BETTER than Glass Fermentation Weights - Food Grade Plastic Mason Jar Food Fermentation Weights CUPS keep food submerged in brine (6-3" WIDE MOUTH CUPS ONLY, NOT KITS)

They are working great. They are so easy and fit the jar perfectly and fit between the silicone fermentation lids and the Masontops Tough Band. They have made fermenting extremely easy for me. I always make sure that I have enough liquid in the jar so that when these cups are in the mouth of the jar and pushed down into place the level of the liquid rises inside the cup about 1/4 of an inch or about 7 millimeters. They are not flimsy. Yes they are thin but they need to be to fit with the fermentation lid and then the final band to screw on. They are thin but strong and well designed. I understand that the makers read these comments and make upgrades and improvements. So I know they added the small holes in the bottom to let water come in, but some small air bubbles still get trapped beneath the flat bottom. I wonder if a mesh design similar to the plastic sprouting lids for mason jars. That would keep all of the veggies down but let the water flow and not allow for any trapped air. I really like these. I used to use different types of vegetables to put on top of my fermented veggies and it was a small pain. This is just so easy now.

I enjoy homemade sauerkraut daily as a delicious snack and probiotic supplement. I also give some away to friends here and there. As such, I've always got multiple jars fermenting. No matter how you shred or pack the cabbage, it will always expand and float upwards when the copious carbon dioxide bubbles form during the initial fermentation stages. Fermentation weights do help, but won't stop it completely. I wish I'd discovered these little cups a long time ago. They completely prevent the cabbage from rising in the jar by presenting a solid physical barrier to it, versus merely weighting it down a little.They are made of a thin, light plastic very much like disposable drinking cups are made from. While they do appear somewhat on the flimsy side, they are nevertheless more than adequate for their intended purpose and I've never had one crack or split. As far as I can tell, they should be infinitely reusable. Their design is simple yet ingenious; the bottom edge is ringed with 'teeth' that retain your vegetables in place, and two small slots in the side wall allow CO2 to bubble out to your airlock.I purchased the widemouth size cups, and their top lip indeed fits a standard widemouth mason jar perfectly. I use them together with QRP's silicone airlock grommets and jar lid seals, which together with standard water airlocks form a flawless, foolproof fermentation system for mason jars.

I was a bit worried about using glass weights, as they might crack or flake off pieces of glass. I know it's silly to worry about stuff like that, but having glass weights in a glass jar made me nervous. So I got these.Read the description well. The first time I got these I didn't read it thoroughly, and was sent some sort of Christian pamphlet. It says in the description that it comes with it, so you need to request they not include it should you want to save the trees (or if you're just not interested in general. Whatever your reasons...).The cups work great! I made a bunch of hot sauce batches with them, and every single one worked out great. The cup holds the peppers (or whatever else you want to use it for) under the brine level, and if you get some kahm yeast growth (as I did) you can remove it all in one fell swoop by pulling the cup out at the end really fast. Double bonus!Highly recommend. Just remember to tell the guy not to include the pamphlet if you don't want it.

With a modification, these work perfectly and I use them for fermenting kraut and pickles. They insert into a Mason jar with the spikes down forming a cup in the top of the jar. As a ferment proceeds, often the brine level rises, filling the cup via the slots in the top of the cup. Later in the ferment, the brine lowers and the brine inside the cup is captured and does not go back into the jar, often exposing the vegetables. I drilled three 5/16" holes in the bottom of the cup to permit this captured brine to drain back into the Mason jar. The performance now is 5-Star. I think they should come this way from the factory.

The cups were shorter than I needed but they fit perfectly in my wide mouth jar. I will not have any issues getting it out of the jar or having to stick my fingers in the jar to pull the cup out. Imagine condiment cups but with slits on the side. I love the fact that there is a hole for overflow or to refill your jar. I used two. One in a jar with lemon, honey, and ginger, the other with Kefir grains in milk.I had to put extra holes in the Kefir cup as I didn't want milk sitting in the cup and possibly making my jar go bad. The single hole does not allow every drop of liquid to drain back into the jar. Nothing a soldering iron didn't fix.Thanks for "Our Daily Bread." I have not seen this great read in years.

Weights are simply more effective. As the jar contents settle and juices are absorbed, liquid level goes down and this stops working. You can add more liquid or scrape off the mold layer at the end. This would be a lot more effective if it had a stem to hold it down lower in the jar.

This product is probably best in very particular circumstances, like whole vegetables and fruit. It is pretty horrible with anything where shred can hit the air line, it's mold and slime city.I do something like this with my pickles using the 79 cent plastic mesh from the craft store that I find to be more reliable, I want 2" of headspace so my airlocks don't get contaminated. It's too bad these are so shallow and it's just as bad that the only release in them is a slit near the top, stuff overflows into them, starts to mold, and the mold contaminates the rest of the jar.