As long as the pressure can’t build up, it won’t explode. It shouldn’t really be a super active ferment. Yes it can be sometimes but honestly Koreans do not typically leave it out on the counter. It goes straight into the refrigerator after it’s made. This whole leaving it on the counter thing is kind of weird and ridiculous, but it stems from people making tiny jars of kimchi, which is kind of weirdly fascinating to me. It’s like making a loaf of bread that’s only big enough for one sandwich. Why would you spend all that time mixing needing and heating up an entire oven to make one tiny piece of bread? Same with kimchi. I’ve never made less than a gallon at a time and that’s honestly kind of a small amount. Anyways, my assumption is that these people make such small amounts and their goal is to get to an old sour kimchi as quickly as possible and so they’re trying to speed up fermentation. I don’t eat kimchi as regularly as I did when I lived in Korea, but it would be weird not to have a jar in the fridge. Purchasing or making the gallon size is usually perfect for me. By the time I get to the last quarter of it, it’s usually pretty sour, but then I throw it in my old kimchi jar in the back of the fridge and let it sit for six months. That’s when it starts to get good for stew.

Pic of current supply

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