u/FermentaMental

It's still my first week of trying things.

I did a pineapple habanero mash to make hot sauce.

I definitely didn't leave enough headroom and juice starter coming up the airlock. I opened and removed some juice.

I guess I didn't do things right because the bubbling stopped and today, 7 days in, i notice that the O ring has slipped off and into the brine.

I tipped the jar to see if juice would come out, but it seemed sealed enough there. However, the internet says air likely got in.

What are your tricks to ensure that ring stays on?

I started my cucumbers in brine, garlic, dill, green tea and peppercorns about 7 days ago. The brine is about 3.5 percent.

When do you usually start eating your pickles?

Do you usually let them sit in the brine in the fridge with a normal lid?

I live in Japan so my supermarket is a bit different than western markets. Fresh dill is expensive and comes in small amounts that most would consider a waste.

I did find an online seller of dried dill which is great. But I haven't figured out how to keep it from come to the top of the mason jar. Chatgprt told me the cucumber would create a barrier ...but that didn't work.

My jars have those auto burping pieces on top. So, for now, I'll swirl the jar a bit a few times a day and keep things wet in the brine and hopefully by the time co2 starts burping there will be no oxygen left for mold...

But, that still leaves me a problem I want to solve which is how to keep dry dill in the brine at the bottom in an easy fashion so that next time I don't need to swirl.