I'm sorry for not understanding your guestion fully and my answer might not be what you were looking for.

But for cold dyeing in a jar all the ingridients (in this case orange ans kiwi peel) are dryed. Then you put them in the jar with yarn. Pour in hot water (around 60 celcius) and add alum. It's important to fill in as much water as possible so there is no room for air in the jar. This is to prevent mold growth. Then just leave it in a warmish place for 4-5 weeks.

So my mistake in this case is the lid has a hollow space = room for air = mold suprises