is large enough to pack in a lot of veggies, and it gets the job done. I have used it to make curtido so far, and the results have been great. It is pretty idiot proof.I have fermented veggies in jars before, and this crock is much easier. Keeping the veggies submerged is a piece of cake with the stones. Also, the water channel along the top keeps air out. I had no mold or scum on my first batch whatsoever.I'll be moving on to sauerkraut and kosher dills next.UPDATE:I have now made two batches of curtido and one batch of sauerkraut. Everything has turned out great. Almost no scum and absolutely no mold on my veggies because the water channel keeps air out. I am on my third batch of curtido trying to perfect the recipe. This is one of my favorite kitchen purchases of all time!

I like that it has nice handholds making it very easy to move once filled. It also does a great job with pickles and the stones hold them down nicely. The lid is airproof if the water seal is maintained.What I don't like is when you do Sauerkraut the finer cuttings will float up and you can't see them due to the fact that this is a tapered entrance. If you don't fill way above the handholds (flavor killer to overfill) you won't be able to fish out your floats. I like my Kraut with carrot and garlic. Since they are small cuttings they will float into those areas that you can't see. I don't like that one bit and think it is nasty. They also say that anything not underwater isn't good for you. I guess if you just did cabbage and cut it once lengthwise, as to allow long skinny pieces, then you could hold it all down, but if you make flavored Kraut then your garlic and carrot spices are going to float and then you'll spend a long time trying to fish them out. A normal walled crock is much easier to get into and to fish out those floaters (small pieces). So for me, I'll only use this in the future to make pickles.

This is the crock you want, yes it costs a little more than the one Amazon is recommending, but it's far superior in quality and design. I have this crock and I also have the cheaper Amazon recommended crock. This one has larger cupped hand holds so there's no fear of dropping it while it's full. The other crock has shallow hand holds that are fashioned in a way that they don't allow for easy carry. This is heavy when it's full, you want good hand holds. The lip of this crock and the lid are sealed with glaze, not so on the cheaper one, so this one doesn't absorb moisture, the other does. I've just ordered a second one of these crocks so I can keep a batch fermenting while I'm using the kraut from the other. I recently noticed cracks in the glaze on the bottom of the cheaper crock that salt is leaching out of, it hasn't been abused, I think they are thermal cracks from the firing. Not good. The cheaper crock is now going to become a flower pot.

The weights were missing fromThe order. I want to return this one too.

The water channel is deeper than the channel on Schmitt crocks.Item arrived damaged, but seller was easy to deal with. This packaging was a single box with the crock. Recently received a different crock, http://www.amazon.com/Kerazo-Keramik-German-Fermenting-Crock/dp/B00K7ILDQ0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1463596896&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=fermenting+crock&psc=1&smid=A2UA1V9EP5QTB2, and it came packed in a box in a box in a box, so 3 boxes and lots of bubble wrap, and no damage. Also it has press on handles so the inside is smooth without the hard to clean handle crevices inside.Though didn't get to use it, the item is built with handles that are contiguous rather than pressed on. By contiguous it means the handles are made by pressing the clay of the main crock into the form of handles. This creates a tight crevice on the inside that will hold materials and over time become hard to clean. Again, compared to Schmitt vessels, the Schmitt vessels also have contiguous handles, but the inside is easy to clean as there is no tight crevice, and the Kerazo has no crevice at all with press on handles.

Great crock for fermenting veggies with a nice deep water well that works as an airlock. I've already made a batch of lacto fermented cucumbers, and I'm very happy with the results. The crock works well and is cute. One problem, though:To disinfect the weights of crocks, I typically heat them in a 400º F oven. The weights that came with this crock shattered, so don't do that. My other weights (Ohio Stoneware and some other unknown brand) sitting next to them in the oven did not shatter. You could probably just clean them with vinegar, and that would be good enough. That is the reason I gave 4 stars for sturdiness. The crock itself is as sturdy as can be.

i ordered 2 Sauerkraut crocks this one and one other type.... this one is very nicely finished and has a refined feel and finish as compared to the other one i bought and then sold, because this one made the other one look bad!i have yet to start a batch but when i do i have the nice glass weights to use inside .... I am having withdrawals for home made Kraut, and i was amazed at how many people i had to coerce into tasting it and then had to hide my stash because they kept coming back for more... fso now i have this 5 liter and a lucky find at a rummage sale of a 20 liter crock and just ordered a glass crock that is clear so i can see inside but that is 4 liter as i recall.this one was a little more dollar wise, but, i really appreciated the quality of finish.

It came well packed and damage free. There was one little flaw on the bottom of crock that was rough and would have scratched my counter if left so we filed it off. For that reason I gave it 4 stars.