u/Eastern_Doughnut_222

I've made multiple batches of red sauerkraut that is absolutely amazing, and now I'm looking to make some varieties with a bit of a different flavor.

I've seen people make "kimchi" kraut, berry and caraway. tbh all mine have been mostly plain. Just cabbage, beetroot, and salt.
Would appreciate some ideas there... I love a tangy kraut, less salty and some of my family can't stand spice so I avoid it.
I'm not sure when I'm supposed to add the flavorings/spices. Some say during the ferment, others say to mix it in with done kraut.

I'm also unsure if I'm meant to add them into the salt equation when weighing out my salt. I do for my beetroots but those are worked and massaged together (since the beetroots are strong enough to stand it)

Got fresh grains from a local shop and every ferment I did smelled like wet socks.

I've made kefir before (from dried grains) and kept it going for a long time, so I know what kefir is supposed to taste and smell like.
I'm not sure what's going on with this batch or how to fix it...

I heard there may be in "imbalance" and that the solution was to make a few batches with a tight lid on so I did but that wasn't the fix. I think the smell got worse.

It's a bit of a hassle for me to stand over the stove or run the oven for any length of time compared to my sous vide.
Besides that, simmering milk over the stovetop and avoiding it bubbling over is a chore.

I was wondering if I can brown my milk (maillard reaction) using a sous vide. My machine goes up to 90C, and I've heard of people browning milk by using low temp - high duration settings in slow cookers (but I've never heard a temperature, people will just say "Set the instapot to low with an open lid")...
Setup would be like making a yogurt (glass jars in water bath), but it'd need an open lid

Why am I doing this?
Brown milk is just tastier, also I feel a lot of my ferments could be good using brown milk instead